United States v. Vincent Beltempo, Guiseppe Gallina, A/K/A "Fillipo", and Barbara Walberg

CARDAMONE, Circuit Judge:

In February 1981 United States Customs officials at Kennedy International Airport in New York discovered sixteen pounds of heroin concealed in the false bottoms of suitcases belonging to a couple attempting to enter the United States. Carefully deploying their investigative nets the authorities discovered six others whom they indicted along with this couple as part of a conspiracy to smuggle heroin into the country. The indictments charge that from mid-January to mid-February 1981 these eight individuals attempted to smuggle forty — and actually smuggled twenty-four —…