United States v. Phil Pinelli, David Pinelli, Robert Sheehan, Martin Mosko, Thomas Gottone, William Burbidge, and Aaron Mosko

PHILLIPS, District Judge, sitting by designation.

This gambling prosecution stems from a thirty-five (35) count indictment returned by a federal grand jury sitting in Colorado on February 5, 1986. The indictment charged fourteen defendants, including the seven appellants here, with violating several federal criminal statutes. The pertinent statutes on appeal are 18 U.S.C. § 1955 (operating an illegal gambling business in violation of the laws of Colorado, involving five or more persons, with gross wagers in excess of $2,000 on any single day), 18 U.S.C. § 1952 (interstate use of a telephone to…