United States v. Joseph Charles Bonanno, Jr., United States of America v. Salvatore Vincent Bonanno, A/K/A Bill Bonanno

Appellants Salvatore and Joseph Bon-anno were convicted of the offenses of collection of an extension of credit by extortionate means, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 894 ; conspiracy, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 ; and principal to a crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2 . Their conviction arose out of procedures which they utilized in collecting a debt owed by one Robert Piper.

Piper was an airplane pilot who entered into a scheme with one Alfred Sal-ciccia for smuggling marijuana by air into the United States from Mexico. Salciccia gave Piper $5,000 to be used in arranging transportation and purchase of the drug, while Salciccia expected to receive a share of either the profits or the marijuana. However, the marijuana was lost during the flight from Mexico.

When informed of the aborted smuggling effort, Salciccia stated that certain people had to be paid back “within the next week or so because they were getting a little edgy for the money.” Sal-ciccia then said that at least $2,500 had to be repaid immediately. Piper eventually obtained the $2,500 from his parents and paid it over to Salciecia’s representative. He also made repeated assurances to Salciccia that the balance…