BY ANTHONY M. DESTEFANO and THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEWSDAY STAFF WRITER
July 25, 2006, 2:34 PM EDT
A federal judge in Brooklyn today ordered that the ‘Mafia Cops’ be kept in jail while the government appeals the overturning of their convictions for facilitating eight mob murders.
U.S. District Court Judge Jack B. Weinstein found that the remaining drug charge, involving small methamphetamine transactions in Las Vegas, was enough to keep them detained while the appeals process plays out.
Weinstein called the defendants, Louis Eppolito, 58 and Stephen Caracappa, 64, “dangerous criminals with no degree of credibility,” saying there were no bail conditions that would assure their appearance for trial on narcotics.
“He basically wanted to keep them in and had the legal hook,” said Daniel Nobel, defense attorney for Caracappa.
Outside court, Eppolito’s wife, Frances, said she was disappointed with the ruling. She said that she has not spoken to her husband since a phone conversation on June 19.
“He is doing great, and he will always do great,” she added.
Weinstein, in a June 30 ruling, said he agreed with an April jury verdict finding the so-called “Mafia Cops” were responsible for the eight murders, kidnapping and other crimes _ but said he was compelled to set aside the verdict because the statute of limitations had passed.
The sensational case seemed finished when the guilty verdicts and life sentences were announced against the defendants, both former police detectives accused of moonlighting as hit men for the mob. But Weinstein’s stunning ruling set the stage for Tuesday’s bail hearing.
The judge found that the statute of limitations had expired on the slayings, which occurred between 1986 and 1990.
Eppolito, 57, and Caracappa, 64, each were out on $5 million bail for nine months before their convictions put them behind bars. Their lawyers argue that the similar conditions should apply while they await the outcome of a government appeal of Weinstein’s ruling or _ if it’s upheld _ a retrial on lesser charges stemming from a 2005 drug sting in Las Vegas, where the partners both had retired.
Prosecutors, calling the evidence that the former NYPD detectives were killers “overwhelming,” have argued that they are too dangerous to go free.
“The fact that these men, who swore to serve and protect, were so willing to betray the public trust by committing unspeakable acts of violence for money is a testament to the serious threat of danger to the community their release constitutes,” wrote prosecutor Robert Henoch prior to Tuesday’s hearing.
Caracappa retired in 1992 after establishing the police department’s unit for mob murder investigations. Eppolito, whose father was a member of the Gambino crime family, was a much-praised street cop who went on to play a bit part in “GoodFellas” and launch an unsuccessful career as a screenwriter.
In a jailhouse interview following his conviction, Eppolito called himself “the most perfect scapegoat in history.” But the pair were convicted of leading double lives, working for both the NYPD and Luchese crime family underboss Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso. They earned $65,000 for one of the slayings, authorities said.
Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc..
