It took almost exactly four years to complete the criminal case against former New York police detectives Stephen Caracappa and Louis Eppolito.

March 8, 2005: Eppolito and Caracappa are arrested in Las Vegas.

March 9, 2005: A 27-page racketeering indictment in federal court in Brooklyn accuses them of committing murder for the mob while they were cops.

Aug. 3, 2005: A federal grand jury in Brooklyn indicts Eppolito and Caracappa in the 1986 killing of jewelry merchant Israel Greenwald. They would be charged with another murder a month later.

Nov. 23, 2005: Federal prosecutors release a retooled indictment – their fourth version – adding two murder-for-hire allegations and a 1982 bribery allegation against Eppolito.

April 6, 2006: A Brooklyn federal jury convicts Eppolito and Caracappa on all counts.

June 5, 2006: The two former NYPD detectives are sentenced to life in prison.

June 30, 2006: Judge Jack B. Weinstein throws out the convictions, ruling there was insufficient evidence that Caracappa and Eppolito were involved in racketeering conspiracy within five years of the indictment.

Sept. 17, 2008: A federal appeals court reinstates the convictions.

March 6, 2009: Eppolito and Caracappa are again sentenced to life behind bars..