Full opinion text
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER RE: FORMAL EXTRADITION REQUEST (DOCKET ENTRY # 18) BOWLER, United States Magistrate Judge. The United States of America (“the government”), acting on behalf of the Republic of Italy (“Italy”), seeks a certification by this court pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3184 (“section 3184”) in order for a warrant to issue for the surrender of relator Giovanni Gambino (“the relator”) to Italian authorities in accordance with the terms of the Extradition Treaty with Italy, Oct. 13, 1983, U.S.-Italy, 35 U.S.T. 3023, T.I.A.S. No. 10,837 (1983) (“the 1983 Treaty”). The relator opposes the extradition request. Having previously pled guilty to conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) (“RICO” or “section 1962(d)”), in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the relator seeks to bar extradition to Italy to face charges of criminal association and illegal trafficking in narcotic and psychotropic substances on the basis of the 1983 Treaty’s double jeopardy or non bis in idem clause. The relator further relies on the alleged absence of a charging document in the extradition papers and, alternatively, the absence of probable cause as to one of the charges lodged against him. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND The case began on October 12, 2005, with the filing of a sealed complaint and the issuance of a provisional arrest warrant by this court. Within the required 45 days under the 1983 Treaty, the government filed the formal extradition request. At the time, of arrest, the relator was in custody at the Federal Medical Center in Devens, Massachusetts (“Ft. Devens”), a federal facility for offenders requiring specialized longterm medical care, serving the few days remaining on a 15 year sentence issued by the foregoing court as a result of the guilty plea. At his initial appearance on October 14, 2005, and having been transferred from Ft. Devens to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution in Plymouth, Massachusetts (“MCI Plymouth”), the relator raised concerns about the facility’s inability to treat his medical condition. In order to obtain additional information to better assess the relator’s medical condition, this court adjourned the hearing until Monday October 17, 2005, at which time this court ordered the relator’s detention albeit subject to certain provisions to accommodate the relator’s health at MCI-Plymouth. (Docket Entry # 9). A further hearing took place on Friday October 21, 2005, at which time it became apparent that at least some of the provisions remained unfulfilled. Accordingly, this court urged the government to confer with the Bureau of Prisons in an to attempt to have the relator transferred to Ft. Devens. As a result, the relator was transferred to Ft. Devens over the weekend of October 22, 2004, where he remains to date. Thereafter, this court held a number of extradition hearings and received additional filings, the most recent filing made by the relator on February 9, 2006. After receiving the February 9, 2006 filing, this court took the matter of the relator’s extradition under advisement. Because the scope and the existence of the charges lodged by the Italian authorities and whether such charges fall within the protection afforded by the 1983 Treaty’s non bis in idem clause are at issue, the factual summary begins with a synopsis of the Italian and then the United States proceedings. BACKGROUND I. Italian Proceedings As identified in the Certificate of Pending Prosecutions or “Certificato Dei Cari-chi Pendenti” issued by .the Clerk of the Court of Palermo at the request of the Italian Judicial Authority on January 27, 2006 (“the 2006 carichi pendenti”), there are two pending prosecutions against the relator, the first designated as proceeding number 1885/86 and the second designated as proceeding number 002459/90/T (“proceeding number 2459/90”). As also stated therein, the former proceeding involves charges of violations of article 75 of the Italian Criminal Code while the latter proceeding includes a charge of a violation of article 71 of the Italian Criminal Code. Turning to the former, an arrest warrant issued for the relator and 33 other individuals in proceeding number 1885/86 in November 1988. Resulting from more than two years of investigation on the part of the Italian police, the investigating magistrate of the Court of Palermo charged the relator and 19 other defendants in Count Two with a violation of article 75, a provision that criminalizes conspiracies to violate more than one offense under article 71 and/or other designated narcotics trafficking laws. (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). The charged conspiracy took place primarily in Palermo and Torretta but also in the United States. Only two of the other 19 defendants in Count Two, Giuseppe Gam-bino and Lorenzo Mannino, were also identified as defendants in racketeering act one of the Ninth Superceding Indictment (“the Indictment”) in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in United States v. Gambino et al., 88 Cr. 919(PKL) (“the New York case”). The main goal of the conspiracy was “transporting large quantities of heroin from Torretta” to the United States “often with female body couriers carrying heroin who left Palermo airport pretending to go on vacation” and then “landed in New York, where the heroin was given to recipients.” (Docket Entry # 29, Ex. ¶ 6). Article 75 provides that: Article 75 (Conspiracy) When three or more persons conspire together for the purpose of committing more than one offence among those foreseen in [the penal laws dealing with narcotics trafficking including article 71]; those who promote, form, organise or finance the conspiracy shall be punished, for this alone, by imprisonment not less than fifteen years and a fíne of one hundred million lire up to four hundred million lire. (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). Count Three is the other count in the arrest warrant that includes the relator and, together with three other defendants, likewise charges a criminal conspiracy under article 75. Of those three other defendants, Giuseppe Gambino is the only defendant also identified in racketeering act one of the New York case as a defendant. Whereas Count Two states that the group “committed crimes related to the traffic of high quantity of drug,” Count Three, involving only four defendants, provides that the group “promoted, arranged and organ-ised the criminal association described in [Count Two].” (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). Count Two therefore involves 20 conspirators who participated in crimes related to the trafficking of a high quantity of illicit drugs while Count Three identifies those defendants in Count Two who organized and promoted that conspiracy. Both counts uniformly denote the presence of “aggravating circumstances” because the group consisted of “a criminal association in[sic] more than ten people” and because the group involved “a criminal association whose members used arms.” (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). Article 75 expressly provides for increased penalties under either circumstance. In addition to the charges in counts two and three, the arrest warrant contains 16 pages of facts captioned as “REASONS FOR THE DECISION” (henceforth: “the decision”). The final page orders the arrest of the cited defendants. As explained and clarified therein, the criminal association aimed at “drug traffic from Sicily, in particular Torretta, to the [United States]” involving members of the Sicilian and American family known as “Cosa Nostra.” The decision characterizes the relator as a member of the American Cosa Nostra and an important heroin runner from Sicily to the United States. (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). It also identifies Tor-retta as one of the relator’s preferred heroin distribution channels and that the heroin is mainly handled by members of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra. The decision, which also identifies cocaine as part of the charged drug trafficking, describes how the relator and his brother (a co-defendant in Count One of the New York case) managed front activities in coffee bars and pizza restaurants that were actually utilized to sell off the high quantities of drugs with the support of employees of Sicilian origin. Notably, after describing Giuseppe Gambino and the relator as belonging to the American Cosa Nostra, the decision distinguishes the American Cosa Nostra as “very different from the Sicilian association, even if they have close relations of cooperation with each other.” (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). The different defendants charged in the arrest warrant from those charged in the New York case and the different focal points of the illicit activity support the distinction. The time period of the conspiracy is not entirely clear from the decision although the November 30, 1988 arrest warrant results from “two years of inquiry that began with the seizure of about Kg.6 of heroin at the airport of Palermo.” The decision does identify heroin transactions that took place on October 21, 1987, and that one of the defendants contacted a “Greek drug pusher” and attempted to purchase numerous kilos of heroin “at the beginning of 1987.” (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). Additional drug trafficking among the defendants is particularized as occurring on March 15, 1988 and August 5, 1988. Finally, the facts are based upon events occurring “up to today,” i.e., up to and including November 30, 1988, but no later. This court therefore reasonably surmises that the charged conspiracy to traffic high quantities of heroin and cocaine existed from 1986 up to November 30,1988. In addition to the November 1988 arrest warrant, the extradition papers include the separate Italian proceeding identified by number 2459/90. Included in that proceeding are two documents, to wit, a Preventive Custody Order in Prison and a Report on Facts Ascribed to by Giovanni Gambino (“the report”). Turning to the former document, in August 1990, a judge of the Court of Palermo, Office of the Judge of Preliminary Investigation, issued the Preventive Custody Order in Prison (“the Preventive Order”) against the relator at the request of the public prosecutor pursuant to sections 272 and 285 of the Criminal Procedure Code. (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). The Preventive Order charges the relator and three other individuals with inter alia violating articles 81 and 110 of the Italian Criminal Code. These articles impose increased penalties for participating in an offense and engaging in a continuing offense. More notably and as also included in the January 2006 carichi pendenti, the Preventive Order charges the relator with inter alia violating article 71 of the Italian Criminal Code which criminalizes the illegal trafficking in narcotic and/or psychotropic substances. Article 71, criminalizes, among other acts, the production, cultivation, manufacture, refinement, sale, receipt, distribution, exportation and possession of narcotic and/or psychotropic substances. The relevant provision reads as follows: Article 71 (Unlawful activities) ... Any Person who, without authorization as per Art. 15, cultivates, produces, manufactures, extracts, offers, places on sale, distributes, buys, transfers or receives for any reason, procures for others, transports, imports, exports, passes in transit or unlawfully possesses, apart from the cases provided for in Arts. 72 and 72 bis, any of the narcotic or psychotropic substances indicated in List I or III in Art. 12, shall be punishable by a term of imprisonment .... (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). The punishment increases if it “is committed by three or more persons in complicity together.” (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). Separate and apart from the article 71 charge, the Preventive Order appears to reference a violation against the relator and three other individuals of article 74 for an illegal criminal association. Article 74 makes illegal a criminal association in narcotic and psychotropic substances trafficking. The statute provides: Article 74 (...). (Criminal association in narcotic and psychotropic substances trafficking). When three or more persons conspire to commit more than one of the offences mentioned in Art. 73, those who promote, constitute, manage, organize or finance the association shall, only for this, be punished by a term of imprisonment of not less than 20 years. (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). Finally, the Preventive Order recites that “the offence under section 416 b of the Criminal Code [is] contested by Gambino Alfonso only.” (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). The government in its filing identifying the charges (Docket Entry # 28, pp. 2-3) and in the initial complaint (Docket Entry # 1, ¶ 3), however, refers only to the violation of article 71 as sought under the Preventive Order, aggravated by the relator belonging to a criminal association and the involvement of large amount of drugs in violation of article 74. Both of , the relator’s two experts agree that the crime is “illicit drug trafficking under Article 71, and the penalty for it includes aggravating circumstances under Article 74.” (Docket Entry #27, Ex. 1, ¶ 11; Docket Entry #27, Ex. 2, p. 4). Given the position of the government, which is acting on behalf of Italy, this court therefore finds that the charge set forth in proceeding number 2459/09 for which extradition is sought is the charge of a violation of article 71 with aggravating circumstances under article 74. The Preventive Order sets forth the factual basis for the article 71 violation without distinguishing between the different statutory sections. These facts charge the relator and three other defendants with the manufacture in 1979 of 100 kilograms of morphine together with 50 kilograms of tropeine refined into heroin in 1979 at a facility in Baida belonging to Rosario Spa-tola (“Spatola”). The crime was therefore “committed in Palermo where [the relator] arrived solely for that purpose.” (Docket Entry # 29, Ex. B, ¶ 6). Marino Mannoia (“Mannoia”), another participant, reconstructed the details of the episode including the destination of the refined heroin to the relator in the United States. Indeed, Mannoia saw the relator, who “ ‘came from the United States to arrange the production of the considerable quantity of heroin,” ’ on three occasions. (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). The last visit took place at the laboratory in Baida. The Preventive Order additionally depicts adding tropeine to the heroin in another facility, to wit, a house belonging to Gambino Alfonso (“Alfonso”) near a bus storage area in Passo di Rigano. “All of the offences were committed in Palermo and other places, before May 5, 1980,” according to the Preventive Order. (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). The extradition papers also include the report which tracks the recitation of facts in the Preventive Order and concerns proceeding number 2459/90. Both documents equally depict similar events which provide a factual basis supporting the article 71 charge in proceeding number 2459/90. Citing and relying upon the Preventive Order, the report states that the relator “was charged” with the “purchase, keeping, transport, refining and export of narcotic drugs (heroin) committed in complicity with other persons” in violation of article 71, “aggravated by the fact that [the relator] belonged to a criminal association, and he committed the facts in respect of huge amounts of narcotic drugs,” citing article 74. (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). As elucidated in the report, “The of-fences were committed in Trapani, Palermo and other places in Italy and abroad in the period from 1979 to 1980.” (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). Mannoia related certain facts ascribed to the relator. In particular, the report notes that Mannoia detailed the aforementioned manufacture of the 100 kilograms of heroin and 50 kilograms “of tropine” that occurred in Baida. Mannoia indicated that he personally manufactured the morphine and “that the refined heroin was to be sent to U.S. and more precisely to Giovanni Gambino (also known as John) ‘who came from United States to agree on the huge amount of heroin.’ ” (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). Mannoia also related how he saw the relator on three occasions, the last occasion being at the laboratory in Baida where the relator ascertained how the drug was manufactured. Finally, Mannoia described how he mixed heroin “with ‘tropine’ ... ‘in the house of Alfonso Gambino, a new house under construction located nearby the bus deposit of Passo di Rigano.’ ” (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). To confirm the declarations made by Mannoia, which the report characterizes as “very detailed and precise,” the report refers to the relator’s December 1984 conviction for violating article 416 and notes the relator’s acquittal for violating article 75 due to lack of evidence. Finally, the report states that the relator came to Italy on more than one occasion “using false documents.” (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). The report concludes with the statement that, “The offence ascribed to Gambino shall be extinguished after the expiry of the maximum term of the period of limitation, in 2009 (thirty years after the commission of the facts).” (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). On November 15, 2005, the Minister of the Italian Ministry of Justice certified the extradition papers and explained that the relator was “charged with the offence of trafficking in narcotic drugs and other of-fences, alleged to have been committed in Italy.” (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). Two days later, the Minister Counselor of the United States at Rome also certified the extradition papers. She likewise stated that the relator was charged with “drug trafficking and other offenses, alleged to have been committed in Italy.” (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). Accordingly, on November 25, 2005, the Italian Embassy, on behalf of the Italian Minister of Justice, presented a “Note Verbale” to the United States Department of State formally requesting the relator’s extradition. The note references the charges in the arrest warrant “for participating in a criminal association with the scope of trafficking narcotics” and the charges in the Preventive Order “for violating narcotics laws.” (Docket Entry # 18, Ex. A). The 2006 earichi pendenti recites both the proceeding involving the violation of article 71, which includes the Preventive Order and the report, and the proceeding involving the article 75 violations charged in the arrest warrant. The recent date of the 2006 carichi pendenti confirms the continued viability of both proceedings and the foregoing charges against the relator. In sum, the relator is charged with illegal narcotics trafficking under article 71 through his involvement in the manufacture of 100 kilograms of morphine into heroin, personally manufactured by Mann-oia, in a group of buildings in Baida in 1979 for delivery to the relator in the United States, aggravated by belonging to a criminal association to export heroin during the period of 1979 to May 5, 1980. The relator is also charged with participating and leading a criminal conspiracy from 1986 to the late fall of 1988 involving the trafficking of heroin and cocaine in violation of article 75. II. United States Proceedings In January 1994, the relator pled guilty to Count One of the Indictment in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in United States v. Gambino et al., 88 Cr. 919(PKL). The plea occurred after a lengthy trial that took place the year before and ended in a hung jury on all but one count for bail jumping. Notably, the relator did not plead guilty to the entirety of Count One, a RICO criminal conspiracy count charging the violation of section 1962(d). Rather, the relator pled guilty to Count One and allocuted his participation solely to racketeering acts one, 24, 27 and 28 in Count One of the Indictment. The relator entered the plea pursuant to a plea agreement contained in a January 5, 1994 letter signed by the government and the relator. That letter states, in pertinent part, that the relator agrees to plead guilty and “to allocute his participation in (1) the murder of Francesco Oliveri, (2) the conspiracy to distribute narcotics, (3) the loansharking operation, and (4) the gambling operation at the Caffe Giardino as charged in Racketeering Acts Twenty-Eight, One, Twenty-Four, and Twenty-Seven of Count One.” (Docket Entry # 17, Ex. B). Racketeering acts one, 24, 27 and 28 in the Indictment, which correspond to the foregoing allocutions, are: (1) the continuing conspiracy to distribute narcotics (racketeering act one); (2) the loansharking operation (racketeering act 24); (3) the gambling operation at the Caffe Giardino (racketeering act 27); and (4) the murder of Francesco Oliveri (racketeering act 28). All parties agree that the relevant racketeering act with respect to the relator’s extradition is number one, the conspiracy to distribute narcotics. The plea agreement does not reference or limit the plea agreement to a conspiracy to import 40 kilograms of heroin into the United States. At the January 5, 1994 plea hearing and consistent with the plea agreement in the letter, the prosecutor listed the racketeering acts committed by the relator as “acts 1, 24, 27 and 28” as what the government would prove at trial and then asked the relator if he “participate^] in the racketeering enterprise by committing racketeering acts involving heroin and cocaine trafficking.” (Docket Entry # 17, Ex. C, p. 34). The relator answered, “Yes.” He further acknowledged that the “enterprise operate[d] in the time frame from 1975 to August 1, 1992.” (Docket Entry # 17, Ex. C, p. 33). That time period corresponds to the time period set forth in racketeering act one in the Indictment which is engaging in a conspiracy from “January 1, 1975, up to and including the date of the filing of this Indictment,” which was September 28, 1992. (Docket Entry # 19, Ex. A, ¶ 15; Docket Entry #27, Ex. 3, p. 2, “Ten Count Indictment (9S) 88 CR 919 was filed in the Southern District of New York on September 28,1992”). Racketeering act one in the Indictment incorporates by reference all of “the overt acts committed in furtherance of the conspiracy” as the overt acts set forth in Count Three. Two of the 81 subpara-graphs of overt acts listed in Count Three directly relate to the subject of the Italian proceeding number 2459/90 for the violation of the drug trafficking statute in article 71. In particular, subparagraphs 48(2) and 48(5) of Count Three, incorporated into racketeering act one as overt acts, consist of the relator’s visit to “a heroin facility outside Palermo” in 1979 and Mannoia’s refinement of 100 “kilograms of heroin for shipment to [the relator]” in early 1979. (Docket Entry # 19, Ex. A, ¶¶ 15, 48(2) & 48(5)). The former corresponds to Mannoia’s recitation that he saw the relator in the laboratory in Baida contained in both the Preventive Order and the report. The latter corresponds to Mannoia’s manufacture of 100 kilograms of heroin in 1979 in Baida for shipment to the relator in the United States noted in both the Preventive Order and the report. Mannoia’s testimony during the 1993 trial in New York further elucidates the nature of the 100 kilogram shipment and additional shipments to Gambino noted in the Indictment and incorporated by reference as an overt act into racketeering act one. Mannoia testified that in or around the start of spring 1979, he refined the 100 kilograms of heroin in the animal barn belonging to Spatola in Baida. The refined heroin was to be shipped to the relator in the United States. (Docket Entry # 19, Ex. D, pp. 332, 353 & 365). As indicated above, this same shipment is also the subject of the article 71 violation for illegal drug trafficking charged in proceeding number 2459/90 and set forth in the Preventive Order and the report. At the January 5, 1994 plea hearing, the relator did not, however, plead to committing the underlying crime of manufacturing, importing or exporting the 100 kilograms of heroin refined by Mannoia in 1979 and shipped to him in the United States. Likewise, turning to the Indietment, the relator did not plead guilty to Count Five, the only count in the ten count Indictment charging an illegal distribution or attempt to distribute a narcotic substance in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841. Additional subparagraphs of overt acts in Count Three, which are incorporated into racketeering act one as overt acts, describe the relator’s attendance at a dinner party at the Baby Luna Restaurant in Sicily in early 1979 with Stefano Bontate (“Bontate”) and Salvatore Inzerillo, who are also referred to in the related underlying facts supporting the charges in the Preventive Order concerning the 100 kilograms of heroin refined in Baida for shipment to the relator. The incorporated overt acts in Count Three additionally describe the refinement in Sicily of 130 kilograms of heroin in the summer of 1979 and 200 kilograms of heroin in the fall of 1979 and the spring of 1980 both “for shipment to [the relator].” (Docket Entry # 19, Ex. A, ¶¶ 48(6) & 48(7)). Mannoia’s 1993 testimony likewise details separate shipments for Bontate of 50, the foregoing 100, 100, 60, 80, 50, 20 and the foregoing 130 kilograms of heroin for delivery to the relator in the United States. (Docket Entry # 19, Ex. D, pp. 354-357 & 362-368). Bontate is not one of the 34 defendants charged in the article 75 criminal conspiracy in the arrest warrant in proceeding number 1885/86. He is, however, noted as taking part in the transport of the 100 kilograms of heroin in 1979 detailed in the Preventive Order and report in proceeding number 2459/90. At the plea hearing itself, the relator pled guilty to Count One and allocuted his participation to racketeering act one. He admitted to “participating] in a plan to arrange the importation of 40 kilograms of heroin to the United States which resulted in a seizure in Milan in March of 1980,” a plan that the Indictment includes as an overt act in Count Three incorporated by reference into racketeering act one as an overt act. (Docket Entry # 17, Ex. C, p. 35; Docket Entry # 19, Ex. A, ¶¶ 48(15) & 48(16)). In a more encompassing acknowledgment, the relator admitted to “participating] in the enterprise’s activities which involved the shipping of significant amounts of heroin to the United States.” (Docket Entry # 17, Ex. C, p. 36). When asked to describe in his own words what he did as part of the “racketeering enterprise’s heroin activity,” the relator stated, “Yes. I agreed with other people to import a quantity of heroin into the United States. In 1979.” (Docket Entry # 17, Ex. C, p. 36; emphasis added). Later during the plea hearing, the relator did not object to the prosecutor’s generalized statement that, “if there had been a trial, the government would prove ... that the enterprise,” as opposed to a particular individual or defendant, “was involved in trafficking substantial amounts of heroin, including a shipment of 40 kilograms of heroin which was seized in Milan in 1980, and other shipments from Stefano Bontate and Sal Inzerillo.” (Docket Entry # 17, Ex. C, p. 37; emphasis added). At the hearing, the relator’s counsel was careful to delineate the limited scope of the plea to conform to the letter agreement as exemplified by the following colloquy: The Court: Mr. John Gambino, do I understand that you are offering to plead guilty because you are guilty of Count One? Defendant John Gambino: Yes, your Honor. Mr. Santangelo: Your Honor, just so it is clear, the defendant understands that he’s pleading guilty to Count One, and he will alloeute to his participation as outlined in the letter. However, he wants to make clear on the record that all of the allegations in Count One, in toto, are not what he is pleading guilty to, there are many, many allegations in that count. We will alloeute sufficiently to satisfy the Court and the government pursuant to the letter that we are guilty of a crime. However, we do not want to mislead the Court or anyone who reads these proceedings that everything that is said in Count One is being pleaded guilty to by Mr. John Gambino. The Court: I understand. (Docket Entry # 17, Ex. C, pp. 27-28). During the hearing, the prosecutor also inquired about the racketeering enterprise’s objects. Racketeering act one equates the objects of the conspiracy to the objects set forth in Count Three. The relevant pleaded objects of the conspiracy set forth in Count Three and incorporated into racketeering act one are the distribution and intent to distribute in excess of one kilogram of heroin and in excess of five kilograms of cocaine. (Docket Entry # 19, Ex. A, ¶¶ 15 & 41-42). When asked at the plea hearing if the enterprise had a common goal functioning on a continuing basis, the relator answered, ‘Yes, we hung out together.” (Docket Entry # 17, Ex. C, p. 33). Also during the plea hearing, the relator acknowledged his participation “in a racketeering enterprise whose activities were centered around 18th Avenue in Brooklyn but which also involved some conduct in the Southern District of New York.” (Docket Entry # 17, Ex. C, p. 30). He also agreed that “the conduct relating to the heroin act, trafficking activity, occurred] in” New York. (Docket Entry # 17, Ex. C, p. 37). At the close of the hearing, the relator waived a detailed reading of the Indictment and pled guilty to Count One. At the June 15,1994 sentencing hearing, the trial judge sentenced the relator under Count One to the agreed upon 15 year sentence set forth in the plea agreement. Although the trial judge noted that the June 1994 presentence report (“PSR”) was “a faithful summary of the government’s evidence at trial” at the sentencing hearing, he recognized that the PSR contained additional matters that were not allocuted to the defendants. (Docket Entry # 19, Ex. B, p. 3). The trial judge then carefully explained that the defendants were not waiving their objections to the summary in the PSR and that he would sentence the defendants based only upon what was allo-cuted. (Docket Entry # 19, Ex. B, pp. 4 & 10). As previously explained, the relator pled guilty to Count One and allocuted his participation to racketeering act one (the conspiracy to distribute narcotics) as well as three other racketeering acts not germane to the present proceedings. Hence, although the relator points out the similarities between a presentence report dated in March 1994 to the facts set forth in Count Three (Docket Entry # 27, fn. 7 & 8), the relator was not, by virtue of the PSR at least, held accountable for the facts set forth in Count Three or otherwise sentenced to 15 years imprisonment based upon the PSR. Rather, the trial judge sentenced the relator to 15 years imprisonment on Count One based upon what was allocuted in the plea agreement as opposed to the facts or acts in the PSR. (Docket Entry # 19, Ex. B, pp. 3 — 4, 10, 21 (1.23— 25), 22 (1.1-2) & 28 (1.10-18)). At the sentencing hearing, the government asked the trial judge to dismiss all open counts except for forfeiture counts nine and ten, pending a filing from the government. The trial judge then stated he was “dismissing all the open counts other than the two counts referred to by the government,” whereupon the government identified a third count, the bail jumping count. The trial judge agreed to also leave that count open and stated that, “All prior indictments other than what has been spoken to by the government all open counts are dismissed.” (Docket Entry # 19, Ex. B, p. 27). The judgment against the relator states that counts two through seven “and all prior indictments are dismissed on the motion of the United States.” (2/1/06 Hearing, Ex. 4). The judgment does not check the box immediately above this language that, “The defendant has been found not guilty on count(s)_ and is discharged as to such count(s).” (2/1/06 Hearing, Ex. 4). DISCUSSION The relator’s arguments center around the 1983 Treaty’s non bis in idem clause, the absence of probable cause and a summary of facts under article X of the 1983 Treaty with respect to the article 75 violations in the arrest warrant and the absence of a valid charging document under article I of the 1983 Treaty. The arguments are addressed seriatim. I. 1983 Treaty’s Non Bis in Idem Clause The relator raises a series of arguments concerning the import of the 1983 Treaty’s non bis in idem clause. First, the relator asserts that he has been convicted in the New York case based upon the same or substantially the same facts for which his extradition is sought by Italy. Next, he maintains that he has served the sentence imposed for the same or substantially the same facts for which Italy requests his extradition. Conversely, the relator argues that if he has not been convicted or served the sentence for the same or substantially the same facts then he must have been acquitted of those facts. All of these arguments turn upon the language employed in the 1983 Treaty’s non bis in idem clause to which this court now turns. Unfortunately, the English version and the Italian translation employ different terms. In a change from the prior 1973 Extradition Treaty with Italy, Jan. 18, 1973, U.S.-Italy, 26 U.S.T. 493, T.I.A.S. No. 8052 (1973) (“the 1973 Treaty”), the non bis in idem clause in the 1983 Treaty reads as follows: Article VI Non Bis in Idem Extradition shall not be granted when the person sought has been convicted, acquitted or pardoned, or has served the sentence imposed, by the Requested Party for the same acts for which extradition is requested. 35 U.S.T. 3023, T.I.A.S. No. 10,837 (1983) (emphasis added). The Italian version uses the term “stessi fatti” for the English phrase “same acts.” Translated into English, “stessi fatti” “means ‘for the same facts.”’ (Docket Entry #23, p. 48; Docket Entry # 27, Ex. 1, ¶ 4). Notably, immediately above the signatures of the parties, the 1983 Treaty provides that both the English and the Italian versions of the 1983 Treaty are “equally authentic.” 35 U.S.T. 3023, T.I.A.S. No. 10,837 (1983) (“DONE at Rome ... in duplicate in the English and Italian languages, both equally authentic”). The 1973 Treaty used the term “offense” in lieu of the term “same acts.” Interpretation of an international treaty begins with the language itself unless it effects a result inconsistent with the parties’ intentions. Sumitomo Shoji America, Inc. v. Avagliano, 457 U.S. 176, 180, 102 S.Ct. 2374, 72 L.Ed.2d 765 (1982) (“clear import of treaty language controls unless ‘application of the words of the treaty according to their obvious meaning effects a result inconsistent with the intent or expectations of its signatories”’); see Elcock v. United States, 80 F.Supp.2d 70, 78 (E.D.N.Y.2000) (interpretation of treaty must begin with the treaty’s language); M. Cherif Bassiouni International Extradition: United States Law and Practice, ch. II, § 5.3 (4th ed.2002) (summarizing treaty interpretation rules, the first being, “The purpose of treaty interpretation is to ascertain the plain meaning of the language that comports with the parties’ intentions”). As further explained by the Court in Sumitomo, a court’s role “is limited to giving effect to the intent of the Treaty parties.” Sumitomo Shoji America, Inc. v. Avagliano, 457 U.S. at 185, 102 S.Ct. 2374; accord Valentine v. United States ex rel. Neidecker, 299 U.S. 5, 10, 57 S.Ct. 100, 81 L.Ed. 5 (1936) (stating “familiar rule that the obligations of treaties should be liberally construed so as to give effect to the apparent intention of the parties”). Interpreting a treaty thus starts “ ‘with the text of the treaty and the context in which the written words are used.’ ” Societe Nationale Industrielle Aerospatiale v. United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, 482 U.S. 522, 534, 107 S.Ct. 2542, 96 L.Ed.2d 461 (1987); accord Restatement (Third) of Foreign Relations Law of the United States, § 325(a) (1987) (treaty is interpreted “in accordance with the ordinary meaning to be given to the terms of the agreement in their context and in light of its object and purpose”). The “context” of a term within a treaty includes inter alia the text and the preamble. Restatement (Third) of For eign Relations Law of the United States, § 325 cmt. b (1987). Unfortunately, not only does the text of the American and Italian versions employ different terms, but the majority of cases addressing the scope of non bis in idem clauses involve treaties using the term “offense” as opposed to “act” or “fact.” Michael Abbell and Bruno A. Ristau 4 International Judicial Assistance § 13-3-3(10) (1997) (“The few cases in which the scope of non bis in idem protection has been discussed have arisen under treaties using the offense, rather than act, terminology”). Even the eases interpreting the term “offense” refer to the absence of an international consensus or an “established solution” for the problem posed of ascertaining identity of offenses in applying a non bis in idem clause. Sindona v. Grant, 619 F.2d at 177 (“no established solution exists for the ‘famous problem of identity of offenses for application of non bis in idem ’ ”); Elcock v. United States, 80 F.Supp.2d at 79 (recognizing double jeopardy as “a widely accepted principle of criminal justice with roots in Roman law” but also noting “there is no international consensus on its precise meaning”); In the Matter of the Extradition of Montiel, 802 F.Supp. 773, 778 (E.D.N.Y.1992) (interpreting “offense” based language in non bis in idem clause and noting “the absence of international agreement on the scope of the concept”). Professor Bassiouni agrees with respect to the terms “same facts” or “same acts” in a non bis in idem clause. (Docket Entry # 27, Ex. 1, ¶ 4) (“there is no customary international law rule that bars extradition for the same facts or acts”). What can be said about the term “same acts” is that use of that term as opposed to the term “same offense” likely creates broader protection for the requested person. Elcock v. United States, 80 F.Supp.2d at 79 (dicta noting that, “it appears relatively clear that use of the term ‘same acts’ in a non bis in idem clause confers broader protection against extradition than a clause that uses the term ‘same offense” ’); Michael Abbell and Bruno A. Ristau 4 International Judicial Assistance § 13-2-4(19) (1997) (“use of the term ‘acts’ would appear to provide somewhat greater protection to the requested person than the term ‘offense” ’). Likewise, use of the term “same facts” in a non bis in idem clause also appears to create a broader protection for the requested person than use of the term “same offense.” M. Cherif Bassiouni International Extradition: United States Law and Practice, ch. VII, § 4.3 (4th ed.2002). The terms “same acts” and “same facts,” like the term “same offense,” see Sindona v. Grant, 619 F.2d at 177, can yield a range of obvious or ordinary meanings. “Same acts” could mean that the acts for which the requested person was convicted must be identical to the facts constituting the grounds for the extradition, i.e., the offenses charged by the requesting state, a position taken by the government’s expert, Professor Massimo Starita (“Professor Starita”), a professor of International Law at the University of Palermo. In a like vein, Professor Bassiouni acknowledges in his treatise that the similar phrase “same conduct” could be interpreted to mean “identical acts.” M. Cherif Bassiouni International Extradition: United States Law and Practice, ch. VII, § 4.3 (4th ed.2002). “Same acts” or “same facts” could also mean a series of acts or facts related by the design or the intent of the charged defendant or related by a close spatial relationship, including overlapping actors, time periods and transactions. “Same acts” or “same facts” could also mean the same evidence and material propositions of fact. See M. Cherif Bas-siouni International Extradition: United States Law and Practice, ch. VII, § 4.3 (4th ed.2002) (“concept of same facts includes same evidence and material propositions of fact”). Professor Bassiouni, however, attests that article VI precludes extradition “for the same or substantially the same acts or facts for which that person is sought for extradition.” (Docket Entry # 27, Ex. 1, ¶ 3). He repeatedly and predominantly avers that article VI precludes extradition when the relator has been convicted, acquitted or served the sentence for the “same, or substantially the same, facts.” (Docket Entry # 34, Ex. 1, ¶¶ 2 & 8; Docket Entry # 27, Ex. 1, ¶¶ 4, 6, (d) & (e)). With all due respect to his expertise, the reasoning is suspect. First, his reasoning that interpretation of the 1983 Treaty must begin with an appreciation of the changes in international extradition law and practice since the 1970s which the 1983 Treaty reflects is not convincing. (Docket Entry # 34, Ex. 1, ¶ 2). Not only should the interpretation begin with the language itself, but the changes wrought primarily involved the dual criminality principle and the definition of extraditable offenses, a change which the Senate' Report recognized but which the report did not recognize with respect to the non bis in idem clause. Second, his reliance upon the adoption of a fact based approach to non bis in idem by the International Association of Penal Law in 2004 (Docket Entry # 34, Ex. 1, ¶ 3; Docket Entry # 27, ¶ 4) does not shed a great deal of light upon what the contracting parties to this treaty intended the non bis in idem provision to mean two decades earlier. Third, in both his treatise and in a case in which he testified about a similar term, United States v. Jurado-Rodriguez, 907 F.Supp. 568 (E.D.N.Y.1995) (interpreting extradition decree involving the French term “faits” which translated lead to the different terms of “facts” and “acts”), Professor Bassiouni indicated that the term “faits,” a term he translated at the December 20, 2005 hearing to mean “facts,” equates to “material propositions of fact,” United States v. Jurado-Rodriguez, 907 F.Supp. at 575; M. Cherif Bassiouni International Extradition: United States Law and Practice, ch. VII, § 4.3 (4th ed.2002) (“concept of same facts includes same evidence and material propositions of fact”); (Docket Entry # 27, Ex. 1, fn. 16); (Docket Entry # 27, fn. 4; “ ‘concept of same facts includes same evidence and material propositions of fact’ ”), as opposed to the same or substantially the same facts. The court in Jurado-Rodriguez, which admittedly involved a different extradition decree and an interpretation of Luxemburg law thereby diminishing its prece-dential weight, equated the term “faits” to “what is referred to in our courts as ‘material propositions of fact’ or ‘operative facts’ or ‘ultimate facts’ — that is to say factual elements required to make out a prima facie case.” United States v. Jurado-Rodriguez, 907 F.Supp. at 578 (citing United States v. Shonubi, 895 F.Supp. 460, 483-484 (E.D.N.Y.1995); Jerome Michael & Mortimer Adler, The Trial of an Issue of Fact: I & II, 34 Colum.L.Rev. 1224, 1252 & 1462 (1934); and John H. Mansfield et al., Cases and Materials on Evidence, ch. 1 (8th ed.1988)). In employing the definition “material propositions of fact,” the court applied it to the facts by focusing upon the evidence that “would form the basis of proof of the elements of the charge.” Id. The definition of term facts in Jurado-Rodriguez and under one of the interpretations of the term by Professor Bassiouni in his treatise and in testimony in Jurado-Rodriguez thus equates the term with “material propositions of fact,” an interpretation that is offense based. Finally, the definition used by Professor Bassiouni and urged by the relator is, coincidentally, similar to that discussed by the Second Circuit in Sindona, a decision to which this court now turns. The Second Circuit in Sindona interpreted the prior language from the 1973 Treaty that included the term “offense” as opposed to “same acts” or “same facts.” In interpreting the term “offense,” the court approved the lower court’s adoption of “ ‘a modified and more flexible test of whether the same conduct or transaction underlies the criminal charges in both transactions.’ ” Sindona v. Grant, 619 F.2d at 178. The court then analogized that test to Justice Brennan’s view in Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 453-454, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970) (concurring opinion) (“Double Jeopardy Clause requires the prosecution, except in most limited circumstances, to join at one trial all the charges against a defendant that grow out of a single criminal act, occurrence, episode, or transaction”), and the Department of Justice’s Petite policy. The court defined the latter policy as precluding trial in a federal case “when there has been a state prosecution for substantially the same act or acts,” which is similar to the language used by the relator’s expert interpreting the different language of the 1983 Treaty. Believing that the language of the non bis in idem clause in the 1973 Treaty was “at least as broad as that expressed” by Justice Brennan in Ashe “or in the Petite policy,” the Sindona court then applied the clause and held that the crimes in the American indictment involving American banks and depositors were “on the periphery of the circle of crime charged by the Italian prosecutors,” which was an Italian fraudulent bankruptcy charge involving the collapse of an Italian bank. Sindona v. Grant, 619 F.2d at 179. Sindona is distinguishable because the holding involved a comparison of different Italian and American crimes than those charged in the case at bar. Although the court noted that the Petite policy would apply “where the act of receiving a large marijuana shipment resulted in federal charges of conspiracy to distribute and state charges of possession with intent to deliver,” the court also discounted this case law guidance as having limited scope because the Petite policy applies only to the United States. Sindona v. Grant, 619 F.2d at 179 (because “Petite policy rests largely in the discretion of the Department of Justice and applies only to the United States ..., case law guidance on its scope is limited”). The foregoing example in Sindona is therefore, at best, dicta. In addition, as “an internal Justice Department policy,” this circuit has “repeatedly held that the Petite policy does not confer substantive rights on criminal defendants.” United States v. Gary, 74 F.3d 304, 313 (1st Cir.1996). Rather than interpret the non bis in idem clause in the 1983 Treaty, which admittedly contains language that is broader and more favorable to the relator than that interpreted and applied by the court in Sindona, as similar by analogy to the Petite policy, the more appropriate inquiry is to examine the language of the clause, the context of that language and then, if appropriate, turn to additional interpretive guides noted infra including the legislative history, any interpretation from the executive department and any subsequent practice adopted by the parties. As noted above, the words “same acts” or “same facts” yield a number of plain or ordinary meanings. Examining the immediate context, the clause itself connects the preposition “for” and “same acts” or “same facts” with the terms “convicted, acquitted or pardoned, or has served the sentence imposed.” The terms “convicted” “acquitted” and “served the sentence imposed” necessarily involve a prior crime or offense. The language in the body of the article therefore supports an interpretation that closely connects the same facts or same acts to the offense. Interpreting the phrases to mean the same “material propositions of fact” or the coincidence of all “factual elements” is consonant with the language in the body of the article. The heading of the article, “Non Bis in Idem,” refers to a maxim “that is found throughout the civil law” as well as the common law. Bartkus v. Illinois, 359 U.S. 121, 155 n. 9, 79 S.Ct. 676, 3 L.Ed.2d 684 (1958); Sindona v. Grant, 619 F.2d at 177. Accepting the premise that it is based “on the prohibition of prosecution for the same facts,” the heading indicates not only an intention to bar prosecution for the same offense but also to bar prosecution for the “same facts,” a concept that can encompass “material propositions of fact,” M. Cherif Bassiouni International Extradition: United States Law and Practice, ch. VII, § 4.3 (4th ed.2002) (emphasis added), in other words, those propositions of fact that are material to or required to make out a prima facie case. See generally United States v. Jurado-Rodriguez, 907 F.Supp. at 578. Logically, you are not convicted or sentenced “for” an offense because you have red hair or are right handed. Rather, you are convicted of an offense “for” engaging in the acts or facts that comprise the basis for the offense. Such facts or acts are what the law calls material facts. Id. at 578; see also In the Matter of the Extradition of Montiel Garcia, 802 F.Supp. at 778 (“[t]he mere fact that the same evidence may be used in two prosecutions does not, however, mean that those prosecutions involve the same conduct”). Because the foregoing context may still fall short of providing a clear or single interpretation, this court turns to other interpretive guides. “[TJreaties are construed more liberally than private agreements, and to ascertain their meaning” a court “may look beyond the written words to the history of the treaty, the negotiations, and the practical construction adopted by the parties.” Choctaw Nation of Indians v. United States, 318 U.S. 423, 431-432, 63 S.Ct. 672, 87 L.Ed. 877 (1943); accord Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians, 526 U.S. 172, 196, 119 S.Ct. 1187, 143 L.Ed.2d 270 (1999) (looking “beyond the written words to the larger context that frames the Treaty, including ‘the history of the treaty, the negotiations, and the practical construction adopted by the parties’ ”); El Al Israel Airlines, Ltd. v. Tseng, 525 U.S. 155, 167, 119 S.Ct. 662, 142 L.Ed.2d 576 (1999) (“we have traditionally considered as aids to [a treaty’s] interpretation the negotiating and drafting history (travaux preparatoires) and the postratification understanding of the contracting parties”). Senate reports are therefore “a proper interpretive guide.” Elcock v. United States, 80 F.Supp.2d at 79. In this instance, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Report to the full Senate (“the Senate Report”) describes article VI and the non bis in idem clause as “standard United States extradition treaty practice.” S.Exec.Rep.No. 98-33, 98th Cong., 2nd Sess. (1984) (emphasis added). According to the treatise authored by the relator’s expert, “Most United States treaties refer to the ‘same offense’ or substantially the same offense.” M. Cherif Bassiouni In- temational Extradition: United States Law and Practice, ch. VIII, § 4.3 (4th ed.2002); accord Michael Abbell and Bruno A. Ristau 4 International Judicial Assistance § 13-2-4(19) (1997) (“[t]he great majority of these treaties,” referring to treaties containing non bis in idem clauses, “bar extradition only if the requested person had been convicted or acquitted, or was being tried, in the requested country for the same ‘offense’ ” and only “[a] few” bar extradition “for the same ‘acts’ ”) (emphasis added); see also Sindona v. Grant, 619 F.2d at 177 (noting that “[i]n most recent United States treaties, the formulation of’ the double jeopardy clauses is similar to the 1973 Treaty and precludes extradition “when the person sought is being prosecuted or has been prosecuted ‘for the offense for which extradition is requested’ ”) (emphasis added). “Standard” United States extradition treaty practice with respect to non bis in idem clauses, therefore, continued to preclude extradition where the requested person had been convicted of the same offense as opposed to the same facts or acts for which extradition was sought. More broadly, the modern trend in extradition treaties, including the trend in treaties with the United States, is to turn away from listing a series of offenses as extraditable, M. Cherif Bassiouni International Extradition: United States Law and Practice, ch. VII, § 2 (4th ed.2002); Michael Abbell and Bruno A. Ristau 4 International Judicial Assistance § 13 — 2— 4(2) (1997), a practice Professor Bassiouni refers to as parallel to the rejection of offense based language in the non bis in idem clause of the present treaty (Docket Entry # 27, Ex. 1, ¶ 5; Docket Entry # 34, Ex. 1, ¶ 2). The relator therefore argues that the provision applicable to extraditable offenses and dual criminality, found in article II of the present treaty and reflected in the Senate Report, must be read in conjunction with the non bis in idem clause in article VI as the two are parallel and confirm that the 1983 Treaty is fact based. (Docket Entry # 27, Ex. 1, ¶ 5; Docket Entry # 16, pp. 5-6; Docket Entry # 34, Ex. 1, ¶ 2). While this court agrees that the treaty should be read in context and as a whole, it cannot overlook the starkly different reasons for the clauses and the principles of dual criminality and extraditable offenses as distinct from the principle of non bis in idem. “Dual criminality requires that an accused be extradited only if the alleged criminal conduct is considered criminal under the laws of both the surrendering and requesting nations.” United States v. Saccoccia, 18 F.3d 795, 800 n. 6 (9th Cir.1994); M. Cherif Bassiouni International Extradition: United States Law and Practice, ch. VII, § 2 (4th ed.2002); (dual criminality “means that the crime charged in the requested state is also a crime in the requesting state”). Extraditable offenses, in turn, refers to “those offenses that are deemed subject to extradition.” Id. Extradition treaties either list a series of extraditable offenses or designate a formula, typically based upon a minimum penalty. See M. Cherif Bassiouni International Extradition: United States Law and Practice, ch. VII, § 3.3 (4th ed.2002) (methods to determine extraditable offenses fall into either the enumerative or eliminative method). Use of a formula based method avoids lengthy treaty negotiations “by eliminating the need for negotiators to spend endless hours trying to reach agreement on the precise terminology required to express particular offenses.” Michael Abbell and Bruno A. Ristau 4 International Judicial Assistance § 13 — 2—4(2) (1997). Another basis for preferring a formula based method is that it avoids the need to renegotiate a supplementary extradition treaty for the sole purpose of including an additional offense in the list of extraditable offenses. Id. The 1983 Treaty is no exception to this modern trend. Paragraph one of article II employs a formula method defining extraditable offenses as those offenses punishable by more than one year incarceration. Paragraph two of article II then expressly notes as extraditable offenses “[a]ny type of association to commit offenses described in paragraph one ..., as provided by the laws of Italy, and conspiracy to commit an offense described in paragraph one ..., as provided by the laws of the United States.” 35 U.S.T. 3023, T.I.A.S. No. 10,837 (1983). In describing the first paragraph of article II, the Senate Report explains that, “Paragraph one of this Article also follows the policy set in all other modern United States extradition treaties by making it clear that it is the nature of the underlying conduct; not its denomination in each country, that is critical to the application of the dual criminality principle.” S.Exec. Rep.No. 98-33, 98th Cong., 2nd Sess. (1984). In describing the second paragraph of article II, the Senate Report notes that, “We were assured by the Italian negotiators that the association offenses” in RICO were “sufficiently analogous to Italian illicit association offenses to be extraditable under the Treaty.” Id. The relator quotes and relies upon both of these statements from the Senate Report and then analogizes them to the purportedly similar fact or conduct based change in article VI. While this court agrees that the language of article VI must be read in the context of the entire treaty, it would be a mistake to over emphasize the parallelism between the extraditable offense article and the double jeopardy or non bis in idem article. First, the reasons for the extraditable offense article and the non bis in idem article are not the same. The former ensures that the crime for which extradition is sought is also a crime in the requested state. The latter arises from the “fundamental norm of non bis in idem” Sindona v. Grant, 619 F.2d at 177 (citing M. Chief Bassiouni International Extradition and World Public Order, pp. 452-59 (1974)), which “embodies the principle that no one shall be twice placed in jeopardy for the same offense.” M. Chief Bassiouni International Extradition and World Public Order, p. 452 (1974). Second, the Senate Report’s description of article II makes it apparent that the committee was well aware of the change to the 1983 Treaty created by dispensing with the list of extraditable offenses. S.Exec.Rep.No. 98-33, 98th Cong., 2nd Sess. (1984) (“Article II: Extraditable Offenses.- — This Treaty, like the recently negotiated treaties with Costa Rica ..., dispenses with the list of offenses contained in previous United States extradition treaties” and, “Instead of listing each offense ..., the Treaty adopts the prevailing modern international practice”). In striking contrast to this description of article II as changing existing practice, the Senate Report describes article VI as adhering to existing practice because the article follows “standard United States extradition treaty practice.” Id. The Senate Report therefore clarifies that article VI was intended to foster an offense based interpretation of the terms. An additional interpretive guide other than the Senate Report is “the meaning attributed to treaty provisions by the Government agencies charged with their negotiation and enforcement,” a meaning that “is entitled to great weight.” Sumitomo Shoji America, Inc. v. Avagliano, 457 U.S. at 184-185, 102 S.Ct. 2374; accord Charlton v. Kelly, 229 U.S. 447, 468, 33 S.Ct. 945, 57 L.Ed. 1274 (1913) (“construction of a treaty by the political department of the Government, while not conclusive upon a court called upon to construe such a treaty in a matter involving personal rights, is nevertheless of much weight”); United States v. Kin-Hong, 110 F.3d 103, 110 (1st Cir.1997) (“executive branch’s construction of a treaty, although not binding upon the courts, is entitled to great weight”); Elcock v. United States, 80 F.Supp.2d at 79 (“executive branch’s construction of a treaty, although not binding on the courts, is entitled to great weight”). In the case at bar, the letter of transmittal from Secretary of State George Schultz to President Ronald Reagan is therefore entitled to “great weight.” Croll v. Croll, 229 F.3d 133, 142 (2nd Cir.2000) (finding Secretary Schultz’s view of the treaty set forth in his letter of submittal to President Reagan “is entitled to ‘great weight’ ”). Although the letter did not clarify the reason for the change of the term from the 1973 Treaty, it did summarize article VI as offense based. The relevant portion states that, “Article 6 provides that extradition shall be denied when the person sought has been in jeopardy in the requested State for the same offense.” (Docket Entry # 17, Ex. A; emphasis added). In addition, President Regan primarily viewed the treaty as a means to facilitate prosecution of narcotics conspiracies. His relatively brief letter of submittal to the Senate emphasizes that, “The treaty will facilitate United States efforts to prosecute narcotics conspiracies by exp