Friends of ours: John "Dapper Don" Gotti
Friends of mine: Louis Eppolito, Stephen Caracappa
Mafia cop Louis Eppolito and his mouthpiece Bruce Cutler are calling it quits. Less than a week after the convicted hit man for the mob complained to the Daily News that his lawyers "abandoned" him and former NYPD partner Stephen Caracappa at their trial, his defense lawyers had a message of their own.
"Counsel agree that Mr. Eppolito should have new counsel represent him," Cutler's co-counsel Bettina Schein informed the judge in a letter filed late Friday. "We respectfully request Mr. Eppolito be afforded sufficient time to find new counsel."
What amounted to a legal divorce filing came just days after an exclusive Daily News interview in which Eppolito blasted the colorful Cutler — best known as the lawyer for the late mob boss John (Dapper Don) Gotti.
"We were abandoned by the lawyers," Eppolito told The News. "They put up no defense for our lives. I believe you have to fight."
The legal bickering also came less than three weeks after Eppolito and Caracappa were convicted by a Brooklyn federal jury of eight gangland murders — including two killings they personally carried out for the Luchese crime family while they were NYPD detectives.
The duo faces life in prison without the possibility of parole when sentenced in one of the most notorious cases of police corruption in NYPD history.
Federal Judge Jack Weinstein ordered a hearing for today on Eppolito's comments — made to The News in a phone interview from the Metropolitan Detention Center, where he is being held in solitary confinement.
"I wanted to take the stand. I begged them," Eppolito, 57, told The News. "I said, 'Put me up there. This is my life I'm fighting for.'"
Eppolito's family members stepped up the blame in letters to the judge made public last week. "Lou and Steve had two very able attorneys that did not put on a defense," wrote Eppolito's sister Paula Guarneri. "There is so much the jury did not hear in their defense."
Cutler generated a lot of noise in court with his theatrics, but not much else, jurors told The News after the April 6 verdict. Schein mostly handled the legal paperwork.
The search for a new lawyer will likely delay sentencing currently scheduled for May 22. Eppolito's new lawyer must review the entire case and prepare a motion to set aside the verdict.
Caracappa, 64, has not publicly stated any opinion about his lawyer, Edward Hayes. "I think I'll stay with him until the sentencing," Hayes said. "I think he needs a fresh view for the appeal, but I will assist him in any way I can."
Thanks to John Marzulli
Friday, April 28, 2006
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Overheard: Longshoreman's Union
Homeland Security announced Tuesday all U.S. port workers will have to undergo background checks to look for any security threats. This administration doesn't know the Longshoreman's Union. There are no more patriotic Americans than the Mafia.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Mob Cop's Daughter Begs Judge: Free Dad
Friends of mine: Louis Eppolito, Stephen Caracappa
Daddy's dearest is coming to the rescue again.
The daughter of convicted Mafia cop Louis Eppolito has fired off an emotional letter to Brooklyn Federal Judge Jack Weinstein, attacking the government's case, dissing her father's lawyers and begging the judge to set aside his conviction. In short, the dark-haired beauty launched the kind of defense her father claims he didn't get at his trial.
"There were so many things that I thought would have come out in trial, so many pieces of information and evidence that would have shown reasonable doubt and let the jury know that my father and Steve Caracappa are innocent," Andrea Eppolito said in a four-page missive made public yesterday.
"I don't know why the lawyers didn't do certain things, ask certain questions, or take a more aggressive defense. Your Honor, please do not punish my father and our family for those mistakes," she added.
A year ago today, Eppolito made front-page news when she unexpectedly waltzed in front of a bevy of microphones and delivered an impassioned defense of her father after a routine courthouse appearance.
This time around, Eppolito, a 29-year-old marketing specialist from Las Vegas, wrote Weinstein she was appealing to him "on behalf of my father, my family, and in the name of justice."
She implored the judge to set aside the April 6 verdict in which her dad and Caracappa, his former NYPD partner, were convicted of being linked to eight mob murders.
The disgraced ex-detective also ripped defense lawyers Bruce Cutler and Bettina Schein for not allowing him to testify and not aggressively defending him. Weinstein will hold a hearing Monday to determine whether Eppolito needs new counsel.
In her missive, Andrea says her dad's 1992 biography, "Mafia Cop," in which Eppolito admits his father, uncle and cousin were in the Mafia, revealed a family history that was largely kept secret from her as a child.
"My father walked away from a life of crime that was filled with easy money, easy hours, lies, deceit, coercion, murder and many other degrading acts, to wake up early, put on a uniform or suit and carry a badge.
"Please do not condemn him, do not force him to pay for the sins of his father and the family that came before him."
Thanks to John Marzulli
Daddy's dearest is coming to the rescue again.
The daughter of convicted Mafia cop Louis Eppolito has fired off an emotional letter to Brooklyn Federal Judge Jack Weinstein, attacking the government's case, dissing her father's lawyers and begging the judge to set aside his conviction. In short, the dark-haired beauty launched the kind of defense her father claims he didn't get at his trial.
"There were so many things that I thought would have come out in trial, so many pieces of information and evidence that would have shown reasonable doubt and let the jury know that my father and Steve Caracappa are innocent," Andrea Eppolito said in a four-page missive made public yesterday.
"I don't know why the lawyers didn't do certain things, ask certain questions, or take a more aggressive defense. Your Honor, please do not punish my father and our family for those mistakes," she added.
A year ago today, Eppolito made front-page news when she unexpectedly waltzed in front of a bevy of microphones and delivered an impassioned defense of her father after a routine courthouse appearance.
This time around, Eppolito, a 29-year-old marketing specialist from Las Vegas, wrote Weinstein she was appealing to him "on behalf of my father, my family, and in the name of justice."
She implored the judge to set aside the April 6 verdict in which her dad and Caracappa, his former NYPD partner, were convicted of being linked to eight mob murders.
The disgraced ex-detective also ripped defense lawyers Bruce Cutler and Bettina Schein for not allowing him to testify and not aggressively defending him. Weinstein will hold a hearing Monday to determine whether Eppolito needs new counsel.
In her missive, Andrea says her dad's 1992 biography, "Mafia Cop," in which Eppolito admits his father, uncle and cousin were in the Mafia, revealed a family history that was largely kept secret from her as a child.
"My father walked away from a life of crime that was filled with easy money, easy hours, lies, deceit, coercion, murder and many other degrading acts, to wake up early, put on a uniform or suit and carry a badge.
"Please do not condemn him, do not force him to pay for the sins of his father and the family that came before him."
Thanks to John Marzulli
Four-Year Gotti Offer
Friends of ours: Junior Gotti, John Gotti, Gambino Crime Family
The feds have made John "Junior" Gotti an offer he likely can't refuse.
Gotti is secretly weighing whether to accept a new plea deal that would put him behind bars for less than four years in exchange for pleading guilty to racketeering charges, two sources familiar with the negotiations told The Post.
While Gotti, 42, has yet to sign off on the deal, he is seriously considering it and could plead guilty as soon as next week, one of the sources said.
The offer includes a five-year prison sentence that would likely be whittled down to 31/2 years behind bars with credit for time he's already served - roughly one-tenth of the 30-year sentence he could face if a jury convicts him.
The new terms mirror those sought by Gotti last November, but prosecutors then refused to go below a 10-year sentence. The feds sweetened the deal after a jury failed to reach a verdict in his case last month - Gotti's second mistrial. A third trial is scheduled to begin July 5.
The son of John "Dapper Don" Gotti would also have to fork over $500,000 in cash under the proposed deal - a measly sum compared to the $25 million in forfeitures now hanging over his head.
Once released, the father of five would be forced to move from his Oyster Bay, L.I., home. The terms of the deal bar him from living in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut or Massachusetts, a source said.
Gotti's lawyer, Charles Carnesi, declined to comment on the negotiations. A call to prosecutors was not returned.
Gotti has admitted he once ran the Gambino crime family for his father, but claims he left the mob in 1999.
To accept the deal, Gotti would have to admit to more recent racketeering charges, including loan-sharking and extortion, and the sensational 1992 kidnapping of radio host Curtis Sliwa. Sliwa was shot in a stolen taxi allegedly piloted by a Gambino thug, but managed to escape by climbing out the window.
The new offer, with its five-year prison term, is a fraction of any previous deal put on the table. Prior his first trial, in the summer of 2005, Gotti rejected an offer that would have forced him to serve 18 years behind bars.
When a jury failed to reach a verdict, Gotti's then-lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, negotiated a 10-year sentence and $1 million in forfeitures, but Gotti had a change of heart and rejected the offer. The gamble paid off when a second jury failed to reach a verdict in March - it was reported split 8-4 in favor of acquittal.
The mob scion has long been a suspect in three murders - a double hit in 1992 on Thomas and Rosemary Uva, who were known for robbing mob-connected social clubs, as well as the slaying of Danny Silva in a 1983 barroom brawl.
The new offer does not protect him from prosecution in those cases should the feds develop new evidence.
Thanks to Kati Cornell
The feds have made John "Junior" Gotti an offer he likely can't refuse.
Gotti is secretly weighing whether to accept a new plea deal that would put him behind bars for less than four years in exchange for pleading guilty to racketeering charges, two sources familiar with the negotiations told The Post.
While Gotti, 42, has yet to sign off on the deal, he is seriously considering it and could plead guilty as soon as next week, one of the sources said.
The offer includes a five-year prison sentence that would likely be whittled down to 31/2 years behind bars with credit for time he's already served - roughly one-tenth of the 30-year sentence he could face if a jury convicts him.
The new terms mirror those sought by Gotti last November, but prosecutors then refused to go below a 10-year sentence. The feds sweetened the deal after a jury failed to reach a verdict in his case last month - Gotti's second mistrial. A third trial is scheduled to begin July 5.
The son of John "Dapper Don" Gotti would also have to fork over $500,000 in cash under the proposed deal - a measly sum compared to the $25 million in forfeitures now hanging over his head.
Once released, the father of five would be forced to move from his Oyster Bay, L.I., home. The terms of the deal bar him from living in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut or Massachusetts, a source said.
Gotti's lawyer, Charles Carnesi, declined to comment on the negotiations. A call to prosecutors was not returned.
Gotti has admitted he once ran the Gambino crime family for his father, but claims he left the mob in 1999.
To accept the deal, Gotti would have to admit to more recent racketeering charges, including loan-sharking and extortion, and the sensational 1992 kidnapping of radio host Curtis Sliwa. Sliwa was shot in a stolen taxi allegedly piloted by a Gambino thug, but managed to escape by climbing out the window.
The new offer, with its five-year prison term, is a fraction of any previous deal put on the table. Prior his first trial, in the summer of 2005, Gotti rejected an offer that would have forced him to serve 18 years behind bars.
When a jury failed to reach a verdict, Gotti's then-lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, negotiated a 10-year sentence and $1 million in forfeitures, but Gotti had a change of heart and rejected the offer. The gamble paid off when a second jury failed to reach a verdict in March - it was reported split 8-4 in favor of acquittal.
The mob scion has long been a suspect in three murders - a double hit in 1992 on Thomas and Rosemary Uva, who were known for robbing mob-connected social clubs, as well as the slaying of Danny Silva in a 1983 barroom brawl.
The new offer does not protect him from prosecution in those cases should the feds develop new evidence.
Thanks to Kati Cornell
Gambino Boss Heading to Jail
NINE YEARS FOR GEEZER GODFATHER
Friend of ours: Gambino Crime Family, Arnold "Zeke" Squitieri, Peter Gotti, John Gotti, Gregory DePalma
Reputed Gambino head Arnold "Zeke" Squitieri copped a plea to racketeering charges stemming from a daring three-year probe by an undercover FBI agent who infiltrated the crime family's ranks and brought down its leadership.
Squitieri, 70, confessed to racketeering and three shakedown schemes in a plea deal with the feds that will likely land him behind bars for nine years - roughly half the time he would have faced had he taken his chances with a jury. But the aging mafioso, who appeared in Manhattan Federal Court clad in tan prison garb that exposed a tattooed arm, made it clear he wasn't pleading guilty to save himself.
After admitting his misdeeds yesterday, Squitieri turned to coldly point at his wife, Marie, in the spectator seats.
"I did it for you. I pleaded guilty because of you," Squitieri said, prompting his wife to well up with tears and rush from the courtroom.
Also looking on were three of Squitieri's daughters, including raven-haired attorney Ginger Squitieri, who sat next to her father as a member of his defense team and greeted him with a kiss.
The feds claim Squitieri took the reins as Gambino acting boss when reputed boss Peter Gotti was arrested in 2002 - the first generation of Gambino bosses in the post-John Gotti era.
Under the deal hammered out with Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Conniff, Squitieri confessed to racketeering and raking in cash through shakedown schemes targeting two construction companies, in Mineola, L.I., and Westchester, and a New Jersey trucking company.
"I know it was wrong," Squitieri said. But the reputed mob leader - identified by the feds as an acting boss - kept his lips zipped when asked to acknowledge his role in the Gambino crime family.
"Mr. Squitieri makes no concession with respect to the name of the enterprise," defense lawyer Gerald Shargel told Magistrate Judge Michael Dolinger.
"With the Gambino name out of it? Guilty," said Squitieri, who must also forfeit $100,000 in cash.
The gravelly-voiced wiseguy joked with the judge when asked to identify the time frame of his crimes. "I can't remember too good, your honor. I'm getting up in age," Squitieri said, estimating that the extortions occurred between 1999 and 2005.
The feds have pegged Squitieri as official underboss and acting boss of the crime family, but some members of his ranks viewed him as holding the ultimate power, according to tapes of secretly recorded conversations.
On Nov. 5, 2004, steely-nerved undercover FBI agent "Jack Falcone" asked reputed capo Gregory DePalma if Squitieri was acting boss, to which the high-ranking mobster replied, "No, he's the boss. The boss is the boss," law-enforcement sources said.
In that same momentous conversation, DePalma told the 6-foot-4, 300-pound-plus Falcone he wanted to propose him as a "made" member of the crime family - not knowing he was an undercover agent.
The probe came to an abrupt end soon after this exchange in order to protect the burly agent, who was later targeted in a $250,000 murder contract foiled by the feds in August 2005 and first reported by The Post.
Squitieri was one of 32 reputed mobsters rounded up in March 2005 as the result of the daring undercover investigation, and all but two have pleaded guilty.
Thanks to Kati Cornell and Murray Weis
Friend of ours: Gambino Crime Family, Arnold "Zeke" Squitieri, Peter Gotti, John Gotti, Gregory DePalma
Reputed Gambino head Arnold "Zeke" Squitieri copped a plea to racketeering charges stemming from a daring three-year probe by an undercover FBI agent who infiltrated the crime family's ranks and brought down its leadership.
Squitieri, 70, confessed to racketeering and three shakedown schemes in a plea deal with the feds that will likely land him behind bars for nine years - roughly half the time he would have faced had he taken his chances with a jury. But the aging mafioso, who appeared in Manhattan Federal Court clad in tan prison garb that exposed a tattooed arm, made it clear he wasn't pleading guilty to save himself.
After admitting his misdeeds yesterday, Squitieri turned to coldly point at his wife, Marie, in the spectator seats.
"I did it for you. I pleaded guilty because of you," Squitieri said, prompting his wife to well up with tears and rush from the courtroom.
Also looking on were three of Squitieri's daughters, including raven-haired attorney Ginger Squitieri, who sat next to her father as a member of his defense team and greeted him with a kiss.
The feds claim Squitieri took the reins as Gambino acting boss when reputed boss Peter Gotti was arrested in 2002 - the first generation of Gambino bosses in the post-John Gotti era.
Under the deal hammered out with Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Conniff, Squitieri confessed to racketeering and raking in cash through shakedown schemes targeting two construction companies, in Mineola, L.I., and Westchester, and a New Jersey trucking company.
"I know it was wrong," Squitieri said. But the reputed mob leader - identified by the feds as an acting boss - kept his lips zipped when asked to acknowledge his role in the Gambino crime family.
"Mr. Squitieri makes no concession with respect to the name of the enterprise," defense lawyer Gerald Shargel told Magistrate Judge Michael Dolinger.
"With the Gambino name out of it? Guilty," said Squitieri, who must also forfeit $100,000 in cash.
The gravelly-voiced wiseguy joked with the judge when asked to identify the time frame of his crimes. "I can't remember too good, your honor. I'm getting up in age," Squitieri said, estimating that the extortions occurred between 1999 and 2005.
The feds have pegged Squitieri as official underboss and acting boss of the crime family, but some members of his ranks viewed him as holding the ultimate power, according to tapes of secretly recorded conversations.
On Nov. 5, 2004, steely-nerved undercover FBI agent "Jack Falcone" asked reputed capo Gregory DePalma if Squitieri was acting boss, to which the high-ranking mobster replied, "No, he's the boss. The boss is the boss," law-enforcement sources said.
In that same momentous conversation, DePalma told the 6-foot-4, 300-pound-plus Falcone he wanted to propose him as a "made" member of the crime family - not knowing he was an undercover agent.
The probe came to an abrupt end soon after this exchange in order to protect the burly agent, who was later targeted in a $250,000 murder contract foiled by the feds in August 2005 and first reported by The Post.
Squitieri was one of 32 reputed mobsters rounded up in March 2005 as the result of the daring undercover investigation, and all but two have pleaded guilty.
Thanks to Kati Cornell and Murray Weis
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