FEDS: BADGES SHIELDED MOB

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/40962.htm

it says they're being charged with murder conspiracy as well...wow, gosh...all this time, i didn't think conspiracies existed...but i guess it's just other peoples' conspiracies...we all know people in positions in governments in history have never conspired to do anything bad to anyone.


FEDS: BADGES SHIELDED MOB

By KATI CORNELL SMITH, LARRY CELONA and ANDY GELLER
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March 11, 2005 -- Two brazen former NYPD detectives led secret lives as Mafia hit men, whacking one wiseguy, delivering another for execution and passing on confidential information that led to the coldblooded murders of six others, prosecutors said yesterday.
In their most outrageous action, Louis Eppolito, 56 â?? who wrote the book "Mafia Cop" and acted in the movie "GoodFellas" â?? and Stephen Caracappa, 63, rubbed out Eddie Lino, a Gambino family capo, for $65,000, the feds said.

Almost as unthinkable, the dirty duo received $35,000 for delivering Gambino soldier James Hydell for execution by Luchese family underboss Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso.

Gaspipe believed that Lino, Hydell and two other men carried out a Sept. 14, 1986, attempt on his life and was hot for revenge.

Lino pulled the trigger in the fabled hit on Gambino boss Paul Castellano outside Sparks steakhouse on Dec. 16, 1985 â?? a killing that brought John Gotti to the top of the storied mob family.

At Gaspipe's request, the ex-cops also tried â?? but failed â?? to rub out Salvatore "Sammy Bull" Gravano, the mob canary whose testimony put the Dapper Don behind bars for life.

And they were DumbFellas as well as GoodFellas â?? providing bad information that resulted in the tragic, mistaken-ID slaying of a mildly retarded man.



In all, Eppolito and Caracappa â?? one squat and loud, the other thin and quiet â?? were charged under racketeering laws with eight murders, two attempted murders, murder conspiracy, obstruction of justice, drug distribution and money laundering.

If convicted, they could spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

"These corrupt former detectives betrayed their shields, their colleagues, and the citizens they were sworn to protect," said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf. "They used the confidential files of the NYPD as their personal yellow pages."

Eppolito â?? the son, grandson and nephew of mobsters with nicknames like "Fat the Gangster" and "Jimmy the Clam" â?? has had bit parts in movies, including playing Fat Andy in "GoodFellas."

He and Caracappa were busted Wednesday night in a restaurant off the Strip in Las Vegas, where they moved after retiring from the force in 1990 and 1992. They live across the street from each other on Silver Bear Way.

Cops did not try to bust them in their homes because Eppolito has a collection of more than 200 guns, sources said.

At a hearing in Las Vegas federal court last night, the two did not enter pleas, and the hearing was adjourned until today so their lawyers could have time to argue against the prosecution's request for no bail.

"The government is relying on the word of rats," snapped Caracappa's lawyer David Chesnoff.

Gaspipe, serving life for murder, raised the charges against Eppolito and Caracappa in 1994, but authorities felt he wasn't reliable. They now have a new witness.

According to federal and state prosecutors and court papers, Gaspipe placed the detectives on his payroll after the September 1986 hit attempt, paying them a retainer of $4,000 a month each, with more for extra services.

He called them his "crystal ball," sources said.

Using their NYPD resources â?? Caracappa was a founder of the Organized Crime Homicide Unit â?? the dirty duo determined the strike was carried out by a four-man Gambino crew, the feds say.

They identified Hydell as one of the crew, and in October 1986, they allegedly kidnapped Hydell, stuffed him into the trunk of a car and delivered him to Casso.

The underboss tortured Hydell until he gave up the names of the three others and then was murdered. His body has never been found.

Casso bragged he did the killing himself, shooting Hydell 15 times, sources said.

The detectives allegedly got $35,000 "extra" for their chilling efforts.

The next victim, Nicholas Guido, who was mildly retarded, was tragically slain in a case of mistaken identify.

The real target, also named Nicholas Guido, was a Gambino associate who lived in the same neighborhood, but was three years older.

The dirty duo fingered the wrong man, feds say. On Christmas Day, 1986, Casso dispatched a hit team to the wrong Nicholas Guido and he was murdered.

Nevertheless, Gaspipe gave the detectives a contract to kill Bartolomeo "Bobby" Boriello, a Gambino soldier who was supposed to be part of the hit crew.

But the pair had to abandon their efforts when a fellow cop discovered they were searching for Boriello, according to prosecutors.

Still, they allegedly gave Gaspipe information about Boriello's whereabouts plus an audio cassette in which the Gambino soldier repeatedly threatened the underboss and his family.

On May 13, 1991, Boriello was murdered.

In November 1992, the detectives allegedly accepted a $65,000 contract from Gaspipe to murder Lino, the last member of the hit squad.

Eppolito had retired from the NYPD, but Caracappa was still on the force.

On Nov. 6, 1990, the two allegedly followed Lino from his social club, pulled his Mercedes over on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn and killed him. Caracappa pulled the trigger, sources say.

The pair also tried to kill Gravano because Gaspipe thought he was linked to the four, but gave up, feds say. The pair also allegedly helped the underboss eliminate mobsters he thought were cooperating with the feds, including John "Otto" Heidel and James "Jimmy" Bishop, an official in the Painters Union Local 37.

Eppolito and Caracappa met in 1979 when they were both working in Brooklyn robbery.

Joseph Ponzi, the Brooklyn district attorney's chief investigator, and retired detective Thomas Dades, revived the investigation two years ago.

Additional reporting by Murray Weiss and Bob Shemeligian in Las Vegas

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/03/10/ma....ap/index.html

Feds: Men were cops by day, hitmen by night
Friday, March 11, 2005 Posted: 5:45 AM EST (1045 GMT)

NEW YORK (AP) -- Two police detectives led double lives as Mafia hitmen, kidnapping and killing rival gangsters and giving confidential information to the mob for more than a decade, federal prosecutors charged Thursday.

One of the suspects, Louis Eppolito, wrote an autobiography titled "Mafia Cop: The Story of an Honest Cop Whose Family Was the Mob," which dealt among other things with what he described as false charges of Mafia involvement.

He and his former partner, Stephen Caracappa, were arrested Wednesday night at a restaurant off the Las Vegas Strip, law enforcement officials said. The pair have been living in Las Vegas, across the street from each other, since retiring in the early 1990s.

Each is charged with eight murders, two attempted murders, murder conspiracy, obstruction of justice, drug distribution and money laundering.

"These corrupt former detectives betrayed their shields, their colleagues, and the citizens they were sworn to protect," U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf said.

The pair appeared late Thursday in federal court in Las Vegas but did not enter pleas. The hearing was postponed until Friday.

Outside court, Caracappa's lawyer David Chesnoff accused the government of using "organized crime figures who are trying to save their lives" to build their case. "The government is relying on the words of rats," he said.

Family members declined to comment.

According to court documents, Eppolito, 56, and Caracappa, 63, targeted several mobsters in retaliation for the attempted assassination of Luchese family underboss Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso.

In 1987, the detectives kidnapped a mob figure, stuffed him in a car trunk and delivered him to Casso, who tortured and killed him, prosecutors said.

Eppolito and Caracappa also allegedly took $65,000 from Casso in 1992 to kill Eddie Lino, a Gambino family captain suspected of involvement in the attempt on Casso's life. The detectives followed Lino from a Brooklyn social club, pulled him over and shot him to death, prosecutors charged.

In addition, the detectives were accused of accessing police files to give mob associates the names of three confidential informants who were slain for their cooperation with police, prosecutors said. Another informant was shot but survived.

Eppolito, the grandson, son and nephew of Mafia members, became known in the 1970s and '80s as much for his suspected ties to the mob as his rough-and-tumble arrests of street thugs. In his 1992 autobiography, he described his family background and decorated career, while rebutting the mob allegations.

Caracappa, who helped found the New York Police Department's Organized Crime Homicide Unit, was a gatekeeper of information about Mafia killings investigated by police.

The two men had been suspected of Mafia involvement for more than a decade, but authorities did not have the evidence to make a case against them. Court documents indicate prosecutors now have wiretapped conversations and the testimony of witnesses.