## Facts

- Law enforcement investigated a cocaine-distribution organization operating in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, from September 1989 through February 1990.
- Ramon Alfredo Abreu (also known as Carlos Juan) was alleged to head the organization, which sold cocaine from multiple apartments rented under fictitious names and paid in cash.
- The apartments were modified for drug sales and raids: reinforced doors with exchange holes, and altered toilets to speed drug disposal; they contained minimal furnishings.
- An undercover officer posed as a real estate agent; cooperating witnesses assisted the investigation, including a worker who helped set up an apartment and sell cocaine in half-gram bags through a door hole.
- Sellers worked in paired shifts; Abreu or an associate collected proceeds and settled accounts; nightly sales were reported in the hundreds to over a thousand dollars.
- Searches executed during the investigation yielded cocaine, cash, and firearms, including a shotgun tied to a § 924(c) charge.
- At trial, the seizing agent identified the shotgun by tag and appearance but misstated the manufacturer and did not locate the serial number; other officers correctly identified the weapon, provided serial-number testimony, and described custody from seizure to trial.
- Additional evidence linked Abreu to the shotgun, including his palmprint on it and testimony connecting the firearm to drug-distribution locations.

## Issues

1. Whether the Double Jeopardy Clause barred convictions for both conspiracy to distribute cocaine and conducting a continuing criminal enterprise (CCE) under 21 U.S.C. § 848.
2. Whether other drug convictions were multiplicitous with each other or with the CCE conviction under the *Blockburger* same-elements test.
3. Whether substantive drug offenses could serve as predicate acts for the CCE while also supporting separate convictions and sentences.
4. Whether discrepancies in shotgun identification and asserted chain-of-custody weaknesses required exclusion of the firearm or rendered the evidence insufficient to sustain a conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c).

## Decision

- The First Circuit affirmed Abreu’s convictions and sentences except for the conspiracy conviction.
- The court vacated the cocaine-conspiracy conviction as a lesser-included offense of the CCE conviction.
- The court rejected double-jeopardy challenges to Abreu’s remaining drug convictions, concluding the statutes at issue required proof of distinct facts under *Blockburger*.
- The court held that substantive drug offenses could serve as CCE predicates and also support separate punishment, absent a legislative bar and where elements differ.
- The court affirmed the § 924(c) firearm conviction, ruling that the identification discrepancy affected weight, not admissibility, and that the chain of custody was adequately shown.
- Applying the sufficiency standard that views evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, the court found the evidence (including Abreu’s palmprint and testimonial links to drug sites) sufficient for a rational jury to convict.

## Legal Principles

- Under *Blockburger*, multiple punishments are permitted when each offense requires proof of a fact the other does not, absent contrary congressional intent.
- Conspiracy to distribute drugs may be treated as a lesser-included offense of a CCE conviction, requiring vacatur of the conspiracy conviction when both are obtained for the same enterprise.
- Substantive drug offenses may be used as predicate acts for a CCE charge while also supporting separate convictions and sentences when the statutory elements are distinct.
- Chain-of-custody and exhibit-identification flaws generally go to the weight of the evidence, not admissibility, if the government provides reasonable assurance the exhibit is what it claims.
- For sufficiency review, a conviction stands if any rational jury could find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt when the evidence is viewed favorably to the prosecution.

## Conclusion

The First Circuit held that Abreu could not be convicted of both CCE and the related cocaine conspiracy, vacating the conspiracy count, but it upheld the remaining drug and firearm convictions because the nonconspiracy drug counts were separately punishable under *Blockburger* and the firearm evidence was admissible and sufficient despite an agent’s misdescription.


United States v. Abreu, 952 F.2d 1458 (1st Cir. 1992)