Posted on 12/02/2005 3:59:47 PM PST by Calpernia
(New York - AP, December 1, 2005) - After losing a fight to get his racketeering case thrown out, Louis Eppolito, a retired police officer accused of moonlighting as a hit man for the mob, insisted today that he was a "good cop." Lawyers for Eppolito and another ex-officer, Stephen Caracappa, argued at a pretrial hearing in Brooklyn federal court that the indictment was legally defective. A judge disagreed and set a trial date for February 21st.
Prosecutors claim Eppolito and Caracappa accepted thousands of dollars a month to settle scores for the Luchese organized crime family while still on the police force. An indictment accuses them of being involved in the killings of at least eight rival gangsters in the 1980s and early 1990s.
The defense sought to have the case thrown out after federal judge Jack Weinstein questioned whether the five-year statute of limitations may have run out on the murder charges and called the accusations stale.
The judge also expressed skepticism about prosecutors' claim that Eppolito and Caracappa continued their conspiracy by dealing methamphetamine in Las Vegas, where they had retired, until their arrests in March.
But the judge ruled that the case was based on a valid indictment handed up by a valid grand jury and set a court date.
ping
My mother had a client who was a cop. His father was in the DiCavalcante crime family.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.