United States v. Joseph Charles Bonanno, Jr., United States of America v. Salvatore Vincent Bonanno, A/K/A Bill Bonanno

HAMLIN, Circuit Judge:

Appellants Salvatore and Joseph Bon-anno were convicted of the offenses of collection of an extension of credit by extortionate means, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 894; conspiracy, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371; and principal to a crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2. Their conviction arose out of procedures which they utilized in collecting a debt owed by one Robert Piper.

Piper was an airplane pilot who entered into a scheme with one Alfred Sal-ciccia for smuggling marijuana by air into the United States from Mexico. Salciccia gave Piper $5,000 to be used in arranging…