Case Builds Against Accused ‘Mafia Cops’

Authorities recently located a key eyewitness to the mob slaying that accused “Mafia cops” Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa allegedly carried out for Luchese gangster Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso nearly 15 years ago, Gang Land has learned.The witness, sources said, was driving in Brooklyn along a service road of an entrance to the Belt Parkway near Brighton Beach at about 7 p.m. on November 6, 1990. The motorist was stunned when he saw a skinny, dark-haired gunman sitting on the passenger’s side of a dark blue or black car, which resembled an unmarked police car, shoot a man sitting in another vehicle, sources said.Law enforcement authorities said the description matches that of Mr. Caracappa, who is alleged to have taken part with his detective partner, Mr. Eppolito, in the hit on Gambino capo Edward Lino, who was shot nine times as he sat in the driver’s seat of his black 1990 Mercedes-Benz at the same spot on a service road near Ocean Parkway.Federal prosecutors intend to use the unidentified former New Yorker – a man who relocated to Florida some time ago – along with several other civilian witnesses to corroborate the testimony of one-time Casso associate Burton Kaplan and other underworld turncoats.As Gang Land disclosed last week, the feds plan to use the former owner of a Brooklyn garage to link the ex-detectives to the abduction-murder of mob associate James Hydell and the murder of gem merchant Israel Greenwald, whose remains were unearthed last month. Charges have yet to be filed in the latter murder.Law enforcement officials believe Messrs. Eppolito and Caracappa followed Lino from the Cabrini Social Club on Avenue U to a nearby eastbound entrance of the Belt Parkway off Ocean Parkway, where they pulled him over and executed him, sources said.The following day, sources said, Mr. Eppolito reported their successful mission with a flourish.“Kaplan was in the hospital at the time,” one source said. “Louie visits him, throws the newspaper on his chest, and says, ‘We did it.'”***Meanwhile, the number of people with reported book and/or movie deals about the astounding corruption case may soon surpass the number of witnesses the feds will use to try to send them to prison for life.Even Mr. Eppolito, whose 1992 autobiography “Mafia Cop” set in motion a very slow-moving investigation that helped bring racketeering and murder charges down on him and Mr. Caracappa, is trying to sell his story for the big screen, with his wife serving as his go-between, sources tell Gang Land.Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist-author Jimmy Breslin, who has already penned an article that includes a section about the case for an upcoming issue of Playboy, leads the pack, which includes a few participants in the case, some who may testify at the trial.Along with other wannabe chroniclers of the biggest scandal to tarnish the NYPD, Mr. Breslin eyeballed the sorry-looking ex-detectives as they pleaded not guilty to taking part in eight murders and numerous other crimes during the last 22 years.Among those in the crowded courtroom was the latest entrant in the crowded field of potential authors, William Oldham, an investigator for Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf.Scribner announced that Mr. Oldham, a former NYPD detective who worked in the elite Major Case Squad at the same time as Mr. Caracappa and has investigated the two defendants since 1998, will co-author a book about the case that is due out next year.That surprised Mr. Oldham’s colleagues. Gang Land saw two co-workers in an animated discussion reading a Daily News story about the book deal near their office in downtown Brooklyn on Monday. It has also caused some concern among officials of the U.S. attorney’s office.The announcement must also have surprised Mr. Oldham, who did not respond to calls for comment. Bob Nardoza, a spokesman for Ms. Mauskopf, told Gang Land that Mr. Oldham “has not signed a book deal, and he has not resigned.”In addition to Mr. Oldham, two law enforcement officials involved in the case have reported book and movie deals, including a retired NYPD detective, Thomas Dades, and the chief of the Brooklyn district attorney’s Rackets Bureau, Michael Vecchione.Mr. Dades, who helped reinvigorate the investigation two years ago, told Gang Land yesterday that he has a deal with Harper Collins and Time Warner. Mr. Vecchione, who represented the Brooklyn D.A., Charles Hynes, at a news conference at which the blockbuster indictment was announced, did not return calls for comment. Said a spokesman for the D.A., Jerry Schmetterer: “Vecchione has not signed any book deals. He has been approached, considers the issue a private matter, but has not signed any book deals.”***The FBI has determined that serial killer Richard “Iceman” Kuklinski tried to shake down lawyers for Salvatore “Sammy Bull” Gravano for $200,000 and has recommended that the Iceman be hit with extortion charges, Gang Land has learned.Sources said the FBI recently presented its findings to New Jersey U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, whose office has jurisdiction throughout the Garden State, including the state prison facility where the alleged extortion attempt took place.As Gang Land reported last month, Gravano’s lawyers told the FBI, state prosecutors, and the judge in Sammy Bull’s upcoming trial for the 1980 murder of a NYPD detective, Peter Calabro, that Kuklinski wrote an extortion demand note, showed it to the lawyers, and then bizarrely swallowed the evidence right in front of them during a meeting in Trenton State Prison.After interviewing the lawyers and examining the notepad that Kuklinski left behind, the agents decided that Kuklinski had committed the crime of extortion and should be prosecuted for it.“The big guy pressed so hard when he wrote his note that no high-tech CSI stuff was needed to bring up his words,” one source said.While an extortion rap would have little impact on the 71-year-old Iceman, who is already serving four life terms, it could have a profound effect on his credibility as a trial witness against Gravano.In March, Superior Court Judge William Meehan instructed the Bergen County prosecutor, Wayne Mello, to investigate the allegations and report his findings at a status conference scheduled for last Tuesday. A spokeswoman for Judge Meehan told Gang Land that the conference was put off until next month.Asked whether the alleged shakedown of his defendant by his star witness would have any effect on the prosecution of Gravano, Mr. Mello said the matter was under investigation and that he would have no further comment.***A real-life episode of “The Sopranos” played out in the courtroom of Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Atlas at the trial of two mob-connected union officials, Michael Forde and Martin Deveraux, who were found guilty of enterprise corruption last year.It featured the son-in-law of the leader of the so-called real Sopranos, John Riggi, boss of the Newark, N.J.-based DeCavalcante family, as well as “Sopranos”-like goons in the spectator section trying to intimidate turncoat son-in-law Sean Richard and another prosecution witness.Perhaps fueled by a Village Voice article by Tom Robbins that made its way into the jury room – he described Richard as a “strutting, puffed up wise guy with an ego the size of South Orange” – some jurors even compared Richard to Tony Soprano during the trial, according to a decision last week by Judge Atlas.Other jurors said the trial “resembled a ‘Sopranos’ episode,” wrote Judge Atlas, who found that the un-juror-like actions of so many jurors even before deliberations began, coupled with a very weak case, warranted a new trial for both men. Prosecutors will appeal the ruling.In a parting gratuitous shot, Judge Atlas noted that the chief of the Investigation Division of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Daniel Castleman, “who generally supervised the investigation and the prosecution of this case, was a consultant to ‘The Sopranos’ and even appeared as an actor on the show.”Mr. Castleman, who had no comment on the matter, has played a federal prosecutor on the show.This column and other news of organized crime will appear later today at www.ganglandnews.com.

Case Builds Against Accused ‘Mafia Cops’

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