By ALEX GINSBERG
June 29, 2007 — In a case that could have repercussions for alleged “Mafia cops” Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, the state’s highest court has given the Brooklyn DA a green light to prosecute two Genovese associates previously tried and convicted in federal court.
The decision by the state Court of Appeals, made public yesterday, removes the last obstacle to the new trial, this time in state court, for Carmine Polito and Mario Fortunato. The two are accused of hiring thugs to rub out a loan shark in 1994 to whom Polito owed $60,000.
The men’s initial federal conviction was tossed out by an appeals court on the grounds that the killing was a personal affair and not organized-crime business.
The decision says the men can be retried in state court without triggering a double-jeopardy violation – possibly bad news for the mob cops whose 2006 federal conviction was vacated on statute-of-limitations grounds..
