Paul K. Ollen, Paul K. Rooney, P. Roanne L. Mann, Asst. Giuliani, U. Bohrer, Asst. This is an appeal from a judgment of conviction entered on June 1, , against appellant after a four-day jury trial before Judge Morris E. Appellant was convicted of conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin in violation of title 21, United States Code, section Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal.
We affirm. The government presented evidence to show the events hereinafter described. Francis "Butchy" Pugliese, a drug seller, arranged to buy narcotics from Thomas Mattio, his former prison acquaintance and former drug customer. Unknown to Butchy, Mattio, a previously convicted drug trafficker, was acting as a United States Drug Enforcement Agency "DEA" informant and was assisting government agents in a "reverse undercover operation. Butchy stated that he could dispose of it.
Butchy introduced Mattio to co-defendant Ronald Ingrassia as one who would accept samples for him. Toward the end of July , Mattio spoke with Butchy from Florida by telephone and told him in code that his source had heroin to sell.
Upon his return to the Bronx, Mattio met with Butchy and told him that his source had six kilograms to sell. Butchy answered that he knew several persons "who had a couple of million dollars," and, if absolutely necessary, he could " [get] rid of it" to "some guys on Buhre Avenue. On or about August 2, , Ingrassia, in the company of Mattio, received samples stipulated to be on average 90 percent pure at a motel in Tarrytown, N.
He delivered them to Butchy at an apartment near the intersection of Westchester Avenue and St. Paul's Avenue in the Bronx. Butchy took them away and in less than an hour returned and stated that the samples "checked out fine" but that the customer refused to release the purchase price without his partner's approval.
