CRIME HISTORY - 'Mafia cops' kill Gambino capo
By: Scott McCabe
Examiner Staff Writer
November 6, 2009
On this day, Nov. 6, in 1990, corrupt New York City police detectives Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, working for the Mafia, killed a high-ranking gangster from a rival family.
Eppolito was born into the mob and even penned a 1992 autobiography, "Mafia Cop: The Story of an Honest Cop whose Family was in the Mob."
But in reality, he and Caracappa were on the payroll of the Lucchese crime family, earning $4,000 a month.
On this day 19 years ago, the corrupt cops earned an extra $65,000 from Lucchese underboss Anthony "Gas Pipe" Casso. The cops pulled over Gambino capo Edward Lino on a Brooklyn highway and shot him dead.
The duo soon retired. Eppolito went into acting, scoring a bit role in Martin Scorsese's mobster epic, "Goodfellas."
After a long investigation, the feds arrested Eppolito and Caracappa in 2005. The "Mafia cops" were convicted of eight mob murders and sentenced to life in prison.
-- Scott McCabe
