Alan Caplan, Second Opinions, second opinions criminal, second opinions federal cases, federal law, problems with attorney, need help with my case, federal court help, criminal law, federal court second opinion, second opinion state cases, state court help, state court, state law

Alan P. Caplan
Attorney at Law
Email:  alan@alancaplan.com

© Copyright 2019.  All Rights Reserved.                                                     Member Massachusetts Bar

United States v. Gallo and McTaggart :

I prepared separate briefs for each of two appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Represented by other counsel at trial, they had been convicted in Federal Court in Cleveland of RICO charges including 6 murders among the predicate acts, of being "kingpins" of a Continuing Criminal Enterprise, and of numerous substantive drug related offenses. Mr. Gallo was purportedly a "capo" in the Cleveland Mafia, and Mr. McTaggart was an alleged associate of the group. The trial had taken six (6) weeks, and the issues on appeal were extremely complex, including Title III electronic surveillance questions, numerous procedural matters, and "sufficiency of the evidence" claims. All but one of Mr. Gallo's RICO convictions were affirmed.

State of Ohio v. McTaggart:

Mr. McTaggart, one of my clients in the appeal described immediately above, an alleged organized crime figure in Cleveland, Ohio, was charged with Aggravated Murder for having allegedly shot, decapitated, and dismembered a business associate over a drug transaction (also one of the predicate acts in the RICO prosecution). I represented Mr. McTaggart in a 3 week trial in the Cuyahoga County, Ohio Court of Common Pleas after which he was found Not Guilty by the jury.


 United States v. Aiuppa, et. al.:

In this case, the alleged leaders of the Mafia from Chicago, Cleveland, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Las Vegas were charged in Federal Court in Kansas City, Missouri with conspiracy and Travel Act violations. They were accused of having arranged for certain Las Vegas Casinos to obtain Teamster Pension Fund Loans in exchange for "hidden interests" in and the right to skim money from those casinos. I represented Milton Rockman, who was purportedly the acting leader of the Cleveland Mafia, who was charged with being responsible for coordinating activities between the Cosa Nostra and the Teamsters' Union over a period of many years . (The events involved in this case were depicted in the Hollywood movie "Casino"). The prosecution involved numerous wiretaps, oral intercepts and searches by warrants from at least six federal judicial districts over a 10 year period, as well as tens of thousands of pages of documents. After a five month jury trial, the defendants were convicted of all counts. I prepared and orally argued Mr. Rockman's appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit. The convictions were affirmed.

United States v. Bonanno, et. al.:

I represented the late Salvatore (Bill) Bonanno, eldest son of reputed New York Mafia figure Joe Bonanno, who was charged in the Sacramento, California Federal Court (together with his brother Joseph and others) with conspiracy and 47 substantive counts of mail and wire fraud. The case involved thousands of documents, a lengthy trash search, and over 50 hours of consensually monitored conversations with an FBI informant/cooperating witness. The jury acquitted Bill on all counts after a 3 month trial.

United States v. Busacca:

I represented the President of a Teamster Local in Cleveland who was charged with RICO and related mail fraud, wire fraud, and ERISA violations in the Cleveland, Ohio Federal Court. The case involved thousands of pages of documents, numerous searches, consensually monitored conversations, and the testimony of 12 "cooperating witnesses". After a 5 month jury trial, Mr. Busacca was convicted of 5 counts, and acquitted of 20. He received an eight year sentence.

United States v. Terry:

Mr. Terry was charged with possessing a pound of methamphetamine and ten thousand dollars in a paper bag which had been seized by the CHP from under the front seat of a pickup truck he was driving, possessing (with intent to manufacture methamphetamine) a gallon of P2P that was seized from the bed of the pickup, and with being a felon in possession of a firearm seized from his bedroom closet in a subsequent search (subjecting him to the 15 year mandatory minimum sentence required by the Armed Career Criminal Act). I also represented Mr. Terry and successfully appealed his conviction and 15 year sentence to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. After being granted new trials on all counts, one jury acquitted Mr. Terry of the drug offenses after 5 minutes of deliberations, and a second jury acquitted him of the firearm charge after 45 minutes of deliberations.




United States v. Gordon:

Mr. Gordon and codefendants were charged with burglarizing the United States Customs Service "secure" storage facility for seized contraband in El Paso, Texas, taking 350 pounds of cocaine and distributing it in Florida. Charged in federal court, after the brother of one defendant cooperated with the government, a successful plea bargain was concluded, minimizing the amount of time that they were required to serve.

United States v. Domey:

Mr. Domey was the President of the Salem, Massachusetts chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. He was charged in federal court in Boston (together with 15 others) with being the "kingpin" of a massive conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine, and with other acts of violence. I assisted in negotiating an acceptable "global" plea bargain, including the prosecution's agreement not to charge others implicated in the investigation.


 

REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLING OF CASES LITIGATED (cont.)

1979 - 1984 (cont.)

Prev    Page 1 | 2 | 3  | 4   Next

1985 - 1994

1995 - 2013

Prev    Page 1 | 2 | 3  | 4   Next

aaaaaaaaaaaaiii