Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 30, 1994 TAG: 9411300069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Such a ruling by U.S. District Judge James Turk wouldn't help Cucci escape the 12-year prison sentence he's serving. But his attorneys hope it will help him fight the tax-evasion charges he and his wife face.
Cucci's attorney, Robert Allen, asked Turk on Tuesday to suppress all evidence seized by the government after Cucci's arrest July 15, 1991.
He called the arrest and subsequent search of Cucci's home "just outrageous" and illegal because the task force of 20 officers who surrounded the house had neither an arrest warrant nor a search warrant.
Allen's opening arguments came on the first day of an unusually long motions hearing scheduled to conclude Thursday. More than a dozen witnesses are expected to be called.
Much of the testimony likely will surround the activities at Cucci's Alleghany County home the night of his arrest.
A state police special agent testified Tuesday that a task force of about 20 law officers arrived at the pizza parlor owner's home around 11:30 p.m.
Special Agent Doug Orebaugh admitted that the police didn't have an arrest warrant, but said there was no time to track down a magistrate and have one signed.
"We felt time was of the essence," he said.
Hours earlier, the officers had arrested Joseph Covello, the man suspected of being Cucci's drug supplier. Fearing that word of Covello's arrest on Interstate 64 would reach Cucci, the investigators decided to arrest him and secure his home to preserve any evidence inside, Orebaugh said.
After the police repeatedly knocked loudly, someone opened the front door, and Cucci was arrested without incident, the state police agent said.
About 25 minutes after his arrest, as he sat in a police car outside his home, Cucci signed a consent form allowing the police to search his home.
Officers seized $15,000 in cash and numerous guns from the house. But the financial records seized from Cucci's home office are what federal prosecutors want to use in the tax evasion case.
They include canceled checks, copies of tax returns, a cash payout journal, adding machine tapes and copies of cashier's checks sent to Covello, according to court records.
Prosecutors allege tha tfrom March 1990 to July 1991, Cucci and his wife, Janet, structured financial transactions to avoid detection by the Internal Revenue Service.
Federal law requires that banks report any transaction of more than $10,000 to the IRS. The government charges that the the Cuccis cashed multiple checks at separate financial institutions to circumvent the law.
If convicted, the Cuccis face up to 47 years in prison.
In his motion to suppress the evidence gathered at Cucci's home, Allen wrote that the arrest and search were illegal because law officers had ample time to secure a warrant. He also said the consent form signed by Cucci was coerced by the government in a time of duress for Cucci.
Allen also asked Turk for a chance to file briefs supporting his motion after the hearing ends, so the judge might not rule on the matter until early next year.
A federal judge in West Virginia sentenced Victor Cucci to 14 years in prison in January 1992 for cocaine trafficking. During the first three years of that sentence, a lot of gray has grown into Cucci's once-black hair.
Wearing prison clothes as he sat in court Tuesday, the once-highly regarded businessman shook his head often as Orebaugh testified, seeming to disagree with what the state agent said.
During his drug trial in 1992, Cucci's attorney said there was no question that his client helped arrange the $60,000 cocaine shipment that led to his arrest. He argued that Cucci was illegally entrapped by police using an overeager drug dealer as an informant.
Cucci, who owned several businesses, including a pizza parlor, floral shop and auto dealership, said the government was bent on proving he was involved with organized crime simply because he's a Sicilian immigrant who made money.
by CNB