Mafia Cops?

Former Cop Accused Of Mafia Ties Speaks To Ed Bradley

(CBS) 
Stephen Caracappa said he knew he was being framed. And he says he has a good idea why he was implicated in the first place: his relationship with Louis Eppolito, who came from a family of mobsters, and wrote a book about it, titled "Mafia Cop: The Story of an Honest Cop Whose Family Was The Mob."

In the book, Eppolito brags about socializing with mobsters and torturing suspects when he was on the job.

Asked if he feared jurors might know of the book and lump him in by guilt of association, Caracappa said, "It could be. But if you knew Louie Eppolito and you spoke to Louie Eppolito, and you spent any time with him, you would see he couldn't do that. The guy is gentle."

But there’s a separate case that paints a dark picture of Louis Eppolito, involving Barry Gibbs, who spent 19 years in prison for a murder prosecutors now say he didn’t commit. He was freed eight months ago, after a judge ruled that Det. Eppolito, who investigated the crime, intimidated the only eyewitness in the case into falsely testifying against Gibbs.

"He is a corrupt cop, and he is no good, and that’s the end of it," Gibbs said. "He ruined my life. He could have done that to anybody. It just so happens it was me. He could have done it you. He could have done it to anybody sitting here."

That eyewitness who testified against Gibbs was a former Marine, Peter Mitchell. In 1986, Mitchell saw a man dumping a woman’s body along a road in Brooklyn. He gave a description of the suspect to Eppolito, who was on the scene investigating the murder, and while his description bore no resemblance to Barry Gibbs, Mitchell says Eppolito threatened to hurt him and his family, if he refused to pick Gibbs out of a police lineup and point the finger at him in court.

Mitchell admitted he knew he was lying on the stand and that his testimony would land Gibbs in jail.

"Yeah, but you know what? I don't want this cop after me," Mitchell said.

How could he do that?

"How could I do that? My family was on the line here. And I, if I had to do it, I'll do it again," Mitchell said.

Mitchell said that if he hadn't fingered Barry Gibbs, he would be dead.

As for Barry Gibbs, he would still be in prison today if prosecutors hadn’t stumbled across his case file last spring during a search of Louis Eppolito’s home. Eppolito has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing in this case, and claims he did nothing improper. The former detective made a brief statement to reporters about the eight murder charges against him.

"I was a very highly decorated cop. I worked very hard my whole life and I just wanted people to know I’m not the person that they’re portraying me," he said.

Asked by a reporter if he was ever a bad cop, Eppolito replied, "Never in my life, never."

The question for the jury in this case was: did two decorated police officers cross the thin blue line and become hitmen for the mafia?

"There's either some shred of truth in these allegations or the prosecutors have just invented it all," Bradley said. "I mean, this litany of charges against you. Which one is it?"
"I don't think the prosecutors invented it," Caracappa replied. "I think what the prosecutors are taking are the lies of informants. And taking the lies of informants as truths."

"You must know that if you get convicted on even one of these murder charges, you'll go down in history as one of the most corrupt cops in the history of the department," Bradley said.

"That's true, Mr. Bradley, but I won't be convicted, because I didn't do this," Caracappa replied. "I won't, didn't do it. So I'm not gonna be convicted. I won't have that on my epitaph."

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Stephen Caracappa and Louis Eppolito are set to be sentenced next week. They face the possibility of life in prison. Meanwhile, the judge who presided over the trial has said the former detectives could have grounds to appeal their conviction.