titantoo
07-07-2005, 08:55 PM
July 8, 2005
Judge Orders Ex-Detectives Freed on Bail
By ALAN FEUER (http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=ALAN%20FEUER&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=ALAN%20FEUER&inline=nyt-per)
A federal judge in Brooklyn yesterday ordered two retired city detectives charged with taking part in at least eight murders for the mob released on bail, saying that the evidence against them was "not strong" and suggesting that there may be concerns with the statute of limitations.
The two men, Louis J. Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, were told by the judge, Jack B. Weinstein, to move into relatives' homes on house arrest until their trial, which is set for September. Each was also ordered to post a personal bond of $5 million secured by properties owned by their families.
When the judge announced his ruling, the two men, who have been in jail since March, had little reaction - Mr. Eppolito blinking slightly with his hands bridged at his chin, and Mr. Caracappa looking into space. As part of the bail package, Judge Weinstein ordered both men to wear electronic anklets when they are released in about 10 days. The judge also said that Mr. Caracappa would be allowed to exercise in workouts with his lawyer, Edward W. Hayes.
Judge Weinstein reserved his most skeptical words for the government's case, which charges the two men with acting as paid mob killers in the 1980's and early 90's. When told by federal prosecutors that the last murder took place in 1991, the judge said, "The charges seem to me to be relatively stale, and the statute of limitations problem is going to be a serious one." The statute of limitations in such a conspiracy case is five years.
The prosecution contends that Mr. Eppolito, 56, and Mr. Caracappa, 63, took part in a criminal conspiracy that continued well after they had left New York. To bolster that claim, prosecutors say that in Las Vegas, where both men were arrested four months ago, they took part in a drug deal that legally speaking would extend the length of the conspiracy, making the statute of limitations no longer applicable.
The defense lawyers, Mr. Hayes and Bruce Cutler, attacked the government's case as "paper thin," saying that a government witness had entrapped their clients in the drug case, which had nothing to do with the underlying charges of gangland murder.
Mr. Cutler told the judge that Mr. Eppolito had been ensnared in the drug case by a man named Steven Corso. Mr. Corso, he said, was a "defrocked accountant" who befriended Mr. Eppolito last year with promises of getting some of his wealthy clients to invest in a screenplay.
At a three-hour dinner in Las Vegas in February, Mr. Corso apparently played on Mr. Eppolito's celluloid dreams by telling him that a couple of "Hollywood punks" were coming to Las Vegas and wanted Mr. Eppolito's help in securing some drugs, Mr. Cutler said.
Mr. Cutler then said Mr. Eppolito put the accountant in touch with his own son, Anthony, who, the next day, helped secure an ounce of methamphetamine for the film types. This, in sum, was the essence of the drug case, Mr. Cutler said, adding, "That's why he's in jail."
Mr. Eppolito and Mr. Caracappa stand accused of some of the most spectacular charges of police corruption in this or last century, including the murder of Edward Lino, a Gambino crime family captain, on the Belt Parkway in 1990. All but one of the eight murders they are charged with taking part in occurred while they were still on the police force, prosecutors say.
The prosecution said in court yesterday that it is considering bringing charges against the two men in connection with another killing - that of Isidore A. Greenwald, a diamond dealer, whose body was found buried in a parking garage in Brooklyn in April. Mr. Greenwald was killed in 1986, prosecutors say.
Mr. Hayes and Mr. Cutler nonetheless pressed the issue that their clients were never in the Mafia but were civic-minded, highly decorated lawman. Despite family ties to the mob, Mr. Eppolito went on to earn many medals, Mr. Cutler said. As for Mr. Caracappa, Mr. Hayes said he was "the finest of New York's finest."
Mr. Cutler has a penchant for speaking in triplicate and, at one point, said that Mr. Eppolito's "talent, his forte, his stock-in-trade" was spinning yarns from his deep familial knowledge of the mob. This argument was made to explain why his client told Mr. Corso last year that he wanted to kill a contractor working on his house in front of the man's parents, then kill the parents, too.
Mr. Cutler said a threat like that was not a real threat but - again using triplicate - examples of Mafia "folklore, rumor and hearsay."
"He's not an outlaw, he's not a gangster," Mr. Cutler said, picking up the scriptwriting theme once more. "He is a creator of stories, of canards, of apochryphal stories."
The lead prosecutor, Robert Henoch, seemed confused by the argument that Mr. Eppolito's words did not represent a threat but the boast of an aspiring screenwriter of the underworld. He also seemed somewhat baffled as to why Mr. Cutler kept bringing up his service in the Army Reserve by continually referring to him as "Colonel Henoch."
"They said what they meant," Mr. Henoch said of the defendants, "and meant what they said."
As proof of this, Mr. Henoch turned to Mr. Eppolito's book, "Mafia Cop" (Simon & Schuster, 1992), which details his rise in gangland Brooklyn to the ranks of the police.
The first passage Mr. Henoch read described how Mr. Eppolito had once beaten a man with a pipe. The second described punching another man in the head, then dunking his head in hot water mixed with ammonia.
"Words are important, your honor," he told the judge, "because words are a window into what's in someone's mind."
Judge Orders Ex-Detectives Freed on Bail
By ALAN FEUER (http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=ALAN%20FEUER&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=ALAN%20FEUER&inline=nyt-per)
A federal judge in Brooklyn yesterday ordered two retired city detectives charged with taking part in at least eight murders for the mob released on bail, saying that the evidence against them was "not strong" and suggesting that there may be concerns with the statute of limitations.
The two men, Louis J. Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, were told by the judge, Jack B. Weinstein, to move into relatives' homes on house arrest until their trial, which is set for September. Each was also ordered to post a personal bond of $5 million secured by properties owned by their families.
When the judge announced his ruling, the two men, who have been in jail since March, had little reaction - Mr. Eppolito blinking slightly with his hands bridged at his chin, and Mr. Caracappa looking into space. As part of the bail package, Judge Weinstein ordered both men to wear electronic anklets when they are released in about 10 days. The judge also said that Mr. Caracappa would be allowed to exercise in workouts with his lawyer, Edward W. Hayes.
Judge Weinstein reserved his most skeptical words for the government's case, which charges the two men with acting as paid mob killers in the 1980's and early 90's. When told by federal prosecutors that the last murder took place in 1991, the judge said, "The charges seem to me to be relatively stale, and the statute of limitations problem is going to be a serious one." The statute of limitations in such a conspiracy case is five years.
The prosecution contends that Mr. Eppolito, 56, and Mr. Caracappa, 63, took part in a criminal conspiracy that continued well after they had left New York. To bolster that claim, prosecutors say that in Las Vegas, where both men were arrested four months ago, they took part in a drug deal that legally speaking would extend the length of the conspiracy, making the statute of limitations no longer applicable.
The defense lawyers, Mr. Hayes and Bruce Cutler, attacked the government's case as "paper thin," saying that a government witness had entrapped their clients in the drug case, which had nothing to do with the underlying charges of gangland murder.
Mr. Cutler told the judge that Mr. Eppolito had been ensnared in the drug case by a man named Steven Corso. Mr. Corso, he said, was a "defrocked accountant" who befriended Mr. Eppolito last year with promises of getting some of his wealthy clients to invest in a screenplay.
At a three-hour dinner in Las Vegas in February, Mr. Corso apparently played on Mr. Eppolito's celluloid dreams by telling him that a couple of "Hollywood punks" were coming to Las Vegas and wanted Mr. Eppolito's help in securing some drugs, Mr. Cutler said.
Mr. Cutler then said Mr. Eppolito put the accountant in touch with his own son, Anthony, who, the next day, helped secure an ounce of methamphetamine for the film types. This, in sum, was the essence of the drug case, Mr. Cutler said, adding, "That's why he's in jail."
Mr. Eppolito and Mr. Caracappa stand accused of some of the most spectacular charges of police corruption in this or last century, including the murder of Edward Lino, a Gambino crime family captain, on the Belt Parkway in 1990. All but one of the eight murders they are charged with taking part in occurred while they were still on the police force, prosecutors say.
The prosecution said in court yesterday that it is considering bringing charges against the two men in connection with another killing - that of Isidore A. Greenwald, a diamond dealer, whose body was found buried in a parking garage in Brooklyn in April. Mr. Greenwald was killed in 1986, prosecutors say.
Mr. Hayes and Mr. Cutler nonetheless pressed the issue that their clients were never in the Mafia but were civic-minded, highly decorated lawman. Despite family ties to the mob, Mr. Eppolito went on to earn many medals, Mr. Cutler said. As for Mr. Caracappa, Mr. Hayes said he was "the finest of New York's finest."
Mr. Cutler has a penchant for speaking in triplicate and, at one point, said that Mr. Eppolito's "talent, his forte, his stock-in-trade" was spinning yarns from his deep familial knowledge of the mob. This argument was made to explain why his client told Mr. Corso last year that he wanted to kill a contractor working on his house in front of the man's parents, then kill the parents, too.
Mr. Cutler said a threat like that was not a real threat but - again using triplicate - examples of Mafia "folklore, rumor and hearsay."
"He's not an outlaw, he's not a gangster," Mr. Cutler said, picking up the scriptwriting theme once more. "He is a creator of stories, of canards, of apochryphal stories."
The lead prosecutor, Robert Henoch, seemed confused by the argument that Mr. Eppolito's words did not represent a threat but the boast of an aspiring screenwriter of the underworld. He also seemed somewhat baffled as to why Mr. Cutler kept bringing up his service in the Army Reserve by continually referring to him as "Colonel Henoch."
"They said what they meant," Mr. Henoch said of the defendants, "and meant what they said."
As proof of this, Mr. Henoch turned to Mr. Eppolito's book, "Mafia Cop" (Simon & Schuster, 1992), which details his rise in gangland Brooklyn to the ranks of the police.
The first passage Mr. Henoch read described how Mr. Eppolito had once beaten a man with a pipe. The second described punching another man in the head, then dunking his head in hot water mixed with ammonia.
"Words are important, your honor," he told the judge, "because words are a window into what's in someone's mind."