Renaldo Ferrari, John Orman Knight, Jack Cherpakov and Lester Darneille v. United States
Opinion
Opinion
Lemmon, J.
In a gumshoe and cloak-and-dagger atmosphere, the record in this case discloses the devious machinations of those who traffic in the dried juice of the poppy.
A Federal agent posing as an investment broker, who used a New York gangster as a reference, and who was warned that if he “did wrong by Red” he would “end up in an alley”; 3 a.m. breakfasts in the G-man’s apartment, which was wired for sound — with two ladies of San Francisco’s night life, endowed with the rhythmic names of “June and Jyrene”, as pickup guests; and, finally, during the early hours of an unlucky August 13, delivery of an unlucky thirteen ounces of narcotics in a paper bag holding six rubber containers, in “the fourth drawer down” of a bureau in a motel cabin — these are some of the intriguing details disclosed by the record in this case.
1. Statement of the Case
On February 23, 1956, there was returned against the appellants and others an indictment consisting of sixteen counts and fifteen overt acts, and charging violation of the Harrison Narcotic Act ( 26 U.S.C.A. §§ 4704 and 7237 [1954 Ed.]); the Jones-Miller Act ( 21 U.S.C.A. § 174 ); and a conspiracy to violate those acts ( 18 U.S.C.A. § 371 ).