'Mafia Cop' Eppolito dies in federal custody

Eppolito

Louis Eppolito, 71, a former New York Police detective who was convicted of committing murders for organized crime, died Sunday, November 3, 2019, at the Tucson Medical Center in Arizona, according to published reports.

The inmate locator for the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirms that Louis Eppolito, register number 04596-748, died November 3, 2019. There is no indication of the cause of death.

Eppolito and his former NYPD partner Stephen Caracappa were sentenced in March 2009 to life in prison, following a 2006 conviction for participation in mob murders, attempted murders, racketeering and conspiracy.

Caracappa

Caracappa died in the federal detention center at Butner, North Carolina, on April 8, 2017. (See "'Mafia Cop' Caracappa dies in prison.") The cause of his death also was not released, but Caracappa had earlier requested a release from prison on the grounds that he was suffering from cancer.

Their trial revealed that Eppolito and Caracappa, both highly decorated law enforcement officers, secretly worked with Lucchese Crime Family leader Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso. They received a retainer of $4,000 a month to provide him with police data and to help arrange mob murders. Authorities charged that they received a $65,000 bonus for personally handling the murder of a mobster during a phony traffic stop.

The 2006 convictions of both men were thrown out by the trial judge, who decided that the statute of limitations on their more serious federal offenses had already expired. A federal appeals court reversed that decision in September 2008. They were sentenced to life in prison on March 6, 2009.

Eppolito, son of Gambino Crime Family member Ralph Eppolito, authored (with Bob Drury) a 1992 autobiography entitled, Mafia Cop: The Story of an Honest Cop Whose Family Was the Mob."

See other Mob-News posts on the Mafia Cops.

Sources:

• Annese, John, "Former NYPD detective Louis Eppolito, who killed for the mob, dies in federal custody," New York Daily News, Nov. 5, 2019.
• Celona, Larry, and Ben Feuerherd, "Mafia cop Louis Eppolito dies while serving life in prison for mob hits," New York Post, Nov. 4, 2019.
• DeStefano, Anthony M., "'Mafia cop' Louis Eppolito died in prison, his wife says," Newsday,  Nov. 5, 2019.
• Inmate Locator, Federal Bureau of Prisons, bop.gov/inmateloc/
• Stevens, Citabria, "NYPD's notorious 'Mafia cops' sentenced to life," CNN, cnn.com, March 6, 2009.
• "Mob-linked New York cops convicted of murder," NBC News, nbcnews.com, April 6, 2006.