Record
Court opinion
1983-12-23
CourtListener (Free Law Project), text of the opinion
United States v. Sinito, 723 F.2d 1250 (6th Cir. 1983)
Sixth Circuit opinion of December 23, 1983 rejecting Thomas Sinito's double-jeopardy challenge to the 1982 Cleveland RICO indictment, which alleged an enterprise known as the 'Cleveland Organized Crime Family'.
- Date
- 1983-12-23
- Kind
- court-opinion
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-12
- Docket
- No. 82-3712 (6th Cir.); 723 F.2d 1250
- 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, Sixth Circuit, argued August 4, 1983, decided December 23, 1983; opinion by Circuit Judge Keith. Thomas Sinito appealed a pretrial order refusing to dismiss counts one and two of a seventy-count indictment, arguing that they charged the same conspiracy as an earlier RICO case against him.
The court summarizes the new indictment: count one charged Sinito, Joseph Gallo, Frederick Graewe, Hartmut Graewe and Kevin McTaggart with a RICO conspiracy, and “The indictment alleged these men belonged to an enterprise known as the ‘Cleveland Organized Crime Family,’ the ‘Outfit’, the ‘Organization’, or the ‘Mafia’.” A footnote reads: “Angelo Lonardo is the reputed ‘Boss’ of the Cleveland Organized Crime Family.” Another footnote records that on January 6, 1978 Sinito, James T. Licavoli, John P. Calandra, Angelo Lonardo and others were indicted for conspiracy to conduct racketeering activity.
The court held that the two indictments charged different conspiracies: “we affirm the decision of the district court.” The enterprise description is the indictment’s charge, and “reputed” marks reputation, not a finding.
