Friday, March 6, 2009

Mafia cops sentenced to life in prison

Former New York Police Detectives Louis Eppolito, 61, and Stephen Caracappa, 67, convicted of participating in organized crime murders, were sentenced this afternoon to life in prison, according to a story by Christine Kearney of Reuters.
Dubbed the "Mafia Cops," Eppolito and Caracappa (left) were convicted in 2006 of moonlighting for the Lucchese Crime Family in New York. Federal prosecutors said that, while the two men were detectives on the NYPD, they used police cars and police badges to stop or kidnap victims and provided the Lucchese family with details on organized crime informants. They reportedly collected retainer payments of $4,000 a month from the crime family.
A jury convicted the pair of racketeering and conspiracy charges, including participating in 11 murders or attempted murders. The trial judge, however, ruled that the statute of limitations on the most serious federal charges against them had run out. He threw out the verdict. Prosecutors appealed the ruling, and the guilty verdict was reinstated in September 2008.


About Me

My photo
Writer, editor, researcher, web publisher, specializing in organized crime history. (Available to assist with historical/genealogical research, writing, editing. Email at tphunt@gmail.com.)
Editor/publisher of crime history journal, Informer; publisher of American Mafia history website Mafiahistory.us; moderator of online forums; author of Wrongly Executed?; coauthor of Deep Water: Joseph P. Macheca and the Birth of the American Mafia and DiCarlo: Buffalo's First Family of Crime; contributor of U.S. Mafia history to Australian-published Mafia: The Necessary Reference to Organized Crime; writer/co-writer of crime history articles for several publications.
Visit me on Mastodon