United States v. Persico, 832 F.2d 705 (2d Cir. 1987)

Second Circuit opinion of October 27, 1987 affirming the RICO convictions of Carmine Persico and other Colombo family defendants tried in the Southern District of New York. It sets out the government's description of the family's structure.

Date: 1987-10-27
Kind: court-opinion
Source: CourtListener (Free Law Project), text of the opinion
Retrieved: 2026-10-12
Rights: Opinion of a United States court. Works of the federal judiciary are in the public domain in the United States. The text was read on CourtListener.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. Argued July 13, 1987, decided October 27, 1987. The appellants are Carmine Persico and seven co-defendants convicted in the Southern District of New York in the Colombo family RICO case whose pretrial motions are decided in 621 F. Supp. 842.

The opinion states how the government described the enterprise: “Carmine Persico, the Boss of the Colombo Family, assisted by Gennaro Langella, the Underboss.” That is the government’s delineation of the structure as the court recounts it, not a finding of the court. The predicate acts reviewed include extortion in the concrete industry. The court affirmed the convictions.

The same two men were tried again in the Commission case, where the Second Circuit later wrote that “the government established” Persico as boss and Langella as underboss (868 F.2d 524).

itemUnited States v. Persico, 621 F. Supp. 842 (S.D.N.Y. 1985)Judge Keenan's pretrial ruling of October 2, 1985 in the Colombo family RICO case, denying motions for severance and transfer. It gives the Commission case's district docket as "United States v. Salerno, S 85 Cr. 139 (RO)."itemUnited States v. Salerno, 868 F.2d 524 (2d Cir. 1989)Second Circuit opinion on the appeal from the Southern District of New York trial of Anthony Salerno and seven other defendants, decided January 31, 1989.