Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 17, 1995 TAG: 9503170026
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Agents tried to break down the door to his house, held his family and friends at gunpoint for several hours and searched the house without a warrant.
Now the government wants to use some of the papers agents found during that search to try Vittorio ``Victor'' Cucci and his wife, Janet, on tax evasion charges.
The Cuccis are trying to prevent the papers from being used. The search violated their constitutional protection against ``unreasonable search and seizure,'' their lawyers argue, and therefore the evidence should be inadmissible.
``I truly believe this is the worst search I have ever seen,'' Janet Cucci's attorney, Thomas Leggette, said Thursday after a hearing in U.S. District Court in Roanoke. ``To have this done to a family, I consider outrageous.''
Between 25 and 40 officers, led by Drug Enforcement Administration agents from West Virginia, descended on the Covington house at 11:30 p.m.
The Cuccis' son, Marco, then five, watched as agents put a gun to his mother's head and ordered her to get down on the floor, according to court records. Marco still has nightmares and cannot sleep alone, Leggette said.
The government argues that the July 1991 search was with the consent of Victor Cucci, who was sitting, handcuffed, in a federal agent's car at the time. Cucci had just been arrested; agents had watched him set up a cocaine buy for an informant earlier that evening.
His attorney, Robert Allen, argued that Cucci was never read his rights that night and was coerced into granting a search of his home. Meanwhile, Janet Cucci was not asked for consent to search her home, even though as a co-owner she was present and was not under arrest. She was not a suspect in the drug case.
``This is exactly, this is exactly what the framers of our Constitution were worried about when they drafted the Fourth Amendment,'' which protects against unreasonable searches and those without probable cause, Allen told U.S. District Judge James Turk. ``Judge, we just can't let this happen.''
Items taken from the house during the search included guns, $15,000 in cash, cancelled checks, copies of tax returns and a cash payout journal. Agents also took a man's and woman's wedding band, old love letters, a pewter St. Anthony medallion, a gold cross and other jewelry, according to court records. The defense called the scope of the search ``extraordinary.''
As justification for the warrantless search, prosecutor Hunter Smith, an assistant U.S. attorney from West Virginia, argued that time was of the essence.
Hours before Cucci's 11:30 p.m. arrest, the officers had arrested Joseph Covello, the man suspected of being Cucci's drug supplier from New York. Fearing that word of Covello's arrest would reach Cucci, the investigators decided to arrest him and secure his home to preserve any evidence inside, a special agent testified earlier.
Turk seemed troubled by some of the methods used during the late-night search.
``It seems to me like there were an awful, awful lot of high-handed tactics taking place,'' Turk said. ``I don't know whether it's enough to suppress the evidence or not. I hope these tactics aren't everyday occurrences. If they are, we're in pretty bad shape.''
Much of Thursday's hearing centered on why agents did not call a magistrate to get a search warrant and whether they had enough time to do that. The hearing followed three days of testimony on the same motion to suppress evidence held last fall. Turk said he wanted to read each side's briefs and probably would rule in 10 to 15 days.
During the trial, Cucci's attorney said there was no question his client helped arrange a $60,000 cocaine shipment in 1991 from New York to West Virginia, but that he was entrapped. Cucci was found guilty of attempted cocaine trafficking in 1992 and is serving a 14-year sentence.
The Cuccis owned several businesses in Covington, including a pizza parlor, a floral shop and an auto dealership. Janet Cucci still works full time at the family's pizza parlor, her attorney said.
Prosecutors allege that from March 1990 to July 1991, the couple structured financial transactions to avoid detection by the Internal Revenue Service.
If convicted, the Cuccis face up to 47 years in prison.
by CNB