# United States v. Locascio, 6 F.3d 924 (2d Cir. 1993)

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/courtlistener-us-v-locascio-6-f3d-924/

Second Circuit opinion of October 8, 1993 affirming the Eastern District of New York convictions of John Gotti and Frank Locascio. It says the main evidence was conversations recorded at 247 Mulberry Street, in and above the Ravenite Social Club.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. Argued June 17, 1993, decided October 8, 1993, before Kearse, Miner, and Altimari, Circuit Judges; the opinion is by Judge Altimari, and Judge Kearse concurred in the judgment. Gotti and Locascio appealed from judgments of conviction entered on June 23, 1992, in the Eastern District of New York (Glasser, J.).

The opinion describes the indictment. A grand jury returned a thirteen-count superseding indictment on July 18, 1991. "The charged enterprise was the Gambino Organized Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra," and "Gotti was charged as the head of the organization, and Locascio was accused of being the 'under-boss,' or second-in-command." Salvatore Gravano was charged as the "consigliere," pleaded guilty, and testified for the government. The racketeering acts charged against Gotti included "the conspiracy to murder and the murder of Paul Castellano" and "the murder of Thomas Bilotti." These are the charges as the court summarized them.

On the evidence, the court wrote: "The most significant evidence consisted of conversations intercepted at 247 Mulberry Street in New York during the period from late 1989 until early 1990. The government had installed three listening devices in that building: in the Ravenite Social Club on the first floor," in a hallway behind the club's rear door, and in an apartment two stories above the club, which the opinion calls "the Ravenite Apartment."

The court rejected the appellants' challenges, among them the disqualification of Gotti's trial counsel, the anonymous jury, expert testimony, and the sufficiency of the evidence against Locascio, and concluded: "we affirm the judgment of the district court."

## Sources

- CourtListener (Free Law Project), text of the opinion: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/654592/united-states-v-frank-locascio-and-john-gotti/