State v. Cagno

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Questions Presented

1. Whether the racketeering-conspiracy prosecution was barred by New Jersey's five-year criminal statute of limitations.
2. Whether Cagno's 1995 federal guilty plea terminated or constituted abandonment of the RICO conspiracy for limitations purposes.
3. Whether the racketeering-conspiracy evidence unfairly tainted the murder conviction.
4. Whether the jury instructions adequately addressed the limitations period, termination, abandonment, conspirator liability, and unanimity.
5. Whether testimony concerning a coconspirator's courtroom conduct violated the Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause.
6. Whether the trial court was required to instruct the jury on conspiracy to commit murder as a lesser-included offense.
7. Whether New Jersey's RICO statute authorized grading the racketeering conspiracy as a first-degree crime when the pattern involved murder or firearms.

Holdings

1. A New Jersey RICO-conspiracy prosecution is timely when the evidence permits a reasonable jury to find that the charged enterprise and conspiracy continued into the five-year limitations period; the State need not prove a specific overt act by the defendant within that period.
2. Cagno's 1995 federal guilty plea did not terminate the New Jersey RICO conspiracy or establish abandonment because he neither advised his coconspirators of abandonment nor informed law enforcement of the conspiracy and his participation in it.
3. The jury instructions, considered as a whole, accurately placed the burden on the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the RICO conspiracy continued into the limitations period and did not improperly shift the burden to defendant.
4. A specific unanimity instruction was not required because the allegations in the RICO-conspiracy count were related to the same enterprise and there was no tangible indication of jury confusion.
5. Testimony by witnesses who observed a coconspirator's refusal to testify and courtroom gestures was not testimonial hearsay violating the Sixth Amendment; to the extent the conduct was testimonial, coconspirator statements in furtherance of the conspiracy were admissible.
6. The trial court properly refused to instruct on conspiracy to commit murder because the evidence provided no rational basis for acquitting Cagno of murder while convicting him of conspiracy to commit that murder.
7. Under N.J.S.A. 2C:41-3(a), a violation of the New Jersey RICO statute is a first-degree crime when the pattern of racketeering activity involves a crime of violence, the lesser-included offense of conspiracy to commit murder, or the use of firearms.

Key quotations

Factual background

Cagno was alleged to be a member of the New Jersey crew of the Colombo crime family, a RICO enterprise organized around a continuing pattern of criminal activity. The State's evidence included testimony from Cagno's brother concerning the 1988 murder of Jimmy Angellino, the 1993 murder of James Randazzo, the enterprise's organizational structure, and efforts to conceal its activities. The State also introduced evidence concerning a coconspirator's refusal to testify at Cagno's first trial and the continuing nature of the enterprise. A jury convicted Cagno of first-degree racketeering conspiracy and Randazzo's murder.

Procedural history

A 2000 indictment led to a mistrial in 2002. The State obtained a superseding indictment in 2003, and defendant was convicted by a jury in March 2004. The trial court imposed life imprisonment for murder and a consecutive twenty-year term for racketeering conspiracy. The Appellate Division affirmed the convictions and sentence, and the Supreme Court affirmed.