Michael Santo Polizzi v. United States of America, Emprise Corporation v. United States

In 1972 a jury found the appellants guilty of violating 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 and 1952 by conspiring to use interstate facilities as part of a scheme to acquire a Las Vegas, Nevada, casino, in violation of Nevada law. They appealed and we affirmed. United States v. Polizzi, 9 Cir., 1974, 500 F.2d 856 , cert. denied, 1975, 419 U.S. 1120 , 95 S.Ct. 802 , 42 L.Ed.2d 820 . The individual defendants then filed a motion in the district court, under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 , to vacate and set aside their sentences. The corporate petitioner, Emprise, asked for the same relief via a writ of error coram nobis. See United States v. Morgan, 1954, 346 U.S. 502 , 74 S.Ct. 247 , 98 L.Ed. 248 . The district court denied relief and all defendants appeal. We affirm.

I. Adverse Publicity.

During the trial, which took place in Los Angeles, the area’s two major newspapers, the Times and Herald-Examiner, ran front-page stories linking the defendants to the Mafia, and reprinting the substance of discussions held outside the presence of the jury. Also, a local television broadcaster compared the alleged gambling activities of two defendants, Polizzi and Zerilli, with incidents portrayed in the movie The Godfather,…