Brief for the United States in Opposition, Caifano v. United States, No. 86-1304 (S. Ct., October Term 1986)

The government’s brief in opposition to Marshall Caifano’s petition for certiorari to the Eleventh Circuit, filed in the Supreme Court’s October Term 1986. The brief is dated to that term; the date in the Justice Department’s file path is a placeholder.

It summarizes his conviction in the Southern District of Florida for interstate transportation of stolen securities and conspiracy (blank stock certificates stolen at O’Hare Airport in October 1968) and his sentence as a “dangerous special offender” to 20 years. It recounts the evidence at the sentencing hearing: Jimmy Fratianno testified that Caifano was introduced to him in 1952 as a member of the Cosa Nostra, and Alva Rodgers testified that Caifano spoke of being part of the Chicago “Outfit” since the age of 19. Rodgers also testified, the brief says, that Caifano asked “Joey Lombardo, a member of the Chicago organization” to arrange the killing of a witness and that Lombardo proposed a payment instead.

All of this is the government’s account of testimony at a sentencing hearing, offered to defend the sentence. It is not a finding of the Supreme Court, which this brief asked not to hear the case. The brief also says officers suspected Caifano of violent crimes; those suspicions were never adjudicated in the documents read and are not repeated here.