Capital punishment trials of Mafia murderers / Leonard Orland.
2015
KF221.M8 O75 2015 (Map It)
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Details
Author
Title
Capital punishment trials of Mafia murderers / Leonard Orland.
Published
Durham, North Carolina : Carolina Academic Press, [2015]
Call Number
KF221.M8 O75 2015
ISBN
9781611636932 (pbk.)
1611636930 (pbk.)
1611636930 (pbk.)
Description
xiv, 288 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
System Control No.
(OCoLC)897437768
Summary
Based on the author's review of thousands of pages of trial testimony and briefs, this unique book explores the capital punishment trials of two Mafia murderers. Both were convicted based in large part on the testimony of other Mafia murderers who cooperated with the government. In both cases, the juries declined to vote for capital punishment. The book enables readers to understand and evaluate the American system of criminal justice through an examination of how complex federal criminal trials are conducted. The book also explores several important policy issues: How should a capital punishment jury be selected? How should the federal government decide which defendants should face a capital punishment trial and which defendants, facing capital punishment, should be rewarded if they cooperate and testify against other murderers? A unique feature of the book is an appendix containing the primary legal documents—jury questionnaire, indictment, jury instructions and legal and constitutional opinions. This would enable students, whether undergraduate or law school, to use the book as a casebook or as supplemental reading in a variety of courses—criminal law, criminal procedure, federal criminal law, and capital punishment. -- Amazon's website.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-276) and index.
Record Appears in
Gift
Purchased from the income of the Fisch Fund
Gift
The Arthur W. Diamond Law Library
Purchased from the income of the Fisch Fund
Table of Contents
Preface
xi
Acknowledgments
xiii
ch. One
The Capital Punishment Trials of Two Mafia Bosses
3
An Insider's Explanation of How a Mafia Family Operates
3
Issues Raised by the Pitera and Basciano Trials
8
ch. Two
Historical and Constitutional Background
15
The Role of Jury in the American Criminal Justice System
15
Capital Punishment
17
ch. Three
The Pitera and Basciano Juries Were Required to Understand and Apply Three Complex Statutes
21
RICO: Congress Invents an Extraordinary Prosecutorial Instrument
22
The Federal Drug Kingpin Act
24
The 1994 Federal Death Penalty Act
25
Review by the Attorney General
26
Applying the Statutes: The Pitera Indictment
27
Constitutionality of the Federal Capital Punishment Statutes
30
The Death Penalty as Cruel and Unusual Punishment
30
Due Process and Equal Protection
31
Delegation of Legislative Powers
31
Ex Post Facto Implications
31
Arbitrary and Vindictive Prosecution
31
ch. Four
Judge Reena Raggi: The Thomas Pitera Trial
33
Judge Raggi as Prosecutor, Trial Judge, and Appellate Judge
33
Voir Dire: The Process of Selecting a Death-Qualified Jury
33
Judge Raggi's Voir Dire
35
Individual Questioning by Judge Raggi
38
The Trial Begins
39
Preliminary Instructions
39
The Government's Opening Statement
40
The Defense's Opening Statement
42
Cooperator Testimony: Frank Gangi
44
The Government's Closing Argument
45
Defense's Closing Argument
47
The Trial Concludes
48
ch. Five
Judge Nicholas Garaufis: The Joseph Massino and Vincent Basciano Trials
51
An Overview of the Basciano Trial
52
The Trial Begins
54
Prosecution Opening Statement
54
Defense Opening Statement
56
Cooperators' Testimony
57
Dominick Cicale
57
Generoso Barbieri
58
The Extraordinary Testimony of the Bonanno Family Boss
59
Cross Examination of Massino
60
Closing Arguments
60
Jury Deliberations and Verdict
60
The Federal Capital Punishment Proceeding
61
The Government's Opening Statement
61
The Defense's Opening Statement
61
The Government Case: Cooperator Testimony
62
Closing Arguments
63
Final Instructions
63
The Jury's Death Penalty Verdict
65
ch. Six
Difficult Policy Issues: Cooperating Witnesses in Federal Death Penalty Cases
67
Rewarding Federal Cooperators: A Brief History
67
Rewarding Cooperators in Criminal Cases
69
Informants and Cooperators as Rats
71
Does the Use of Cooperators Erode the Criminal Justice System?
73
The Courts Fashion Procedural Rules for the Use of Cooperators' Testimony
75
Federal Sentencing Statutes and Regulations
77
What Are the Appropriate Rewards for Cooperators Who Secure Convictions?
79
The Value of Cooperator Testimony: Sentencing Frank Gangi
79
Sentencing Salvatore Vitale
82
Resentencing Joseph Massino
84
ch. Seven
Observations
89
Federal Capital Punishment Trials in States without Capital Punishment
89
A Death-Qualified Jury
90
The Threat of Death Penalty to Induce Cooperation
90
The Moral Calculus: Rewarding Cooperators Who Murder
92
Appendix 1
The Charges Against Pitera: Superseding Indictment
95
Appendix 2
Judge Raggi's Opinion Upholding the Constitutionality of the Capital Punishment Provisions of the Drug Kingpin Act
107
Appendix 3
The Pitera Juror Questionnaire
141
Appendix 4
Judge Raggi's Preliminary Instructions to the Jury Panel in Pit era
159
Appendix 5
Judge Raggi's Pitera Jury Charge
167
Appendix 6
The Pitera Jury Returns Its Verdict
207
Appendix 7
Judge Raggi's Preliminary Instructions in the Pitera Capital Hearing
213
Appendix 8
Judge Raggi's Jury Charge in the Pitera Capital Hearing
219
Appendix 9
Judge Garaufis Sentences Salvatore Vitale
237
Appendix 10
The Government's Motion for Resentencing Joseph Massino
247
Appendix 11
A Brief Bibliographic Note
275
Index
277