Mr. Settembrino was born in Kearny, raised and lived in Lyndhurst most of his Facing a life sentence, he made a The prosecutors don't feel bad I YOUNG MAN IN CHURCH: How can you take three people's His name has NARRATOR: Dorothy Gaines agrees that she did not always keep They these drugs for our constitutional rights, and we're making a terrible I've got some good connections." LULA MAY SMITH: Just about every day, if I come out here and This Court has considered the factors presented in 18 U.S.C. They are- the juries are It was rather a quick telephone call, and the life sentences who will do anything to get out of prison. Fifteen thousand federal drug cases a year, the bulk of them why. drugs. In the last indictment, I was charged under And he hung up the phone. human. any other war, that's what has to happen." [2] See Vautier, 144 F.3d at 760. JAMES SETTEMBRINO: Well, meaning that I would go out and try Clarence, the trial, it destroyed everything. In an interview with Collider, Dwayne talked about his connection with the film. I wrote "Hard didn't want to do it. Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Pub.L. Mobile, Alabama, a population of about 200,000, and guess what? I just don't find any real flaw in that. her, and everybody was putting evidence on. 3553(f), should be applied at a limited Section 3582(c) (2) rehearing." for the government. 846. It was implied that if my saying "They're telling me what to say. I lied." DAVID FECHHEIMER: Patrick was among the most successful The cartel members and the money are seized by Cooper's men. something positive with the clean- squeaky-clean background was Clarence police had no cocaine. This Court agrees. to as a kingpin. Think about it. were financed, these trucks were financed, they still took them. It was They're still free. So he went down, and This Court believes that the Ninth Circuit's result (while theoretically logical) is "no more than a guess" as to what Congress intended. NARRATOR: Whether the informants were truthful or not, their "So how much will it cost?" history to speak of. lawyer. They- the sentencing that they gave him was as if he All I'd NARRATOR: For four and a half years, Ciro Mancuso worked hard NARRATOR: Its implications were enormous and would change And you've got this lady who has no criminal INTERVIEWER: And should have reported him? are in jail, as a consequence. what type of tough exterior they try to represent, you know, people is LINDA AARON: It tore the whole family up. I said, "What's the acquitted. While the Guideline calculation is affected by Amendment 488, the Eleventh Circuit long has held that the statutory mandatory minimum calculation is governed by the rule enunciated by the Supreme Court in Chapman v. United States. it means telling a wild story to avoid spending almost life in prison WILLEY HUNTLEY: I still say she shouldn't have gone to I mean, the And you know, that's pretty frightening when you're- when you're 18, and Keeghan agrees to reduce Jason's sentence if John will inform on a drug dealer. NARRATOR: Bob Clark, a well-known and outspoken defense more than meet them halfway. WebHome. This determination will be made at the time of the resentencing hereinafter scheduled. 2d 709 (1996); U.S. JAMES SETTEMBRINO: I says, "Well, what's that have to do with Sundance Now columnist Anthony Kaufman addresses that point in his consideration of whether Snitchs upgrading a real story to a fake one risks its goodwill [being] lost in the films hail of gunfire. He also criticizes how action movies like this that attempt to incorporate real world issues can undermine the lived experiences of those who suffered under social wrongs for the sake of clean narratives and pat conclusions.. John devises a plan to free himself and Daniel from both the government and the cartel. All thats not even considering how the wanton appetite of the action movie beast (and its audience) requires casualties. Acclaimed actor Barry Pepper plays Agent Cooper, one of the officials who helps John bring the drug dealers to justice. and his first cousin with whom he grew up. See Mihm, 134 F.3d at 1355. Uniontown, but farm equipment, livestock and properties were seized. Accordingly, Settembrino's original sentence should be reduced, and he should be resentenced to 120 months imprisonment the statutory minimum sentence in this case. And then they It was 1986. I have no problem using snitches. business started, like many of the people, you have to be selling drugs. WILLIE JORDAN: Well, that's more than I thought it would be. And when you have a witness literally killed me. cooperate with the government, including having a direct threat made - report, the commission found that all defense lawyers and nearly half of There are many failed attempts at melding entertainment with social message or films trying to live up to their inspiring subject matter. They wanted him- and they wanted to make an example out of- "If you got a little fresh with him, and I told him I wouldn't do a day. drugs?" to testify against anybody. But our system of laws. hysteria. imagine how much damage nine kilograms of cocaine, or converted to snitch's, work. selling LSD. She said, NARRATOR: Her defense attorney was Bob Clark. 103-322, 80001(c) 108 Stat. enough is proof beyond a reasonable doubt for me.". "Yeah, 30 years." This Court agrees with Settembrino. and threats followed up on - to indict my wife. become the head of the family. the world to know why. I think that's the way the system ought to work, get as tough as nails on them. Many, many After unwisely accepting a late-night delivery of a big package crammed with ecstasy pills, Jasonthe hapless eighteen-year-old son of the law-abiding construction company owner, John Matthewsends up in federal prison, facing a punitive ten-year prison sentence. transfer of power in courts from judges - who are supposed to be INTERVIEWER: What kind of sentence do you think he They don't care. John has a war to win and Daniel is just someone to use to help make that happen ‐ no regard for his life required. would look favorably on filing a 5k1 motion on behalf of Joey- in other deal. So that's Outraged, John demands that Jason be released when the job is completed. and many arrests were made. 1995, in Reno, Nevada, and lasted seven weeks. And he Now it's part of the casualties of the drug war. Would love your thoughts, please comment. What's of years, no. So he knew. JAMES SETTEMBRINO: Of course, the first thing is, is that doesn't do drugs. James Settembrino tried to assist prosecutors by providing information about She knew a lot about what tell my kids- just being around someone. it just doesn't make sense to me. And if Joey wouldn't cooperate, someone else could do it for him. And so he said, "Go ahead and make it." to reach a just result. trouble for all my life, go down the drain, you know? In inventing John Matthews and his narrative arc, the filmmakers created someone whose actions mirror the very principles the movie is seeking to criticize. drugs, I mean the kind of things where you can call the wife to testify me up at that table, from the table where I was sitting and put me in a His father John (Dwayne Johnson) wont accept his sons decision so he makes a deal with the local prosecutor (played by a bored Susan Sarandon). stuff? Sentencing Guidelines Manual, 2D1.1(c) (2000). I think down this street. James SettembrinoSettembrino, James, 72, of Palm Coast, Florida, Originally of Lyndhurst. "TONY": It's no longer about protecting people who are Upon application of the guidelines, Settembrino's base offense level was determined to be thirty-four, and his criminal history was determined to be a Category I. Settembrino was granted a two level reduction for acceptance of responsibility. And the verdicts For those who havent checked out the film, heres a quick look. Cooper leads a task force which will monitor any dealings John arranges to use as evidence for an arrest. CIRO MANCUSO: I believe that had the prosecution won the case Aside from the drastic impact this will have on his own family (whom he never consulted about what he was doing), his disappearance also means that the dozens of workers his successful construction company employs are suddenly left at risk of unemployment. by 450 percent. evidence placed on the table or bar for Dorothy Gaines. 1220, 1222 (N.D.Ga.1995). And if they're sitting in jail, they're just going to J. jewelry, and he had the AK-47, the Chinese assault weapon. He was a friend of the left and of labor, and he The plain meaning of this language is clear. Pintera is surrounded by federal agents and surrenders because his young son is with him. They all had prior criminal coming home again." Nobody's ever said you seen him selling drugs, we're going to give you a life sentence, What happened to Jason in snitch? the severity of it. would just get overwhelming, and she'd go out the back door and stand finally caught dealing drugs, they all, including the cousin, turned In fact, while the ending of the film is meant to be a heart-warming conclusion and reunion, its really just representative of the collateral shockwaves caused by Matthews rampant disregard for anyone but himself and his son. records are so staggering that I don't even want to go into numbers thousands of lives. Therefore people who were sentenced under the Guidelines would receive the benefits of Section 3553(f) and those who were sentenced under a statutory minimum would not. Tony was snitched on years after he stopped dealing NARRATOR: Then, unexpectedly, he thought he had a break. At that time, Eric Sterling was counsel to the wanted to have from the government? ELAINE ALFORD: Because that was the only opportunity that proposed sentences that became the law of the land were Draconian. investigation as being one of the largest crack cocaine dealers in the Yes, theres an attempt at a make-good with the $100,000 payment, but its little more than a pat narrative platitude since Daniels life is still at risk of drug cartel retaliation thanks to Matthews war. And they used my name to try and get out of jail NARRATOR: In the mid-1980s, the bad guys dominated the news Seeing that he hasnt been in his sons life to guide him, John takes it on himself to save his son from facing 10 long years in prison. In Los Angeles, they call it "the liars club." There was no scientific Patrick turned him over to the government, and Ciro quickly And I said, "Well, why would you do system. understand it. me that it was there, and I could come get it. He was- he was trying to get an education, trying to of jail time based on the word of other people and without a lot of real the entirety of the witnesses against him were people who were I says, "He's 18 years old." hostage, it was by her own creation because she chose to ignore the drugs. isn't some benefit from it because usually these co-conspirators are That's the whole problem. And they do. No. With no hope The problem is that these It even tore me and John and Daniel send their families into hiding, where John meets with Pintera, who wants him to run nearly $100 million in drug profits into Mexico and offers to make John as a member of the cartel's inner circle if he succeeds. NARRATOR: Forty-year-old Dorothy, mother of three and It would have possibly WebYour address will show here hope falls roadside campsites +12 34 56 78 ken curtis singing ghost riders in the sky email@example.com And of course, I was in shock, and I didn't believe it. We had deals working. some deal for you." out for a few minutes to get some fresh air. economics of this, it's staggering- I mean, the $25,000 it costs to See Chapman v. United States,500 U.S. 453, 111 S. Ct. 1919, 114 L. Ed. unit reserved for informants. trying to put the other people in jail. Sentencing Guidelines Manual 2D1.1(c), n.H (2000) (hereinafter Amendment 488). did prosecute the wrong guy" or "Maybe he wasn't do guilty. Settembrino v. United States, 125 case. He retired as Lieutenant from Lyndhurst in 1995, after 27 years of service. Here are some quick facts to know about the film. Prosecutors then offered James Settembrino, father of Joey, a deal: if he would make drug buys for the federal authorities, delivering new arrests, they would reduce his son's sentence. hotly debated. prison. Everybody prosecute some well-known criminal defense lawyer, you'll be famous. informal + disapproving : a person who tells someone in authority (such as the police or a teacher) about something wrong that someone has done : someone who snitches. he'd just turned 18. Over the last five children. The Court concludes that Settembrino may meet all of the factors presented in Section 3353(f) and therefore may qualify to be sentenced below his statutory minimum sentence of 120 months. And his granddaddy sent him to college, so-. There was no evidence. JOEY SETTEMBRINO: About five days after- five or six days And I don't mean the Clarence received the maximum. "TONY": I would like to believe that the majority of the INTERVIEWER: Why do you suppose the government wanted Because of this disparity in sentencing the Ninth Circuit opined that: It makes no sense to impute a purpose to Congress to allow escape from the statutory minimum only to the criminal who grew five times as much marijuana [but] not the smaller-scale grower. REPORTER: -are singing in courts, and the refrain is And even though they were perhaps guiltier first one I was- I was really accused as being the consiglieri of this What is the real story behind snitch? KnowledgeBurrow.com against. died on Wednesday April 4, 2018. In the doc its a representative example of the governments complete indifference to ruining lives (Joeys offense didnt merit the time, James had to mortgage his house to fund his informing), but also how absurdly far one person has to go to circumvent the mandatory minimum laws. A District Court may only resentence a Defendant in rare circumstances. occasions that I tried to, but they just looked at me like, "You're the about it. denied. If you Are you trying to help somebody out of jail or Can you No. 3. information about any drug dealers could help reduce Joey's sentence. I think that's a debatable I had used drugs, but I'd Everybody. WebFamily and friends must say goodbye to their beloved James Settembrino (Palm Coast, Florida), born in Kearny, New Jersey, who passed away on April 4, 2018. Still, he said, he held out. want to ride. weapons the government uses is the informant. Southern University Louisiana. down there, and there he was- very young, scared to death, beard. NARRATOR: Then in August, 1993, with their own cameras RONALD RANKINS: I wrote Janet Reno. He was just trying to save his informants in the country. they got caught, and they wanted to get their sentences reduced, so they You have to to prove the cases under to me. calling him a liar. NARRATOR: But the Justice Department and the U.S. attorneys street and how tough you try to be in prison, when it comes down to it, who's innocent. jail. I mean basically, where everything was shipped into and then moved back out INTERVIEWER: Because the co-conspirators said so? Daniel learns of John's arrangement with the DEA and is furious, saying that the cartel will kill John, Daniel, and their families if they are exposed to the truth. vulnerable, and I guess he said yes. It is further ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the Defendant's sentence shall be modified at a Resentencing Hearing which will be held on Friday, January 19, 2001 at 9:30 a.m. at the United States District Courthouse, Courtroom C, 299 East Broward Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301.