2 Palm Beach County Men Among Mafia Suspects

Friends of ours: Genovese Crime Family, Renaldi "Ray" Ruggiero
Friends of mine: Mitchell Weissman, The "Sopranos "

In the hunt to take down the legendary Genovese organized crime family, investigators nabbed two associates in Palm Beach County.

They found Renaldi "Ray" Ruggiero, a 72-year-old living in a modest suburban home in Palm Beach Gardens. He is described as the "capo" in charge of the family's South Florida operations.

They also found his alleged associate, Mitchell Weissman, 54, in Boca Raton. He is not a made man, but helped the mafia carry out its traditional work of extortion, robbery, money laundering, loan sharking, possession of stolen property and bank fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Both are transplants from New York.

The two men were arrested on Friday after a grand jury indicted them along with five others from Broward and Miami-Dade counties on multiple charges including racketeering.

Until now, Ruggiero had a clean criminal record in Florida. A woman answered the door at his home, but declined comment.

Weissman was arrested once in 1994 by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office on a domestic battery complaint by his wife, Sandra Weissman. At the time, she had an injured eye and told the deputy she feared violence would continue. The outcome of the case was not immediately available, but the couple is still married, state records show. Weissman did not return calls for comment.

The mafia's dealings in the indictment reads like a script for the mob drama, The Sopranos, except the scenes are set among South Florida's palm trees instead of northern New Jersey.

The cast of codefendants include those nicknamed "the Baker," "the Old Man," and "the Fat Man."

In one case, Ruggiero lured a victim to a codefendant's Coral Springs office, where a gun was held to the man's head in an effort to extort $1.5 million from him. Ruggiero later feigned that he was going to help the victim, even though he had already cut a deal to split the victim's money with the assailants, according to the indictment.

In another, Ruggiero was part of the conspiracy to rob a Boynton Beach bookie of $39,000, the indictment says.

The government is also trying to take up to $3 million of money and assets the seven men have acquired — including the three-bedroom homesteaded Palm Beach Gardens house Ruggiero bought in the Siena Oaks development in 1990 for $157,900.

Weissman lives at a house in Boca Raton he acquired from Ruggiero in 2003, county property records show.

Thanks to Rochelle Gilken

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'Mafia Cops' Judge to Rule on Bail After Vacation Cruise

Friends of ours: Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, Lucchese Crime Family
Friends of mine: Louis Eppolito, Stephen Caracappa

'Mafia Cops' Judge Jack Weinstein tossed the convictions of the two retired New York City detectives that have been dubbed the 'Mafia Cops' on Friday. But now, the judge may make them wait until he finishes his vacation cruise before allowing them to make a bid to get out of jail.

Ex-NYPD detectives Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa will certainly file for bail but according to a report in Newsday - they may have to wait for an answer until the judge returns from a vacation cruise.

Newsday reports that along with his momentous ruling Friday, which overturned the conviction of both men for racketeering conspiracy, Brooklyn federal Judge Jack B. Weinstein issued a terse order that any requests for bail be made to him as "presiding" justice in the case.

That means that any attempt by Eppolito, 57, and Caracappa, 64, to win release from the federal detention center in Brooklyn won't be decided until Weinstein returns from a vacation cruise later this month. However, defense attorneys may file bail requests as early as this week for both men.

On April 6, a jury found Eppolito and Caracappa guilty of 70 counts of racketeering in one of the most sensational cases of police corruption in New York's history. In a month long trial, witnesses testified that the two friends had formed a partnership with Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, an underboss with the Lucchese family, reports the LA Times.

In exchange for a shared $4,000 monthly retainer, they would pass along police information about mob figures and occasionally act as hit men themselves.

The men were each sentenced to life in prison for their crimes.

The United States attorney's office in Brooklyn said it would appeal the judge's decision to overturn the convictions.

Thanks to Jim Roberts

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Mob Gal Pal Becoming Key Witness to FBI Case

Friends of ours: Gregory Scarpa Sr., Colombo Crime Family

When Linda Schiro was just 16, the Brooklyn teen was already a mistress to a hardened mobster. Her lover, Gregory Scarpa Sr., was a veteran of the Colombo crime family who eventually was convicted of murder and racketeering.

A dozen years later, Schiro has emerged as a key witness against a former FBI agent who allegedly fed Scarpa inside information that led to four mob slayings. But attorneys for R. Lindley DeVecchio say the longtime mistress lacks the credibility to implicate the ex-FBI agent. Her story has changed drastically over time, the defense says.

Authorities insist that Schiro's initial reluctance to detail the relationship between the agent and the mob capo was motivated by fears for her life. Only recently was she persuaded to tell the truth, they say.

Schiro met Scarpa in 1966 when she was 16. They quickly moved in together and shared the same home for 28 years -- except when Scarpa was behind bars. The couple had two children.

DeVecchio was the head of the FBI's Colombo crime family squad and became Scarpa's handler when the mobster turned informer. During Scarpa's time as a mole, DeVecchio put together a 700-page informant file detailing their relationship, court papers showed.

Allegations about possible leaks from DeVecchio to Scarpa first surfaced after the mobster's June 1994 death in a Minnesota prison from AIDS, contracted when he received a tainted blood transfusion. But the Department of Justice declined to prosecute DeVecchio following an internal investigation.

DeVecchio, now 65, retired to Florida in 1996. The former agent has pleaded not guilty to murder charges and is free on $1 million bond.

A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation remains open, said authorities approached Schiro two years ago after a private investigator turned up fresh evidence against DeVecchio.

Prosecutors persuaded Schiro to come clean about the relationship between the agent and Scarpa by promising relocation and police protection. "It was a matter of making her feel safe, telling her, 'You're not going to get whacked,"' the official said.

Court papers filed by the prosecution present a sinister relationship between Scarpa and DeVecchio. The pair met once a week at Scarpa's home, where the agent accepted a roll of bills bound with a rubber band -- the payoff for DeVecchio's tips from inside the FBI, according to an affidavit from Assistant District Attorney Ann Bordley.

The prosecutor maintains that Schiro has direct knowledge about the 1990 slaying of Patrick Porco, who with Scarpa's son Joey and two other suspects murdered a man outside a church in Brooklyn on Halloween 1989.

In May 1990, Schiro answered a phone call from DeVecchio, asking for Scarpa. The mobster had Schiro drive him to a pay phone, where he spoke with DeVecchio for about 10 minutes before returning to the car. "I can't believe this (expletive) kid," Scarpa allegedly told Schiro. "Patrick is going to rat on Joey. We got to do something about this."

Porco, 18, was found the next morning on a Brooklyn street corner with a bullet in his head.

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Mother of Mafia Cops Victim Pleads with Mayor Bloomberg

Friends of ours: Lucchese Crime Family
Friends of mine: Louis Eppolito, Stephen Caracappa

The mother of a victim linked to the so-called "Mafia cops" case has addressed a letter to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg asking for his help. The 'Mafia Cops' convictions were overturned on Friday.

According to an exclusive in the NY Daily News the mother wants the mayor to stop fighting her wrongful-death suit, which she said is being delayed by technicalities.

The letter is written by Pauline Pipitone, the mother of 26-year-old Brooklyn man Nicky Guido. He was slain on Christmas Day 1986, a victim of mistaken identity in a rubout linked to the so-called Mafia Cops case, according to the Daily News.

The full letter to Mayor Bloomberg is here.

Jim Kouri reported in the National Ledger on Friday on that the judge had overturned the convictions of two former New York City cops accused of working for the Luchese crime family as mob hit men.

He writes:

Judge Jack Weinstein said that he still believes they are guilty, but the statute of limitations had run out. Besides, liberals always work overtime in order to avoid incarcerating criminals and terrorists, and Weinstein's judicial history strongly suggested he's on the left of the political spectrum.

Three months ago, a jury found former NYPD detectives Louis Eppolito and Steven Caracappa guilty of participating in eight murders while on the payroll of the organized crime underboss. But a lawyer in a black robe knows best, so dirty cops lucked out by having a Lyndon Johnson-appointed judge hear their case.

In his decision, Judge Jack Weinstein said he agreed with a jury that Eppolito and Caracappa were guilty of murder, kidnapping and other crimes, but unfortunately the law "compelled" him to overturn the verdicts on the most serious charges. Weinstein granted the former cops a new trial on drug charges and Eppolito a new trial on money laundering charges. It will be interesting to see how Weinstein handles the drug charges.

"The evidence at trial overwhelmingly established the defendants' participation in a large number of heinous and violent crimes," he said in his ruling.

"Nevertheless the five-year statute of limitations mandates granting the defendants a judgment of acquittal on the key charge against them -- racketeering conspiracy."

Less than a month ago, Weinstein sentenced the two disgraced law enforcement officers to life in prison.

Thanks to Jim Roberts

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Convictions Tossed in "Mafia Cops" Case

Friends of mine: Louis J. Eppolito, Stephen Caracappa

A federal judge tossed out the convictions of two retired New York City detectives today on racketeering charges — including eight murders for the mob — because the statute of limitations had run out, even though there was overwhelming evidence the men had committed "heinous and violent crimes."

The ruling by Judge Jack B. Weinstein reversed in its entirety the conviction of the two detectives, Louis J. Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, who were found guilty in April of some of the most stunning corruption charges in the city's history. Although a jury found that Mr. Eppolito and Mr. Caracappa had participated, as paid assassins, in killings for the mob, the judge's order vacated the convictions, though not on evidentiary grounds.

The ruling, in a 102-page order that touched upon Sir Thomas More and the sanctity of the Constitution, was the latest —and most severe — turn yet in the 15-month case. It sent shock waves through the United States attorney's office in Brooklyn, which said it would appeal. And it sent a crest of disappointment through the families of the victims in the case, some of whom had given heart-wrenching testimony at the two men's sentencing last month, where they were given life terms.

It sent a surge of joy through the offices of the defendants' new lawyers, one of whom, Joseph A. Bondy, called it "the most substantial legal victory" in recent history. Meanwhile, it threatened to disrupt the careers — and the book deals — of some investigators in the case. And it led to the bizarre prospect that the two detectives — whom Judge Weinstein outright accused in his order of being stone-cold killers — could walk free from a federal jail in Brooklyn as early as next week.

The judge was poetic in acknowledging that his decision might seem strange to some.

"It will undoubtedly appear peculiar to many people that heinous criminals such as the defendants, having been found guilty on overwhelming evidence of the most despicable crimes of violence, should go unwhipped of justice," he wrote.

"Yet our Constitution, statutes and morality require that we be ruled by the law, not vindictiveness or the advantages of the moment."

The judge also wrote that even though there was little doubt that Mr. Eppolito and Mr. Caracappa had "kidnapped, murdered, and assisted kidnappers and murderers," he had no choice but to let them because the five-year statute of limitations in conspiracy cases had run out.

His ruling was not the first time the statute had come up. Virtually from the outset of the case, Judge Weinstein had said that he was queasy about the legal connection between the eight gangland murders, all of which occurred in Brooklyn in the 1980's and 1990's, and a much more recent — and less serious — charge of selling a single ounce of methamphetamine in Las Vegas last year.

In October, the defense team seized upon the judge's qualms and filed a motion to quash the case before the trial, saying, in essence, that the government had bootstrapped the drug charge on to the murder charges so as "to freshen up" the case and to avoid the statute of limitations.

Judge Weinstein denied the motion, deciding instead to go to trial and to see if the government could prove, as it said it could, that there was indeed an "ongoing criminal enterprise" that stretched from the streets of Brooklyn to the casinos and subdivisions of Las Vegas.

Judge Weinstein's ruling drove a legal spike directly through that argument and no matter how pained he seemed to be in vacating the convictions, he took the government to task for pushing the boundaries of conspiracy law.

"The government's case against these defendants," he wrote, "stretches federal racketeering and conspiracy law to the breaking point."

There was a certain irony lurking in the fact that the statute of limitations was practically the first issue raised in pretrial hearings by the defendants' former lawyers, Bruce Cutler and Edward Hayes, who just this week were forced to appear in court to defend themselves against charges of incompetence filed against them by the two detectives. Judge Weinstein tossed those charges out.

Still, it was in keeping with the topsy-turvy nature of the case that the very argument that the fired legal team had offered in their former clients' defense was the one that was eventually successful.

In either case the judge's ruling provided a much more sweeping victory than the mere new trial that the defendants would have gotten with a finding that their lawyers were incompetent. Now there can be no new trial on the murder conspiracy charges, although a higher court could reinstate the convictions and the prosecution can seek to retry the defendants on the drug charge and Mr. Eppolito, alone, on a money-laundering count.

Reached at his office, Mr. Hayes was at first speechless — a rarity for a man who once sang "Danny Boy" aloud in open court. He said the prosecution had made a grave tactical error by not allowing the case to be tried in state court, which has no statute of limitations on murder. "But this is a Justice Department that more than any in my lifetime has shown a mad-dog desire to control everything and to ignore the law," he said. "And they paid the price in this case."

Mr. Cutler said it would have been difficult for a jury to acquit on what some might see as a technicality, but he praised Judge Weinstein for his independence. "I take comfort in the fact that there are judges who do what they think is right," he said.

Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for the United States attorney's office in Brooklyn, released a terse statement today supporting the jury's verdict. "The jury in this case unanimously found Eppolito and Caracappa guilty of racketeering and murder based on overwhelming evidence," the statement read. "And based on the law that was given to them by the court, each of the 12 jurors specifically found that the defendants' heinous crimes were committed within the statute of limitations. We intend to pursue an appeal."

Thanks to Alan Feuer

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