'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.

'Mafia Cop' Caracappa dies in prison

Former New York City police detective Stephen Caracappa, 75, serving a life sentence for his moonlighting work with the Lucchese Crime Family, died in the Butner, NC, federal detection center on April 8, 2017, according to a report in the New York Daily News.

Caracappa (right) and his partner Louis Eppolito were sentenced in March 2009 for their involvement in organized crime murders and attempted murders, as well as racketeering and conspiracy. Known as "Mafia Cops," Caracappa and Eppolito were first convicted in 2006 of conspiring with Lucchese big shot Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso. The trial judge threw out the verdict, deciding that the statute of limitations on their more serious crimes had expired. In September 2008, a federal appeals court reinstated the convictions.

The cause of Caracappa's death was not revealed. In 2016, within a Caracappa request for a compassionate release, the former detective stated that he was suffering from cancer.

Louis Eppolito is confined in a high-security penitentiary in Tucson, AZ, according to the report.

View other Mob-News articles on the "Mafia Cops."

'Mafia Cops' conviction upheld

The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the murder conspiracy convictions of two former New York Police detectives widely known as the "Mafia Cops," according to a story by the Associated Press.

      The court on July 23 found no merit to an appeal by former detectives Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa. The two men were convicted of moonlighting for Lucchese Crime Family big shot Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso while they were on the payroll of the New York Police Department. Eppolito appealed, arguing that he was denied effective legal counsel. Caracappa argued that his conviction was based upon faulty evidence.

Read more:
Mafia Cop.
The Brotherhoods: The True Story of Two Cops Who Murdered for the Mafia.

'Gaspipe' offers info on gangland murders

Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso has offered to provide authorities in Brooklyn with information on decades-old gangland murders, according to a story by Scott Shifrel of the New York Daily News.

"Gaspipe reached out and said he wanted to talk," according to Jerry Schmetterer of the Kings County District Attorney's Office. "He could be a help on past Brooklyn murders. His hunting grounds were in Brooklyn."

Casso (right), 66 and serving multiple life sentences for murder, is scheduled to meet with Michael Vecchione of the D.A.'s office tomorrow. A former captain in the Lucchese Crime Family, Casso was part of a bloody civil war in that crime family during the 1980s. He has pleaded guilty to more than a dozen murders and is suspected of involvement in 22 others.

Mafia Cops convictions reinstated

A federal appeals court yesterday reinstated the murder convictions of the so-called "Mafia Cops," former New York Police Department detectives Stephen Caracappa and Louis Eppolito, according to stories in the New York Times and the New York Daily News.

A jury two years ago found Caracappa (to the right of the photo) and Eppolito (to the left of the photo) guilty of racketeering conspiracy, involving mob-related murders and the leaking of information to underworld connections in the Lucchese Crime Family. Judge Jack B. Weinstein acknowledged overwhelming evidence against the two defendants and said he was prepared to sentence them to life in prison. However, the judge decided that the major racketeering-related offenses of the two men occurred outside of the five-year statute of limitations . Judge Weinstein overturned the convictions.

Prosecutors appealed the judge's decision. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled yesterday that Judge Weinstein took a too-narrow view of the racketeering conspiracy and reinstated the convictions. The panel included Judges Amalya L. Kearse, Robert D. Sack and Peter W. Hall.

Caracappa, 66, and Eppolito, 60, still jailed as they awaited a decision on the appeal, are likely to spend the rest of their lives behind bars. Eppolito's attorney Joseph Bondy already has promised to appeal the latest decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In the 1980s, the two former detectives teamed up with Lucchese Crime Family lieutenant Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso. They supplied Casso with information about ongoing investigations and aided him in eliminating a number of his rivals.

'Mafia Cop' reaches tax fraud plea deal

Former New York police detective Louis Eppolito, 57, pleaded guilty in Las Vegas yesterday to one count of filing a false income tax return, according to stories by Jeff German of the Las Vegas Sun and the Associated Press.

As part of his plea deal, Eppolito (left) acknowledged owing $102,108 to the IRS for tax years 2000 through 2002. Prosecutors agreed that Eppolito's sentence can include credit for time served. When sentenced on May 9, he faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Eppolito has already been in custody for 31 months.

A jury in June 2006 found Eppolito and his former police partner Stephen Caracappa guilty of participating in eight Mafia-related racketeering murders between 1986 and 1990. The judge in the case later threw out that verdict, deciding that the statute of limitations on the crimes had expired. Both men remained in custody pending a retrial on more recent drug trafficking and money-laundering charges.

Prosecutors in the federal racketeering case linked Eppolito and Caracappa with Lucchese Crime Family bigshot Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso and argued that the police detectives conspired with Casso to eliminate those he considered underworld threats. The families of a number of the murder victims have brought lawsuits against Eppolito and Caracappa.

Casso Jr. faces eviction from turncoat's house

Anthony Casso Jr., son of Lucchese Crime Family bigshot Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, was due in court today for eviction proceedings, according to a story by John Marzulli of the New York Daily News.

Burton Kaplan, a devastating mob-turncoat witness in the Mafia Cops case, is the apparent owner of Casso's rented home in Brooklyn, and he wants Casso out. Casso has fought the eviction, arguing that the Kaplan fraudulently acquired the property in 1985 in a money-laundering scheme with Casso Sr. He also charged that Kaplan borrowed $150,000 from his father to pay for the wedding of his daughter, who is now a Manhattan supreme court justice.

Kaplan countered that Casso Jr. and his family have lived in the home rent-free for 20 years. He said he offered to sell Casso the home for $650,000. When Casso attempted to negotiate with Kaplan privately, he was prevented from doing so, since Kaplan is a protected government witness.