William Belvin, James E. Clanton, Clifton Hawkins and Wallace Hawkins v. United States

RIVES, Chief Judge.

This appeal is from judgments of conviction upon five separate indictments, consolidated for trial, charging use of the mails,1 and of interstate telephones2 to defraud insurance companies by obtaining collision or liability insurance on automobiles and collecting on staged or faked automobile collisions.

The indictments name as the alleged victims the Virginia Mutual Insurance Co., Richmond, Virginia; the Allstate Insurance Company, Skokie, Illinois; the Iowa Mutual Insurance Company, De-Witt, Iowa; the Travelers Insurance Company, Hartford, Connecticut; and the Casualty…