United States v. John That Luong, AKA Ah Sing, United States of America v. Hoang Ai Le

This appeal requires us to decide whether conviction (or acquittal) on RICO conspiracy and substantive charges bars subsequent prosecution for a predicate act when the predicate act is itself a conspiracy.

Hoang Ai Le and John That Luong appeal the district court’s order denying their motion to dismiss the indictment for conspiracies to commit Hobbs Act robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951 (a) on grounds of double jeopardy. They had previously been prosecuted on RICO charges that included a conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robberies as a predicate act. In United States v. Saccoccia, 18 F.3d 795, 798 (9th Cir.1994), we held that a defendant may be prosecuted for a RICO conspiracy and later for the predicate offenses that constituted a pattern of racketeering activity. We now conclude that the same rule applies when the predicate offense is a conspiracy. As we have jurisdiction over this interlocutory appeal, 28 U.S.C. § 1291 ; Abney v. United States, 431 U.S. 651, 659 , 97 S.Ct. 2034 , 52 L.Ed.2d 651 (1977), we affirm.

I

Luong, Le, and seventeen others were indicted in the Northern District of California and tried on charges of conducting the affairs of a racketeering…