WEBVTT - Paid Hitmen Stephen Caracappa + Louis Eppolito Were Also NYPD Detectives 0:00:02.240 --> 0:00:06.559 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:12.240 with iHeartRadio. Hey, before the show starts today, we have 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:14.320 a little bit of fun news to share. We have 0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:17.520 had a secret. We have been working very diligently for 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:22.600 the past many months on creating something that a lot 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:25.000 of you have been asking for, and that is a 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:28.160 book of cocktails and mocktails that are told right alongside 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:29.760 the stories that we talk about. 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:31.880 Plus additional ones that we have not talked about. 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:35.320 That's right. 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All right, let's jump into 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:03.960 the episode. 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:14.320 Federal Prosecutor Daniel Winner described the case as quote the bloodiest, 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:18.880 most violent betrayal of the badge this city has ever seen. 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:23.920 Two decorated new York City Police detectives Stephen Caracappa and 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:28.760 Louis Eppolito committed various illegal activities on behalf of the 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:31.880 Five Families of the American Mafia, spanning from the mid 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:36.160 nineteen eighties to nineteen ninety. Both Cara Kappa and Epolito 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:40.480 were indicted on multiple charges related to their mafia associations. 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:44.760 Because of the efforts by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:49.840 the Drug Enforcement Administration, as well as prosecutors, investigators, and 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:53.040 staff of the United States Attorney's Office, and a woman 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:57.160 named Betty Hidel, the men were arrested, convicted, and sentenced 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:00.760 to life in prison. Let's talk about the so called 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:04.840 mafia cops and the story of Wyatt. Took roughly twenty 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:08.880 years to put them behind bars. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:10.160 Maria Tremarki. 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:15.440 And I'm Holly Frye. Stephen the Stick Karracappa and Louis 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:19.160 Louis or lou Eppolito were both sworn in as police 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:23.800 officers in nineteen sixty nine. Epillito became a detective in 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:28.280 nineteen seventy seven, and Karracappa followed in nineteen seventy nine. 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:31.519 And both of them were considered pretty good cops by 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:36.200 most accounts, until until they sold what should have been 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:41.080 their incorruptible police badges for a monthly salary from Antony Caeso, 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:46.480 a Lucchese crime family underboss known as gas Pipe. The 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:50.720 Lucchese family is an Italian American mafia crime family and 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:54.400 one of the five families that dominated organized crime activities 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:58.320 in New York City and other cities across the United States. 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:04.600 The others include the Gambino, Banano, Genovese, and Colombo organizations. 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:09.600 As a retainer, each cop received four thousand dollars a 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:14.520 month in exchange for passing along intelligence reports and privileged 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:18.919 information about crime family informants. During their tenure with the 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:24.280 Lucchese family, they were accomplices to multiple crimes, including several murders, 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:26.919 two of which they carried out themselves. 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:31.120 Cara Kappa grew up in Brooklyn. He was a high 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:34.520 school dropout who spent five years working as a laborer 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:37.040 in New Jersey before he joined the Army and did 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:40.120 a tour in Vietnam. When he joined the New York 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:44.560 Police Department, it was as a street patrolman at Bellito's 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:47.400 family was also from Brooklyn and was known to have 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:52.040 mafia ties. His father was a Gambino family soldier known 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:56.600 as Fat the Gangster, his uncle known as Jimmy the clam, 0:03:56.920 --> 0:04:01.480 His grandfather and a cousin were also made men. By 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:05.360 age ten, Lou was joining his father on his bookmaking rounds, 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:08.400 meaning he accompanied his dad as he made the rounds, 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:13.080 collecting regular payments to the Gambino family. And while most 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:16.440 of us might imagine a bookie collecting mainly on sports bets, 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:22.280 the mafia collected for anything and everything unspecified services. 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:29.080 Kiracappa and Epolito were essentially lifelong friends. They spent a 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:31.919 total of forty four years on the force together, and 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:34.599 they retired to homes across the street from each other 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:39.120 in Las Vegas. Epillito retired in nineteen ninety, The same 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:43.160 year he ironically played a bit part in Martin Scorsese's 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:46.919 nineteen ninety mafia drama called Goodfellas. You can look for 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:50.680 him as Fat Albert. In nineteen ninety two, Epilito co 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:52.920 wrote a memoir of his time with the New York 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:56.920 Police called Mafia Cop, the story of an honest cop 0:04:57.120 --> 0:05:00.200 whose family was the mob and He appeared on the 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:03.080 talk show Sally Jesse Raphael in nineteen ninety eight to 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:06.120 promote his book and to discuss his time as a 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:09.760 detective as well as his family's ties to organized crime. 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:14.080 Although he denied that he knew any details. Speaking about 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:17.280 his father, he shared with Raphael quote he hated cops 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:20.200 with a passion, adding that it was probably a good 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:23.320 thing his father died before he had joined the police academy. 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:27.960 He continued interestingly that he saw a lot of similarities 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:31.920 between police and mobsters, that in addition to both living 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:35.719 by a strict code, they also both delivered justice. 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:41.440 Kara Koppa retired in nineteen ninety two after an holds 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:44.880 your Breath for This one, helping to establish the New 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:50.599 York City Police Department's unit for mafia murder investigations. When 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:53.240 he retired, he took a job as assistant chief of 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:56.800 security at a prison for female offenders in North Las Vegas. 0:05:57.839 --> 0:06:01.680 They'd lived fairly quietly for ten year years in Nevada, well, 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:05.080 Kara Kappa did. They were out of the business, but 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:09.839 not all the way. While Epilito lived in Las Vegas, 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:13.479 authorities learned of phone calls he made to associates of 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:17.640 the Lucues and Banano crime families. He also met with 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:21.600 a man named Burton Kaplan and remember that name at 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:24.560 Billino Sure never forgot it, and we'll talk about who 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:26.800 Burton was as the story unfolds. 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:32.480 The men were indicted on March ninth, two thousand and five, 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:36.440 and arrested in Las Vegas by DEEA and FBI agents 0:06:36.520 --> 0:06:39.799 as they were entering Piero's restaurant just off the Strip. 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:44.640 The retired cops were charged in a federal racketeering indictment 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:48.600 and both were returned to Brooklyn to face trial. That 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:52.040 indictment read, in part that the pair were hired and 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:56.520 paid by Anthony Kaeso to exact revenge on rival Gambino 0:06:56.600 --> 0:07:01.640 family members. It continued that with and Cara Koppa's help, 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:05.560 Keso was able to rise to power in the Luquese family. 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:09.920 Both were also charged with passing on information about ongoing 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:13.840 police investigations into the mafia, including the names of informants, 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:17.680 while working as police officers for the New York Police Department, 0:07:17.880 --> 0:07:21.560 and in some cases, people were murdered based on this 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:22.840 privileged information. 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:26.760 Here's the rundown and this is just a handful of 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:30.640 names of the murder victims that they were tied to. First, 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:33.840 there was Nicholas Guido, a twenty six year old recent 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:37.360 college graduate who was gunned down because of an unfortunate 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:41.480 case of mistaken identity. He just happened to have the 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:45.160 same name as a rival of Caso's. He died in 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:48.760 his family's driveway in nineteen eighty six after being fingered 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:53.720 by Eppulito and Kara Coppa. Staten Island criminal and Gambino 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:57.360 family associate. Jimmy Hidel was a shooter in a botched 0:07:57.400 --> 0:08:01.840 assassination attempt on Keeso in September of nineteen eighty six. 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:06.960 Karracappa and Epilito were dispatched to kidnap him. As Keeso 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:10.680 recalled the story later to investigators, he sent Epildo and 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:14.720 Kiracappa to track him down. In doing so, they met 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:18.920 his mother, Betty, at her home. They did take Hidel 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:23.600 into custody, sort of posing as police officers. They were 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:26.840 real police officers, but they had no business being involved 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:29.720 in his case. And then they delivered him not to 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:33.600 the precinct but to Caeso, who later boasted to federal 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:38.760 agents that he quote shot him fifteen times after being 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:42.800 marked by Epulito as an informant. Pascuale Verriale was found 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:46.240 shot to death on Valentine's Day of nineteen eighty seven. 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:51.200 His body was discovered near where another victim, Israel Greenwald, 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:55.760 was murdered. Israel Greenwald was an Israeli Diamond District jeweler 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:58.679 who was pulled over by Epildo and Kara Coappa on 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:03.079 February tenth, nineteen eighty six, under the guise of investigating 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:06.839 a hit and run. They then helped execute him in 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:10.920 a Brooklyn parking garage on orders from Keso. The men 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:13.480 thought the jeweler was talking to the Feds and had 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:18.120 tracked his license plate using a police database. They were wrong, 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:22.439 he wasn't. Epilito stood lookout while Karakappa and one of 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:27.680 Caeso's hitmen killed him. The two detectives murdered Edward Lino, 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:30.840 a Gambino family captain who was believed to have been 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:35.160 associated with men who had tried to kill Keso. The 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:39.360 indictment charged that Keso paid Eppildo and Karracappa sixty five 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:43.480 thousand dollars for the hit the detectives. It would become 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:47.000 clear as the story unfolded, pulled Lino over as he 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:50.920 was driving, and then shot him. The men also accepted 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:55.280 a contract from Keeso to hit Salvatore Sammy the Bull Gravano, 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:59.600 who was a ranking Gambino family member. The attempt on 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:04.680 Grava's life was unsuccessful, and Sammy later became a government witness. 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:08.440 Stated in a news release from the United States Attorney's 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:12.800 Office about the arrests of the Dirty Cops, quote, these 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:17.840 corrupt former detectives betrayed their shields, their colleagues, and the 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:21.559 citizens they were sworn to protect. For years, they were 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:24.800 on a retainer with the Mob. They were paid handsomely 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:28.840 for participating directly and indirectly in the murders and attempted 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:33.640 murders of eleven individuals, and for disclosing highly confidential law 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:39.079 enforcement information to their Mob benefactors. Added PASCUALE de Muro, 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:42.959 Assistant Director in charge of the FBI in New York, quote, 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:47.320 Epilido and Cara Koppa were not two good cops who 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:50.680 went bad. It seems clear they were two bad guys 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:52.520 who somehow became cops. 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:57.520 Joseph Coffee, a highly regarded one time head of the 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:01.760 New York Police Department's Organized Crime Tax Force New Epilido 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:05.280 and karra Coppa before retiring in nineteen eighty five, and 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:08.880 he told the Philadelphia Inquirer in two thousand and five, quote, 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:11.000 it was well known that they were hooked up with 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:14.280 the mom Let's put it this way. I couldn't afford 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:17.440 a two thousand dollars suit and they could. Does that 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:18.280 tell you something? 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:22.720 So? How did we get from New York City career 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:28.360 detective to hired hitman for the American mafia. We're going 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:30.280 to take a break for word from our sponsors, but 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:34.640 when we return, we'll talk about how authorities were eventually 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:37.040 able to put this puzzle together. 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:52.920 Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about who said what 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:56.440 and when and why. Investigators may never have cracked the 0:11:56.480 --> 0:12:00.520 case until a woman named Betty Hidel came forward with 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:00.960 a tip. 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:05.959 So how did this mafia moonlighting happen and go on 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:10.480 for so long? Let's start laying out the story. In 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:14.120 an interview with the Toronto Sun, former New York Police 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:18.600 detective Tommy Dads stated, quote, Carra Coppa was in charge 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:22.440 of a major case organized crime Investigations unit, and he 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:26.480 had access he knew all the informants. Him and Eppolito 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:29.760 hooked up around nineteen seventy nine in the Brooklyn North 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:34.120 Robbery Squad. How they started this no one knows, but 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:38.800 Epolito came from a mobbed up family. His cousin, Frankie 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:42.480 Santoro Junior told the boys, my cousin, the cop can 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:46.880 do anything. He continued, quote there were whispers around about 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:50.320 Epolito and Carara Koppa, but I didn't believe it. It just 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:55.040 seemed too incredible. I thought they were scumbags, low lifes. 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:58.840 They took an oath as cops, and they betrayed that oath. 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:02.480 It was the worst I'd never heard of cops being 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:06.840 compared to killers. They conspired to kill. It was a 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:10.319 very interesting story. It was a team effort to get 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:14.400 these guys local state and federal authorities, cops and prosecutors, 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:17.319 and as we mentioned at the top of the episode, 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:18.920 a woman named Betty. 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:23.560 There wasn't a lot of new information coming in when 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:27.160 Dades gave that interview. More than a decade had passed 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:31.560 until September of two thousand and three, when Detective DAIDs 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:35.800 picked up a fresh lead, Betty Hidell. The mother of 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:40.360 victim and Gambino family associate James Hidell came forward to 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:43.920 tell him that Epilino and Kara Coappa showed up at 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:46.640 her Staten Island home one afternoon and asked to see 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:51.400 her son just before his nineteen eighty six disappearance. She 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.320 knew it was them because she recognized Epolino from his 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:58.600 appearance on the Sally Jesse Raphael talk show. After she 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:01.320 saw him on TV, she had bought his book, and 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:03.800 she was one hundred percent sure that he was one 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:06.520 of two men who had been at her house looking 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:07.200 for her son. 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:10.920 But when Dades brought this new evidence to the Brooklyn 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:15.120 District Attorney's office, he learned that many documents from internal 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:19.120 affairs probes on the two former detectives, paperwork that went 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:24.680 back decades was missing. But what hadn't gone missing was 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:27.600 a record of a computer search Kara Koppa made to 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:31.800 locate Nicholas Guido, a search that led Keeso's men to 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:35.560 kill him in his driveway. Betty's tip, it turned out, 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:39.040 was just the beginning, kind of like trying to undie 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:43.120 a large, unwieldly k nott. But Betty's information awakened a 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:45.520 case that had been going cold over the years, and 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:49.720 it directly led to the Vegas arrests. Though that wouldn't 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:52.760 happen for a few more years, investigators still had to 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:54.160 make a solid case. 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:59.400 After their arrests in Vegas, the former detectives became known 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:02.440 as the MafA Via Cops. That was a nickname taken 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:06.080 from the title of Epollino's memoir. In regard to their 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:10.360 upcoming trial, Kiara Coppa's lawyer, Edward Hayes stated, quote, our 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:14.239 expected defense would be Steve is a very talented detective 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:17.520 with no motive and had no opportunity to do a 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:21.480 lot of these things. In fact, the two both had 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:25.040 careers that had earned them promotions and even headlines for 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:29.400 their impressive police work. Epollino claimed he was the eleventh 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:32.800 most decorated cop in the New York Police Department. That 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:36.760 was a claim that the department stated was untrue. 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:41.400 But Betty wasn't the only source of good information. When 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:45.280 former New York garment dealer and career criminal Burton Kaplan 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:48.520 remember we mentioned him a little earlier, sat down with 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:51.800 DEA agents in two thousand and four, it was to 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:54.640 tell them the story about two retired New York Police 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:59.200 Department detectives who were on the mafia's payroll. Caplan was 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:01.840 a long time I'm Mafia associate who was at the 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:05.640 time eight years into a twenty seven year jail sentence, 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:08.520 and he was looking to knock some time off that punishment, 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:11.760 and it turns out his information was so good federal 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:14.680 agents knocked his sentence down to just nine years. 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:20.200 Caplan was the link between Luques family underboss Anthony Kso 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:25.000 and the two detectives. The agents knew the story already though, 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:29.680 ten years before Caplan's statement. Keso, facing charges related to 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:34.720 thirty six murders that he confessed to, turned informant hoping 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:37.880 to enter the witness protection program, and he offered a 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:40.440 very detailed account of the work that he had assigned 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:44.320 to Epildo and Kara Kappa to federal agents and what 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:48.320 he paid them in return for that work. Though investigators 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:51.680 were inclined to believe Keso, he was their sole witness, 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:54.000 and they didn't think they could make the case without 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:59.240 more and especially not after Keso, while incarcerated, plotted to 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:02.800 kill a federal judge. It was not a surprise that 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:05.880 a grand jury in New York declined to indict Kara 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:07.119 Kappa and Epolito. 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:12.280 At that time, investigators needed a solid witness. They needed 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:16.240 something more than Betty's information, and with Kaplan they now 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:21.200 had a literal link. Kaplan was the very person who 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:24.840 carried orders from Keeso two of the detectives, and in 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:29.400 court he gave devastating testimony as the prosecutor's chief witness. 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:32.879 During his two days on the stand, he testified that 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:36.439 Keeso referred to Epulito and Cara Kappa as quote my 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:40.400 crystal ball between nineteen eighty six and nineteen ninety when 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:43.760 they were on his payroll. He also stated they had 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:47.120 received thirty five thousand dollars for the murder of Hidel 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:51.720 and seventy thousand dollars for Gambino crime captain Eddielino. We've 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:55.439 also seen that amount reported as sixty five thousand, so 0:17:56.480 --> 0:18:00.240 one or the other in total, though they'd received three 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:04.560 hundred and seventy five thousand dollars for their work, Kaplan's 0:18:04.600 --> 0:18:08.480 testimony made it clear just how deep cases connections were 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:10.360 in the New York City Police Department. 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:13.120 We're going to take a break here for a word 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:16.440 from our sponsors, and when we're back, we'll talk more 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:19.520 about what went down at their trial and what Epolito 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:21.240 had to say about the whole thing. 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:36.159 Welcome back to Criminalia, Let's go to trial. 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:41.760 The government's case was prosecuted by assistant United States Attorneys 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:47.159 Robert Hennock, Mitraharmusi, and Daniel Winner. Lead counsel for the 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:52.000 defendants were Bruce Cutler and Edward Hayes. According to FBI 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:55.520 and court reports, following three weeks of trial and two 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:59.720 days of deliberations, a federal jury returned to verdict, convicting 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:04.280 Aldo and Karra Coappa of engaging in racketeering over decades, 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:07.920 including while employed by the New York Police Department, during 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:12.080 which time they directly participated in or aided and abedded 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:16.280 eight murders, two of which they'd carried out themselves, two 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:20.760 attempted murders, and one murder conspiracy. It was also found 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:25.280 that the defendants routinely passed confidential law enforcement information to 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:29.520 high ranking members and associates of the Lucchese crime family 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:35.040 that disclosed the identities of numerous cooperating witnesses and compromised 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:39.480 several state and federal investigations. It was also found that 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:44.800 they engaged in several instances of obstruction of justice, drug distribution, 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:49.879 and money laundering. John Paluso, Assistant Special Agent for the 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:53.800 DEA's New York Field office, told the Associated Press quote, 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:58.680 I have never dealt with anything this egregious. They are toxic. 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.760 Both men declared they were innocent, with defense team lawyer 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:08.040 Bettina Shine, who represented at Palito, stating quote, the government 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:12.080 has absolutely not proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt. 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:17.720 But the judge and jury disagreed with her statement. Twenty 0:20:17.800 --> 0:20:20.719 years after the pair began moonlighting for the mob, the 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:25.439 Mafia cops were done. Betty Hidell, from the witness stand 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:28.240 said to the men, quote, I wish you stay in 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:32.720 hell the rest of your life and you die alone. 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:37.040 Prosecutor Hennock asked the judge for the maximum sentence, stating quote, 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:41.600 these two men stand before you, unrepentant and remorseless, and 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:46.320 perhaps by a higher power, unforgiven. We don't have death 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:50.760 squads as policemen, at least we're not supposed to. The 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:53.760 jury called the pair the most corrupt cops in the 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:56.160 history of the New York Police Department. 0:20:57.560 --> 0:21:01.679 The defendants were jailed, but sentence was delayed. In quote, 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:06.800 an unusual legal twist. United States District Judge Jack Weinstein 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:10.439 stated he would impose the maximum sentence on Epilito and 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:14.280 Cara Kappa, but he wouldn't formally do so until after 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:17.840 a June twenty third hearing, where the disgraced officers planned 0:21:17.880 --> 0:21:21.440 to argue that their high profile and high priced lawyers 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:26.840 Cutler and Hayes and team were incompetent. Said Weinstein of 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:30.680 the case, quote, this is probably the most heinous series 0:21:30.720 --> 0:21:35.200 of crimes ever tried in this courthouse. He continued, quote, 0:21:35.440 --> 0:21:39.080 two defendants have committed what amounts to treason against the 0:21:39.119 --> 0:21:41.520 people of the City of New York and their fellow 0:21:41.560 --> 0:21:42.600 police officers. 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:48.200 Through his new attorney, Joseph Bondi, Epolito asked for Keeso 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:51.439 to appear as a witness at the June twenty third hearing. 0:21:52.280 --> 0:21:55.120 The defense, however, did not put him on the stand. 0:21:55.960 --> 0:21:59.200 The hearing did not convince anyone that their trial lawyers 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:02.639 didn't do their jobs properly or that they discriminated against 0:22:02.680 --> 0:22:07.040 their clients. The judge in that case, District Judge Raymond Deary, 0:22:07.280 --> 0:22:10.760 speaking directly to the men, stated that there was evidence 0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:14.360 to suggest these trials wouldn't be happening, that the killings 0:22:14.400 --> 0:22:18.160 would not have occurred had Epolito been dismissed or disciplined 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:22.840 after quote an inexplicable failure to discipline him in nineteen 0:22:22.880 --> 0:22:26.880 eighty five, quote after he was caught red handed passing 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:29.080 confidential police documents. 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:33.440 So here's what that's all about. Epallito had come under 0:22:33.480 --> 0:22:37.760 suspicion decades earlier when authorities raided the New Jersey home 0:22:37.800 --> 0:22:42.359 of Rosario Gambino, a mobster and drug trafficker, and discovered 0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:47.480 there dozens of confidential intelligence reports on organized crime figures 0:22:47.480 --> 0:22:52.560 in the Five Families, papers that had Epolito's fingerprints all 0:22:52.680 --> 0:22:56.600 over them. At the time, he was suspended, but he 0:22:56.720 --> 0:23:01.440 was cleared after an internal investigation claimed it was all 0:23:01.560 --> 0:23:03.960 because he'd been set up by enemies in the department. 0:23:04.800 --> 0:23:07.000 No one, though, could explain how the files made it 0:23:07.119 --> 0:23:11.639 to Gambino's home, but Eppolito was reinstated, given back pay, 0:23:11.800 --> 0:23:16.679 and not long after, even received a promotion. The department's 0:23:16.960 --> 0:23:20.000 Trials Commissioner, Hugh mo told The Daily News at the 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:23.719 time of the review, quote, there was no evidence before 0:23:23.760 --> 0:23:27.679 me other than that Detective Epulito epitomizes the finest in 0:23:27.720 --> 0:23:31.240 the department and is the unfortunate victim of circumstances. 0:23:32.840 --> 0:23:36.320 With their failed appeal, the cops would now be sentenced. 0:23:37.000 --> 0:23:41.000 Judge Weinstein handed down the lengthy terms after Prosecutor Mitra 0:23:41.080 --> 0:23:48.080 Harmozi stated the pair's quote heinous offense merited life sentences. Epilito, 0:23:48.280 --> 0:23:52.760 sporting a generous white mustache, sat quietly next to a scowling, 0:23:52.880 --> 0:23:57.240 unshaven Cara Kappa. Sentencing proceedings were held at the United 0:23:57.280 --> 0:24:01.320 States Courthouse in Brooklyn, during which the cops turned killers 0:24:01.359 --> 0:24:03.439 sat quietly at the defense table. 0:24:04.440 --> 0:24:08.120 Both were sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility for parole, 0:24:08.280 --> 0:24:13.720 for their convictions of committing eight murders, to attempted murders, murder, conspiracy, 0:24:13.840 --> 0:24:18.199 obstruction of justice, drug distribution, and money laundering, and for 0:24:18.280 --> 0:24:23.399 disclosing sensitive law enforcement information to mafia bosses. Cara Kappa 0:24:23.520 --> 0:24:27.280 received life imprisonment plus eighty years and was fined more 0:24:27.320 --> 0:24:31.800 than four million dollars. Of his fate, he replied, quote, 0:24:32.240 --> 0:24:35.120 I am innocent of all these charges, and you'll never 0:24:35.200 --> 0:24:38.879 take away my will to prove how innocent I am. 0:24:39.520 --> 0:24:44.119 Epolito received life imprisonment plus one hundred years. And was 0:24:44.160 --> 0:24:48.639 fined more than four million dollars. Unlike his partner, Epillito 0:24:48.720 --> 0:24:52.159 had quite a bit to say. He apologized to the 0:24:52.160 --> 0:24:54.840 families of the victims, but denied that he had been 0:24:54.880 --> 0:24:58.840 involved with their deaths. He invited the families to visit 0:24:58.920 --> 0:25:03.040 him in prison. He then stated, quote, the federal government 0:25:03.119 --> 0:25:06.320 can take my life. I'm a man. They can't take 0:25:06.359 --> 0:25:09.760 my soul. They can't take my pride, they can't take 0:25:09.800 --> 0:25:13.400 my dignity. I was a hard working cop. I never 0:25:13.480 --> 0:25:17.760 hurt anybody. I never kidnapped anybody. I never did any 0:25:17.800 --> 0:25:22.360 of this. Eppolito gave a lengthy final speech that's been 0:25:22.480 --> 0:25:26.560 adequately described as a quote rambling defense about trying to 0:25:26.600 --> 0:25:30.000 live up to his father's pressures. He claimed he had 0:25:30.040 --> 0:25:32.680 always tried to live down the reputation of his father, 0:25:32.880 --> 0:25:35.679 Fat the Gangster, and told the judge quote, I was 0:25:35.800 --> 0:25:38.359 one hell of a cop. I tried my best on 0:25:38.520 --> 0:25:42.320 every case. I can hold my head up high. In 0:25:42.400 --> 0:25:45.439 response from within the courtroom, the son of one of 0:25:45.440 --> 0:25:47.280 the victims yelled quote. 0:25:47.440 --> 0:25:53.440 Rot Benton Campbell, united States Attorney for the Eastern District 0:25:53.480 --> 0:25:57.360 of New York, stated quote, the sentences imposed today bring 0:25:57.480 --> 0:25:59.960 some measure of closure. For the families of the victims 0:26:00.040 --> 0:26:04.000 of these defendants unspeakable crimes, and for the citizens of 0:26:04.040 --> 0:26:08.200 the city whose trust these men betrayed. We are gratified 0:26:08.240 --> 0:26:10.600 that the defendants will spend the rest of their lives 0:26:10.720 --> 0:26:11.600 behind bars. 0:26:13.040 --> 0:26:15.640 There was one catch, though, and it left a bad 0:26:15.680 --> 0:26:19.200 taste in a lot of people's mouths. Both men had 0:26:19.200 --> 0:26:22.720