United States Court of Appeals
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT
Argued April 23, 1997 Decided September 12, 1997
No. 95-3157
United States of America,
Appellee
v.
Mark Dennard Hoyle, a/k/a Slim,
a/k/a Markie,
Appellant
Consolidated with
95-3158, 95-3159 & 95-3160
Appeals from the United States District Court
for the District of Columbia
(92cr0284-01, 92cr0284-02,
92cr0284-03 & 92cr0284-08)
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Jensen E. Barber, Vincent A. Jankoski, William J. Garber,
and John J. Carney, all appointed by the court, argued the
causes and filed the joint briefs for appellants.
Andrew C. Phelan, Assistant U.S. Attorney, argued the
cause for appellee, with whom Eric H. Holder, Jr., U.S.
Attorney at the time the brief was filed, John R. Fisher,
Thomas C. Black, Gregg A. Maisel, Rachel Adelman-Pier-
son, and Lynn C. Leibovitz, Assistant U.S. Attorneys, were
on the brief. Elizabeth Trosman, Assistant U.S. Attorney,
entered an appearance.
Before: Silberman, Williams and Henderson, Circuit
Judges.
Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge Silberman.
Concurring opinion filed by Circuit Judge Henderson.
Silberman, Circuit Judge: Appellants were convicted of
participating in a RICO conspiracy and engaging in a continu-
ing criminal enterprise (CCE). They contend that the impo-
sition of cumulative sentences for these two offenses violates
the Fifth Amendment's prohibition against double jeopardy.
We affirm appellants' convictions.
I.
Appellants are members of the so-called Newton Street
Crew. They were found guilty after a five-month trial of a
variety of offenses, including unlawful use of firearms, rob-
bery, and murder relating to a conspiracy to distribute crack
cocaine in the District of Columbia and Maryland. All four
were shown to have been heavily involved in the organiza-
tion's distribution of crack cocaine and use of violence, both to
enforce organizational discipline and to eliminate competitors.
Three of the four, Goldston, Hoyle, and McCollough, were
further shown to have been leaders in the organization. They
were each given multiple life sentences and assorted other
prison terms. Although appellants raise numerous conten-
tions on appeal, we think only one of these merits discussion.1
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1 We reject with one exception all of appellants' other chal-
lenges. Hoyle, McCullough, and Goldston argue that the separate
Hoyle, McCollough, and Goldston contend that it was an error
of law for the district court to impose separate life sentences
for violation of 18 U.S.C. s 1962(d) (1994) (RICO conspiracy)
and 21 U.S.C. s 848 (1994) (CCE).2 They argue that RICO
conspiracy is a lesser included offense of CCE, and, thus, the
imposition of cumulative sentences for these two crimes vio-
lates the Fifth Amendment's prohibition against double jeop-
ardy.
II.
Although the Double Jeopardy Clause literally protects
against successive prosecutions for the same offense, it has
been interpreted as also precluding multiple punishments for
the same offense. Albernaz v. United States, 450 U.S. 333
(1981). Under certain circumstances nominally separate of-
fenses could be thought the same offense--thus implicating
the clause. It is a matter of legislative intent. If the
legislature intends that the two offenses be treated as the
same offense, the Double Jeopardy Clause applies. If the
legislature intends that the two offenses be distinct, it does
not. When a defendant is charged with two offenses, the
"Double Jeopardy Clause does no more than prevent the
sentencing court from prescribing greater punishment than
the legislature intended." Missouri v. Hunter, 459 U.S. 359,
366 (1983).
In determining legislative, in this case congressional, in-
tent, Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299 (1932),
directs that we break down the elements of the two crimes
__________
sentences imposed for their 21 U.S.C. s 846 (1994) (conspiracy to
distribute cocaine) and 21 U.S.C. s 848 (1994) (CCE) convictions
are cumulative and violate the Fifth Amendment's Double Jeopardy
Clause. The government concedes appellants' argument in light of
the Supreme Court's recent holding in Rutledge v. United States,
116 S. Ct. 1241 (1996). Accordingly, we vacate Hoyle's, McCul-
lough's, and Goldston's s 846 drug conspiracy convictions along
with the attendant $50 special assessments.
2 This challenge does not apply to appellant Harris because he
was not charged with a CCE offense.
and determine "whether each provision requires proof of an
additional fact which the other does not." Id. at 304. If
crime "A" has all the elements of crime "B"--even though
"A" has additional ones that "B" does not--then "B" would be
a lesser included offense within "A" and a defendant could not
be charged with violation of "B" as well as "A" unless the
legislature clearly indicated otherwise. United States v. Bak-
er, 63 F.3d 1478, 1494 (9th Cir. 1995), cert. denied, 116 S. Ct.
824 (1996).
Applying the Blockburger rule to determine whether RICO
conspiracy is a lesser included offense incorporated within
CCE, we observe that in order to make out a CCE violation
the government must show that the defendant committed:
"1) a felony violation of the federal narcotics law; 2) as part
of a continuing series of violations; 3) in concert with five or
more persons; 4) for whom the defendant is an organizer or
supervisor; 5) from which he derives substantial income or
resources." United States v. Grayson, 795 F.2d 278, 283-84
(3d Cir. 1986). A "continuing series of violations" is defined
as "at least three related felony narcotics violations, including
the one charged." United States v. Hall, 93 F.3d 126, 129
(4th Cir. 1996), cert. denied, 117 S. Ct. 1087 (1997).
A RICO conspiracy charge, on the other hand, requires
proof that the defendant agreed to further a substantive
RICO violation. That obliges the government to show "(1)
the existence of an enterprise which affects interstate or
foreign commerce; (2) that the defendant 'associated with'
the enterprise; (3) that the defendant participated in the
conduct of the enterprise's affairs; and, (4) that the partic-
ipation was through a pattern of racketeering activity, i.e., by
committing at least two acts of racketeering activity as de-
fined by 18 U.S.C. s 1961(1)." United States v. Phillips, 664
F.2d 971, 1011 (5th Cir. 1981).3
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3 The Supreme Court has held that "[i]n order to 'participate,
directly or indirectly, in the conduct of [a RICO] enterprise's
affairs,' one must have some part in directing those affairs." Reves
v. Ernst & Young, 507 U.S. 170, 179 (1993). We have yet to decide
whether the Reves "operation or management" test also applies to
CCE's requirement that the defendant have organized or
supervised five or more persons is not matched by any of the
RICO conspiracy elements, but the question before us is not
whether the offenses are identical--only whether if a CCE
violation is shown, a RICO conspiracy is also necessarily
made out. The government contends that the one element of
RICO not subsumed within CCE is the requirement of a
showing of a criminal enterprise. Such an enterprise is
proved both by evidence of an ongoing organization and by
evidence that the "associates are bound together ... so that
they function as a continuing unit." United States v. Per-
holtz, 842 F.2d 343, 362 (D.C. Cir. 1988); see United States v.
Turkette, 452 U.S. 576, 583 (1981). Appellants assert that
such an organization and constancy of personnel are necessar-
ily implied by CCE's requirement that the government prove
a continuing series of violations, in concert with five or more
persons, for whom the defendant is an organizer or supervi-
sor.
Seven of our sister circuits have accepted the government's
position, that a CCE violation does not require proof of the
existence of a RICO enterprise. United States v. Bennett, 44
F.3d 1364, 1375 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 115 S. Ct. 2279 (1995);
United States v. Muhammad, 824 F.2d 214, 218 (2d Cir.
1987); Grayson, 795 F.2d at 286; United States v. Ryland,
806 F.2d 941, 943 (9th Cir. 1986); United States v. Love, 767
F.2d 1052, 1061 n.13 (4th Cir. 1985); United States v. Sinito,
723 F.2d 1250, 1262 (6th Cir. 1983); Phillips, 664 F.2d at
1014.
Although appellants are facing overwhelmingly negative
case law on this exact issue, the Seventh Circuit--breaking
with other circuits on the related question of whether a CCE
violation is made out if the defendant supervised five subor-
dinates on successive occasions even if no two were operating
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RICO conspiracy, see United States v. Thomas, 114 F.3d 228, 242
(D.C. Cir. 1997), but the resolution of that question is not relevant
to the disposition of this case. Even if we were to apply the
"operation or management test" to a RICO conspiracy charge, the
CCE statute contains an analogous requirement in its supervision
prong.
under the defendant's direction at the same time4--has rea-
soned in a fashion that lends support to appellants' claim. In
United States v. Bond, 847 F.2d 1233, 1237 (7th Cir. 1988),
the Seventh Circuit said that the CCE statute, designed to
reach the so-called kingpins of the drug trade, United States
v. Johnson, 575 F.2d 1347, 1358 (5th Cir. 1978), was "aim[ed]
at criminal organizations." Therefore, although it would not
be necessary to show that the defendant supervised the same
five persons through a continuous series of crimes, it would
not suffice if "[a] small timer had one servant in January, a
second in February, a third in March and so on." Bond, 847
F.2d at 1237. Judge Posner, dissenting in United States v.
Bafia, 949 F.2d 1465 (7th Cir. 1991), setting forth his under-
standing of the logic of Bond, thought that although simulta-
neous supervision of the same five subordinates was not
required, the organization must have at least five "slots"--
which does imply a continuous framework. Id. at 1481.5 To
be sure, the Seventh Circuit has not even suggested that such
a concept is equivalent to a RICO enterprise, but that propo-
sition might be thought a logical extension.
We think that the Seventh Circuit has a powerful position
in contending that CCE does not cover the periodic employ-
ment by a drug dealer of a single rotating runner. Even if
that is so, however, we do not believe that the government
must show, under CCE, the structure of a continuing organi-
zation equivalent to a RICO "enterprise." The statute does
refer to the defendant as an organizer or supervisor but one
can organize events and supervise transitory subordinates
without creating an organizational structure. And although
the phrase "continuing series" certainly connotes related
events, see Hall, 93 F.3d at 129, those events can be related
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4 Compare Phillips, 664 F.2d at 1010 (holding that the govern-
ment need only prove that the defendant supervised at least five
other persons and "such relationships need not have existed at the
same moment of time ....") and Muhammad, 824 F.2d at 218, with
United States v. Bond, 847 F.2d 1233, 1237 (7th Cir. 1988).
5 The majority opinion does not really deal with Judge Posner's
analysis.
by virtue of a defendant's specific modus operandi, even in
the absence of the use of common subordinates.6 Take as an
example a drug dealer who, perhaps for security reasons,
recruits a different group of distributors, picked rather at
random in areas where such persons might be found. If he
should do so on three separate days in a single month, on
each occasion recruiting and temporarily organizing more
than five runners with no overlap of personnel, this could be
thought a "continuing series" of violations in concert with five
or more persons for whom the defendant is the organizer or
supervisor. But no actual organization or structure is
formed; it is only inchoate.7 In order to form an actual
organization equating to RICO's "enterprise," there would
have to be a certain core of constant personnel. Therefore,
even if it is possible to describe a shadow structure complete
with slots only in the defendant's mind as a CCE "organiza-
tion," that seems too tenuous a concept to apply to RICO,
which--it will be recalled--requires "associates bound togeth-
er ... [in] ... a continuing unit."
The difference in the required evidence is explicable in
light of the somewhat different objectives of the two statutes;
CCE is aimed at the organizer more than the organization,
whereas RICO is directed at the organization. See Phillips,
664 F.2d at 1013 n.62 ("[CCE] focuses on the organizers of
narcotics operations while RICO focuses on all direct and
indirect participants in the organized criminal enterprise.").
* * * *
Therefore, we reject appellants' argument that their CCE
and RICO convictions may not coexist.
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6 If we did interpret the statute as requiring common subor-
dinates, we then would be faced with the question of how much
overlap was necessary.
7 Judge Posner spoke of a "table of organization that, however
informal, has at least five spaces on it." Bafia, 949 F.2d at 1481.
That logic could suggest that even an organizational structure in the
defendant's mind would suffice for CCE purposes, but that still
would not necessarily amount to an enterprise under RICO.
Karen LeCraft Henderson, Circuit Judge, concurring:
While I fully concur in the result, I believe it is not
necessary, and unwise, to opine on the simultaneity issue. As
the opinion acknowledges, even if a CCE required simulta-
neous management of at least five subordinates, a RICO
conspiracy charge would nonetheless not constitute a lesser
included offense of the CCE charge. Majority Op. at 6-7.