United States v. Darryl Freeman, Tyrone Netters

Appellants Netters and Freeman were indicted as a result of an FBI sting operation aimed at identifying corruption in the California state legislature. Netters was convicted of one count of violating RICO, three counts of extortion in violation of the Hobbs Act, four counts of money laundering, and one count of subscribing to a false tax return. He challenges all of his convictions, except subscribing to a false tax return. Freeman was convicted of conspiring to and aiding and abetting extortion in violation of the Hobbs Act. He appeals both of his convictions.

The district court had jurisdiction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3231 . We exercise jurisdiction over these timely appeals pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

In 1986, the FBI initiated an undercover investigation into suspected corruption in the California legislature. The investigation arose as the result of conversations in 1982 between Marvin Levin, who was working as a citizen informant for the FBI, and Freeman, who was then employed as a legislative staff member for- the California Assembly. During these conversations, Freeman made statements indicating that special interest legislation could be…