United States V. Zannino

In 1983, defendant-appellant Ilario M.A. Zannino, allegedly a predominant figure in the so-called "Patriarca Family" of La Cosa Nostra, was indicted by a federal grand jury. The indictment charged Zannino and several codefendants with conspiring to participate in an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c), (d), and with a number of racketeering, loansharking, and gambling violations. The listed predicate acts included two murders and four conspiracies to commit murder. Zannino stood trial after the others,*fn1 and then, on only three of the original eight counts directed against him. Having been found guilty before a jury and sentenced to a 30-year prison term, he prosecutes this appeal. We affirm.