‘Mafia Cops’ to Get Life in Prison

Calling their crimes “the most heinous ... ever tried in this courthouse,” a U.S. district judge Monday promised to sentence former New York police detectives Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa to life in prison for moonlighting as mafia hitmen.

Like every other phase of the “Mafia Cops” trial, the hearing featured its share of theatrics. When Eppolito began to address the courtroom for the first time, a spectator screamed: “Do you remember me, Mr. Eppolito? Do you remember what you did to me? To me? You framed me!” Other spectators cheered him on as he was escorted from the courtroom.

Notably absent were Bruce Cutler and Eddie Hayes, the flamboyant defense lawyers who took center stage at the trial from its first day, when they greeted one another with a jovial kiss. Eppolito and Caracappa have accused the famous lawyers of incompetence; their request for a mistrial will be heard June 23.

Until that matter is settled, Judge Jack Weinstein cannot sentence the retired detectives, who were convicted April 6 of participating in eight murders, among other crimes. Weinstein said he intended to sentence the two to life in prison, impose a $1-million fine and seize their assets.

That came as satisfying news to Danielle Lino, 27, the daughter of a Gambino captain named Eddie Lino, whom Eppolito and Caracappa were convicted of killing.

“It is our sincere hope that you will spend your remaining years rotting in prison,” she said, glaring at the detectives. “We hope you will burn in hell.”

The two men were arrested last year in Las Vegas, where they had retired after serving a combined 44 years on the police force. Eppolito, who is fat and garrulous, left New York to pursue show-business aspirations and found a few acting jobs, such as Fat Andy in “Goodfellas.” His friend Caracappa moved to a house on the same block.

A series of underworld figures testified that Eppolito and Caracappa worked as informants and hitmen for Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso, an underboss for the Luchese family. Burton Kaplan testified that Casso paid the two $4,000 a month, plus lump sums for murders. For pulling over Eddie Lino’s car at a traffic stop and shooting him in the head, he said, they were paid $65,000.

Hayes and Cutler delivered memorable opening and closing statements but called few witnesses. Cutler’s entire defense lasted 13 minutes. Eppolito has replaced him with a new lawyer, Joseph Bondy, who said Cutler should have identified other potential perpetrators and allowed Eppolito to take the stand. Caracappa’s new lawyer, Daniel Nobel, filed a similar complaint Monday morning.

Attorneys for the pair argued that the verdict should be thrown out because, except for one charge, the crimes did not fall within the statute of limitations for racketeering.

Eppolito seemed eager to finally address the courtroom Monday, speaking without notes. He said he was handicapped in life by his father, a Gambino soldier nicknamed “Fat the Gangster.” Although he turned his back on the mafia, he said, it made no difference.

“I was already crucified with the name Eppolito before I got any opportunity,” he said. “This is coming down on me because of who I am, who I was, not because of what I did. I can hold my head up high. I have never done any of this.”

Family members who spoke included the wife and daughter of Israel Greenwald, a diamond merchant who, in 1986, was shot in a Brooklyn parking garage and entombed in concrete.

Michal Greenwald, who was 9 when her father disappeared, described the losses that followed: watching, from the window, while the car was repossessed; switching schools when her scholarships were revoked; listening to a burglar break into the house because they could no longer afford an alarm system.

“We loved our daddy and having him disappear into thin air was a torture I would not wish on my worst enemy,” she said. “Do you know what it’s like to visit a friend who lost a loved one and be envious of them because they have a grave? Envious of a grave?”

Outside the courthouse, as the hearing ended, waited Barry Gibbs, the man who shouted at Eppolito in the courtroom.

In 2005, Gibbs was released from prison after 19 years when his murder conviction was overturned by DNA evidence. Gibbs said Eppolito -- the lead investigator in the case that led to his arrest -- pressured a witness into fingering him for the crime.

He wanted to celebrate with the families of the pair’s victims. Asked whether he had a message for Eppolito, he said: “Every day in jail is like a million years. It’s not a day; it’s a million years.”