Prosecutors: ‘Mafia Cops’ Should Be In Jail While Judge’s Order Appealed
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Federal prosecutors say the two alleged “Mafia Cops” must be kept in jail because they present a danger to the witnesses who secured their convictions earlier this year.
Although Judge Jack Weinstein of U.S. District Court in Brooklyn overturned the convictions of Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa on a statute of limitations technicality, federal prosecutors are asking that the two men remain in prison while the government appeals the judge’s order, according to a recent court filing. In April, a jury convicted the former New York Police Department detectives of being involved in eight murders, some 20 years ago, while on the Luchese crime family payrolls.
In a letter submitted Thursday, prosecutors outline their legal strategy against the two men, suggesting that the racketeering trial earlier this year may only be the first of many trials that Messrs. Eppolito and Caracappa face.
The filing says state prosecutors in Brooklyn may try the men on individual murder charges in the event that a federal appeals court sides with Judge Weinstein’s decision to set aside the conviction.
Prosecutors say Messrs.Eppolito and Caracappa should remain behind bars without bail — even though they are no longer convicts.
“The defendants know that … the State of New York may prosecute them for the various murders they were involved in, which gives them an incentive to tamper with these witnesses,” the letter submitted by the assistant U.S. attorneys who prosecuted the two men reads.
Judge Weinstein’s June order throws out all charges involving the murders, but calls for both men to be retried on a relatively minor scheme to deal methamphetamine, and for Mr. Eppolito to be tried on money laundering charges.
A spokesman for the Brooklyn district attorney’s office declined to answer questions involving the state’s legal strategy against the men.
A lawyer for Mr. Eppolito has said his client is no threat to the witnesses.
“He is in very poor health and not particularly mobile,” the lawyer, Joseph Bondy, wrote Friday, suggesting that Mr. Eppolito was physically incapable of going after witnesses who may resurface in future prosecutions against him.
Messrs. Eppolito and Caracappa are due before Judge Weinstein tomorrow.
