Results tagged “stephencaracappa”

Louis Eppolito, who was accused of moonlighting as one half of a mafia hit squad, has expressed his displeasure with the bad press he's been getting. In a letter to the Associated Press, penned from prison, Eppolito said that the coverage surrounding his and his partner's case was a "media circus" and contributed to his continued imprisonment despite the fact that his conviction was overturned by a judge.

The Suffolk County DA's office believes that the NYPD cadet who plotted to kill his girlfriend may have wanted to prevent her from telling anyone about his "shady past." Kabeer Din, a Long Island resident who is being held on $1.5 million bond/$150,000 cash bail, had just started the city's police academy after some time with Baltimore's police department when the NYPD's Internal Affairs found out that Din was looking for a hit man. When an undercover detective posing as a contract killer met with Din, the rookie apparently wondered about disgraced "Mafia Cops" Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, asking, "Is there some kind of unofficial connection between police types and mob types?" Which is certainly weird, as Eppolito and Caracappa are on trial (still!) for carrying out murders for the mob. Anyway, as it's unclear what Din's "shady past" might be, another hypothesis for the murderous plot is that Din was mad his girlfriend turned down his marriage proposal. His sister, Anjma Hussain, said that her brother was a "devout Muslim" and that the allegations were not true, emphasizing that he wouldn't even date a woman the family didn't know.

The much ballyhooed trial of Mafia cops Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa ended in guilty verdicts and life sentences a few weeks ago. But Eppolito decided to stick around the courthouse a little longer, by claiming his defense from John Gotti's lawyer, Bruce Cutler, was not up to snuff. Therefore, Eppolito must be granted a new trial - hello, buyer's remorse! Eppolito got a contended that Cutler prevented him from testifying in the trial, and actually took the stand in the competency hearing. Unfortunately, Eppolito testified that he'd lie when necesary - and then admitted he would wash his hand after "shaking a black man's hands." Now, Cutler did free associate quite a bit and mock gangsters for turning informants, but a Brooklyn judge found him "not incompetent" (that's a ringing endorsement!) yesterday, noting that Cutler probably did the right thing in not letting Eppolito testify.

If you've ever been interested in the mafia, either the real live mob or the movie kind, Gothamist highly recommends that you follow the trial of former NYPD detectives Stephen Caracappa and Louis Eppolito, who are accused of racketeering (and being involved in eight murders), which is going on in Brooklyn Federal Court right now. The lead witness for the prosecution was a 72 year old convicted pot dealer, another witness said one of the cops used mob money to launch his screenwriting dreams in Hollywood and one of the defendants eats lunch at the Park Place diner - Newsday notes Eppolito likes pastrami on rye with mustard (but who doesn't?). All the local papers have had coverage that goes beyond colorful - it's like you're watching an episode of The Sopranos, only if that were crossed wtih NYPD Blue and The Shield. Today, the NY Times looks at how Eppolito's autobiography, Mafia Cop, is at the center of the trial, since Eppolito comes out seeming like a very "conflicted but ultimately dedicated" (NY Times) police officer as well as an imaginative writer; the Daily News' Denis Hamill mentioned a Mafia Cop quote: "I learned something about myself during that gunfight. I not only had the capacity to kill. I had the capacity to forget about it, to not let it bother me." Huh. [Fitting for this digital age, Pocket Books is offering the Mafia Cop for download on Amazon - and you don't have to feel like you might be supporting a possible murderer, as Eppolito doesn't get any residuals.]

The wrongdoing by the alleged "mafia cops" - NYPD detectives who allegedly worked as mob hitmen - may have extended to their own detective work. Barry Gibbs, a former postal worker who had been accused, convicted, and imprisoned for 19 years for the murder of a prostitute, was set free because it turns out that then Detective Louis Eppolito had induced a witness into picking Barry Gibbs out of a line up, even though the man the witness had seen at the scene was smaller and shorter. Gibbs had maintained his innocence since his 1988 conviction, and contacted the Innocence Project for help. And when Eppolito, as well as partner Detective Stephen Caracappa, was indicted in March, attorney Barry Scheck recognized his name and went to the Brooklyn DA's office to relook at the case. And Newsday noted Gibbs' dining plans:

Gibbs, who is Jewish, told reporters he was hungry and wanted to go out and have a big lobster dinner.

Continue reading "Postal Worker Patsy Finally Freed"

The NYPD is being rocked by news that two former police officers were on the take from the mob, for their roles in eight murders. Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa were arrested in Las Vegas, where they moved after retiring from the NYPD, and charged with racketeering conspiracy, two attempted murders, obstruction of justice, money laundering and more. The US Attorney's office claims that Eppolito and Caracappa used their ties in the NYPD to smoke out rival gangsters for the Lucchese family; the NY Times wrote, "in 1986, they flashed their badges and kidnapped a mobster, threw him in the trunk of their car and delivered him to a rival, who tortured and killed him." Also, it seems that the feds tried to connect the pair to the mob in 1994, but that case fell apart because the mob informant wasn't a reliable witness; it seems that the current informant is better suited. The Daily News has a list of the murders the two ex-cops were allegedly involved in.