United States v. Frank F. Colacurcio

Defendant-appellant appeals from his conviction, following a jury trial, of income tax evasion for the years 1967 and 1969 in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201 .

BACKGROUND

The indictment charged the omissions of taxable income from appellant’s tax returns as follows:

The net worth method was used to prove the unreported income. The Government established that the appellant earned most of his income during the years in question from concealed interests in various night clubs and taverns, interest on loans, and receipts from an unlawful bingo operation run by Charles Berger in Seattle.

In 1971 the appellant was found guilty of conspiring with Berger and Harry Hoffman to use the facilities of interstate commerce to promote the operation of bingo games contrary to the laws of the State of Washington and in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1952 . The court made special findings of fact, including the following:

Berger testified for the Government at the prior conspiracy trial, but was not called as a witness in this case. Rather, the Government, relying on the doctrine of collateral estoppel, submitted an instruction with respect to sums of money received by appellant during the…