Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. Hey, before the show starts today, we have a little bit of fun news to share. We have had a secret. We have been working very diligently for the past many months on creating something that a lot of you have been asking for, and that is a book of cocktails and mocktails that are told right alongside the stories that we talk about.
Plus additional ones that we have not talked about.
That's right. This book is about half stories you have heard, although they've been abridged, alongside their cocktails and brand news stories that we are telling, and brand new cocktails that we have never had before.
We are on pre order now so you can order up and wait for it to hit in October.
That's right. It is going to be out on October fifteenth, and you can order it now just about anywhere books are sold. Check out your local bookstores and see if they're going to have it. All right, let's jump into the episode.
Federal Prosecutor Daniel Winner described the case as quote the bloodiest, most violent betrayal of the badge this city has ever seen. Two decorated new York City Police detectives Stephen Caracappa and Louis Eppolito committed various illegal activities on behalf of the Five Families of the American Mafia, spanning from the mid nineteen eighties to nineteen ninety. Both Cara Kappa and Epolito were indicted on multiple charges related to their mafia associations.
Because of the efforts by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, as well as prosecutors, investigators, and staff of the United States Attorney's Office, and a woman named Betty Hidel, the men were arrested, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison. Let's talk about the so called mafia cops and the story of Wyatt. Took roughly twenty years to put them behind bars. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria Tremarki.
And I'm Holly Frye. Stephen the Stick Karracappa and Louis Louis or lou Eppolito were both sworn in as police officers in nineteen sixty nine. Epillito became a detective in nineteen seventy seven, and Karracappa followed in nineteen seventy nine. And both of them were considered pretty good cops by most accounts, until until they sold what should have been their incorruptible police badges for a monthly salary from Antony Caeso,
a Lucchese crime family underboss known as gas Pipe. The Lucchese family is an Italian American mafia crime family and one of the five families that dominated organized crime activities in New York City and other cities across the United States. The others include the Gambino, Banano, Genovese, and Colombo organizations. As a retainer, each cop received four thousand dollars a month in exchange for passing along intelligence reports and privileged
information about crime family informants. During their tenure with the Lucchese family, they were accomplices to multiple crimes, including several murders, two of which they carried out themselves.
Cara Kappa grew up in Brooklyn. He was a high school dropout who spent five years working as a laborer in New Jersey before he joined the Army and did a tour in Vietnam. When he joined the New York Police Department, it was as a street patrolman at Bellito's family was also from Brooklyn and was known to have mafia ties. His father was a Gambino family soldier known as Fat the Gangster, his uncle known as Jimmy the clam,
His grandfather and a cousin were also made men. By age ten, Lou was joining his father on his bookmaking rounds, meaning he accompanied his dad as he made the rounds, collecting regular payments to the Gambino family. And while most of us might imagine a bookie collecting mainly on sports bets, the mafia collected for anything and everything unspecified services.
Kiracappa and Epolito were essentially lifelong friends. They spent a total of forty four years on the force together, and they retired to homes across the street from each other in Las Vegas. Epillito retired in nineteen ninety, The same year he ironically played a bit part in Martin Scorsese's nineteen ninety mafia drama called Goodfellas. You can look for
him as Fat Albert. In nineteen ninety two, Epilito co wrote a memoir of his time with the New York Police called Mafia Cop, the story of an honest cop whose family was the mob and He appeared on the talk show Sally Jesse Raphael in nineteen ninety eight to promote his book and to discuss his time as a detective as well as his family's ties to organized crime.
Although he denied that he knew any details. Speaking about his father, he shared with Raphael quote he hated cops with a passion, adding that it was probably a good thing his father died before he had joined the police academy. He continued interestingly that he saw a lot of similarities between police and mobsters, that in addition to both living by a strict code, they also both delivered justice.
Kara Koppa retired in nineteen ninety two after an holds your Breath for This one, helping to establish the New York City Police Department's unit for mafia murder investigations. When he retired, he took a job as assistant chief of security at a prison for female offenders in North Las Vegas.
They'd lived fairly quietly for ten year years in Nevada, well, Kara Kappa did. They were out of the business, but not all the way. While Epilito lived in Las Vegas, authorities learned of phone calls he made to associates of the Lucues and Banano crime families. He also met with a man named Burton Kaplan and remember that name at Billino Sure never forgot it, and we'll talk about who Burton was as the story unfolds.
The men were indicted on March ninth, two thousand and five, and arrested in Las Vegas by DEEA and FBI agents as they were entering Piero's restaurant just off the Strip. The retired cops were charged in a federal racketeering indictment and both were returned to Brooklyn to face trial. That indictment read, in part that the pair were hired and paid by Anthony Kaeso to exact revenge on rival Gambino
family members. It continued that with and Cara Koppa's help, Keso was able to rise to power in the Luquese family. Both were also charged with passing on information about ongoing police investigations into the mafia, including the names of informants, while working as police officers for the New York Police Department, and in some cases, people were murdered based on this privileged information.
Here's the rundown and this is just a handful of names of the murder victims that they were tied to. First, there was Nicholas Guido, a twenty six year old recent college graduate who was gunned down because of an unfortunate case of mistaken identity. He just happened to have the same name as a rival of Caso's. He died in his family's driveway in nineteen eighty six after being fingered by Eppulito and Kara Coppa. Staten Island criminal and Gambino
family associate. Jimmy Hidel was a shooter in a botched assassination attempt on Keeso in September of nineteen eighty six. Karracappa and Epilito were dispatched to kidnap him. As Keeso recalled the story later to investigators, he sent Epildo and Kiracappa to track him down. In doing so, they met his mother, Betty, at her home. They did take Hidel into custody, sort of posing as police officers. They were real police officers, but they had no business being involved
in his case. And then they delivered him not to the precinct but to Caeso, who later boasted to federal agents that he quote shot him fifteen times after being marked by Epulito as an informant. Pascuale Verriale was found shot to death on Valentine's Day of nineteen eighty seven. His body was discovered near where another victim, Israel Greenwald,
was murdered. Israel Greenwald was an Israeli Diamond District jeweler who was pulled over by Epildo and Kara Coappa on February tenth, nineteen eighty six, under the guise of investigating a hit and run. They then helped execute him in a Brooklyn parking garage on orders from Keso. The men thought the jeweler was talking to the Feds and had tracked his license plate using a police database. They were wrong, he wasn't. Epilito stood lookout while Karakappa and one of
Caeso's hitmen killed him. The two detectives murdered Edward Lino, a Gambino family captain who was believed to have been associated with men who had tried to kill Keso. The indictment charged that Keso paid Eppildo and Karracappa sixty five thousand dollars for the hit the detectives. It would become clear as the story unfolded, pulled Lino over as he was driving, and then shot him. The men also accepted a contract from Keeso to hit Salvatore Sammy the Bull Gravano,
who was a ranking Gambino family member. The attempt on Grava's life was unsuccessful, and Sammy later became a government witness.
Stated in a news release from the United States Attorney's Office about the arrests of the Dirty Cops, quote, these corrupt former detectives betrayed their shields, their colleagues, and the citizens they were sworn to protect. For years, they were on a retainer with the Mob. They were paid handsomely for participating directly and indirectly in the murders and attempted murders of eleven individuals, and for disclosing highly confidential law
enforcement information to their Mob benefactors. Added PASCUALE de Muro, Assistant Director in charge of the FBI in New York, quote, Epilido and Cara Koppa were not two good cops who went bad. It seems clear they were two bad guys who somehow became cops.
Joseph Coffee, a highly regarded one time head of the New York Police Department's Organized Crime Tax Force New Epilido and karra Coppa before retiring in nineteen eighty five, and he told the Philadelphia Inquirer in two thousand and five, quote, it was well known that they were hooked up with the mom Let's put it this way. I couldn't afford a two thousand dollars suit and they could. Does that tell you something?
So? How did we get from New York City career detective to hired hitman for the American mafia. We're going to take a break for word from our sponsors, but when we return, we'll talk about how authorities were eventually able to put this puzzle together.
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about who said what and when and why. Investigators may never have cracked the case until a woman named Betty Hidel came forward with a tip.
So how did this mafia moonlighting happen and go on for so long? Let's start laying out the story. In an interview with the Toronto Sun, former New York Police detective Tommy Dads stated, quote, Carra Coppa was in charge of a major case organized crime Investigations unit, and he had access he knew all the informants. Him and Eppolito hooked up around nineteen seventy nine in the Brooklyn North Robbery Squad. How they started this no one knows, but
Epolito came from a mobbed up family. His cousin, Frankie Santoro Junior told the boys, my cousin, the cop can do anything. He continued, quote there were whispers around about Epolito and Carara Koppa, but I didn't believe it. It just seemed too incredible. I thought they were scumbags, low lifes. They took an oath as cops, and they betrayed that oath. It was the worst I'd never heard of cops being compared to killers. They conspired to kill. It was a
very interesting story. It was a team effort to get these guys local state and federal authorities, cops and prosecutors, and as we mentioned at the top of the episode, a woman named Betty.
There wasn't a lot of new information coming in when Dades gave that interview. More than a decade had passed until September of two thousand and three, when Detective DAIDs picked up a fresh lead, Betty Hidell. The mother of victim and Gambino family associate James Hidell came forward to tell him that Epilino and Kara Coappa showed up at her Staten Island home one afternoon and asked to see
her son just before his nineteen eighty six disappearance. She knew it was them because she recognized Epolino from his appearance on the Sally Jesse Raphael talk show. After she saw him on TV, she had bought his book, and she was one hundred percent sure that he was one of two men who had been at her house looking for her son.
But when Dades brought this new evidence to the Brooklyn District Attorney's office, he learned that many documents from internal affairs probes on the two former detectives, paperwork that went back decades was missing. But what hadn't gone missing was a record of a computer search Kara Koppa made to locate Nicholas Guido, a search that led Keeso's men to kill him in his driveway. Betty's tip, it turned out, was just the beginning, kind of like trying to undie
a large, unwieldly k nott. But Betty's information awakened a case that had been going cold over the years, and it directly led to the Vegas arrests. Though that wouldn't happen for a few more years, investigators still had to make a solid case.
After their arrests in Vegas, the former detectives became known as the MafA Via Cops. That was a nickname taken from the title of Epollino's memoir. In regard to their upcoming trial, Kiara Coppa's lawyer, Edward Hayes stated, quote, our expected defense would be Steve is a very talented detective with no motive and had no opportunity to do a lot of these things. In fact, the two both had careers that had earned them promotions and even headlines for
their impressive police work. Epollino claimed he was the eleventh most decorated cop in the New York Police Department. That was a claim that the department stated was untrue.
But Betty wasn't the only source of good information. When former New York garment dealer and career criminal Burton Kaplan remember we mentioned him a little earlier, sat down with DEA agents in two thousand and four, it was to tell them the story about two retired New York Police
Department detectives who were on the mafia's payroll. Caplan was a long time I'm Mafia associate who was at the time eight years into a twenty seven year jail sentence, and he was looking to knock some time off that punishment, and it turns out his information was so good federal agents knocked his sentence down to just nine years.
Caplan was the link between Luques family underboss Anthony Kso and the two detectives. The agents knew the story already though, ten years before Caplan's statement. Keso, facing charges related to thirty six murders that he confessed to, turned informant hoping to enter the witness protection program, and he offered a very detailed account of the work that he had assigned to Epildo and Kara Kappa to federal agents and what
he paid them in return for that work. Though investigators were inclined to believe Keso, he was their sole witness, and they didn't think they could make the case without more and especially not after Keso, while incarcerated, plotted to kill a federal judge. It was not a surprise that a grand jury in New York declined to indict Kara Kappa and Epolito.
At that time, investigators needed a solid witness. They needed something more than Betty's information, and with Kaplan they now had a literal link. Kaplan was the very person who carried orders from Keeso two of the detectives, and in court he gave devastating testimony as the prosecutor's chief witness. During his two days on the stand, he testified that Keeso referred to Epulito and Cara Kappa as quote my crystal ball between nineteen eighty six and nineteen ninety when
they were on his payroll. He also stated they had received thirty five thousand dollars for the murder of Hidel and seventy thousand dollars for Gambino crime captain Eddielino. We've also seen that amount reported as sixty five thousand, so one or the other in total, though they'd received three hundred and seventy five thousand dollars for their work, Kaplan's testimony made it clear just how deep cases connections were in the New York City Police Department.
We're going to take a break here for a word from our sponsors, and when we're back, we'll talk more about what went down at their trial and what Epolito had to say about the whole thing.
Welcome back to Criminalia, Let's go to trial.
The government's case was prosecuted by assistant United States Attorneys Robert Hennock, Mitraharmusi, and Daniel Winner. Lead counsel for the
defendants were Bruce Cutler and Edward Hayes. According to FBI and court reports, following three weeks of trial and two days of deliberations, a federal jury returned to verdict, convicting Aldo and Karra Coappa of engaging in racketeering over decades, including while employed by the New York Police Department, during which time they directly participated in or aided and abedded eight murders, two of which they'd carried out themselves, two
attempted murders, and one murder conspiracy. It was also found that the defendants routinely passed confidential law enforcement information to high ranking members and associates of the Lucchese crime family that disclosed the identities of numerous cooperating witnesses and compromised several state and federal investigations. It was also found that they engaged in several instances of obstruction of justice, drug distribution,
and money laundering. John Paluso, Assistant Special Agent for the DEA's New York Field office, told the Associated Press quote, I have never dealt with anything this egregious. They are toxic.
Both men declared they were innocent, with defense team lawyer Bettina Shine, who represented at Palito, stating quote, the government has absolutely not proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
But the judge and jury disagreed with her statement. Twenty years after the pair began moonlighting for the mob, the Mafia cops were done. Betty Hidell, from the witness stand said to the men, quote, I wish you stay in hell the rest of your life and you die alone. Prosecutor Hennock asked the judge for the maximum sentence, stating quote, these two men stand before you, unrepentant and remorseless, and perhaps by a higher power, unforgiven. We don't have death
squads as policemen, at least we're not supposed to. The jury called the pair the most corrupt cops in the history of the New York Police Department.
The defendants were jailed, but sentence was delayed. In quote, an unusual legal twist. United States District Judge Jack Weinstein stated he would impose the maximum sentence on Epilito and Cara Kappa, but he wouldn't formally do so until after a June twenty third hearing, where the disgraced officers planned to argue that their high profile and high priced lawyers Cutler and Hayes and team were incompetent. Said Weinstein of the case, quote, this is probably the most heinous series
of crimes ever tried in this courthouse. He continued, quote, two defendants have committed what amounts to treason against the people of the City of New York and their fellow police officers.
Through his new attorney, Joseph Bondi, Epolito asked for Keeso to appear as a witness at the June twenty third hearing. The defense, however, did not put him on the stand. The hearing did not convince anyone that their trial lawyers didn't do their jobs properly or that they discriminated against
their clients. The judge in that case, District Judge Raymond Deary, speaking directly to the men, stated that there was evidence to suggest these trials wouldn't be happening, that the killings would not have occurred had Epolito been dismissed or disciplined after quote an inexplicable failure to discipline him in nineteen eighty five, quote after he was caught red handed passing confidential police documents.
So here's what that's all about. Epallito had come under suspicion decades earlier when authorities raided the New Jersey home of Rosario Gambino, a mobster and drug trafficker, and discovered there dozens of confidential intelligence reports on organized crime figures in the Five Families, papers that had Epolito's fingerprints all
over them. At the time, he was suspended, but he was cleared after an internal investigation claimed it was all because he'd been set up by enemies in the department. No one, though, could explain how the files made it to Gambino's home, but Eppolito was reinstated, given back pay,
and not long after, even received a promotion. The department's Trials Commissioner, Hugh mo told The Daily News at the time of the review, quote, there was no evidence before me other than that Detective Epulito epitomizes the finest in the department and is the unfortunate victim of circumstances.
With their failed appeal, the cops would now be sentenced. Judge Weinstein handed down the lengthy terms after Prosecutor Mitra Harmozi stated the pair's quote heinous offense merited life sentences. Epilito, sporting a generous white mustache, sat quietly next to a scowling, unshaven Cara Kappa. Sentencing proceedings were held at the United States Courthouse in Brooklyn, during which the cops turned killers sat quietly at the defense table.
Both were sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility for parole, for their convictions of committing eight murders, to attempted murders, murder, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, drug distribution, and money laundering, and for disclosing sensitive law enforcement information to mafia bosses. Cara Kappa received life imprisonment plus eighty years and was fined more
than four million dollars. Of his fate, he replied, quote, I am innocent of all these charges, and you'll never take away my will to prove how innocent I am.
Epolito received life imprisonment plus one hundred years. And was fined more than four million dollars. Unlike his partner, Epillito had quite a bit to say. He apologized to the families of the victims, but denied that he had been involved with their deaths. He invited the families to visit him in prison. He then stated, quote, the federal government can take my life. I'm a man. They can't take my soul. They can't take my pride, they can't take my dignity. I was a hard working cop. I never
hurt anybody. I never kidnapped anybody. I never did any of this. Eppolito gave a lengthy final speech that's been adequately described as a quote rambling defense about trying to live up to his father's pressures. He claimed he had always tried to live down the reputation of his father, Fat the Gangster, and told the judge quote, I was one hell of a cop. I tried my best on every case. I can hold my head up high. In response from within the courtroom, the son of one of the victims yelled quote.
Rot Benton Campbell, united States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, stated quote, the sentences imposed today bring some measure of closure. For the families of the victims of these defendants unspeakable crimes, and for the citizens of the city whose trust these men betrayed. We are gratified that the defendants will spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
There was one catch, though, and it left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. Both men had been drawing tax free disability pensions from the city since they left the police department. That was according to city records. Karakappa, a retired first grade detective, received five three hundred thirteen
dollars a month. Atpallito, a retired second grade detective, received three thousand, eight hundred ninety six dollars a month, and because they retired before they were accused, convicted, and sentenced to these crimes, their pensions would stand.
Carara Kappa was incarcerated at the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex, a maximum security prison in Florida. In June of twenty sixteen, he wrote a letter to the court to consider his compassionate release because he was suffering from cancer. According to court records, In his letter, he stated, quote, please know I have been fighting the case in the courts since being convicted with no relief. I have stage four cancer
and will not survive. Compassionate release is usually early release or parole given to an incarcerated patient with serious or debilitating illness. Judge Weinstein denied the request, stating in a letter filed in Brooklyn Federal court, quote, there is nothing I can do in your case. Kara Koppa died in April of twenty seventeen in a Federal Correctional Complex medical unit in Butner, North Carolina, at the age of seventy five.
Epallito was incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary Tucson, a high security federal prison. He was not visited by any of the victim's families. He died on November third, twenty nineteen, at the age of seventy one, in federal custody at a Tucson hospital. What is known of his death is in a single statement made from his wife to the New York Post quote, Lewis died in a hospital with dignity and carrying people around him. Do you want to make it a double with me?
I do. Let's find the happy spot here. Is there one that we can pull out of those?
Well? So here's the thing. You have accidentally in choosing this story, given me an opportunity to use something that I have been secretly workshopping for a while.
Oh hell yeah, that's great. That right there is the best news of the story.
Okay, so obviously a lot of Italians involved in this story. Yes, what is more Italian than a tomato? I have been I'm thinking about ways to make friends with tomatoes and drinks because I still don't like a bloody mary. It's just not gonna happen. And then I had this kakamami idea recently, like as I was dropping off to sleep, where I was like, could I make tomato syrup? And the answer is yes.
You could. But then the second question is do you want to eat tomatoes syrup?
The answer is yes, Okay. To make tomato syrup in a saucepan, you're gonna bring a cup of water, a cup of brown sugar, and two to three small to medium dice tomatoes to a boil. I recommend like fresh tomatoes. I very fortunately had a friend that brought some over from her garden.
Because she probably had hundreds.
Yes, so you want ideally you want a tomato that already has a sweeter profile rather than an acidic profile. That's what we're going for. So you're gonna bring those to a boil when they get there, reduce the heat, let them simmer down until the liquid is reduced by about a third. This is gonna take a little while. In this case longer probably than others. Because tomatoes are juicy by nature, they're adding a little more liquid to the mix. Then when you have it reduced, you're gonna
let it cool. You're going to strain off the tomato stuff into a clean jar for storage, keep it in the fridge for several weeks. Usually when I do something like this, I'm like, and then spread that on your toast and you can sure, but it's gonna taste like a sugar tomato, which is interesting actually. But once you have this, then you're ready to make your cocktail, which I'm calling the dirty cop This is three quarters of an ounce of lemon juice, three quarters of an ounce
of that tomato syrup. You've made a splash of a morrow, and any brand will work. So you're thinking of things like Campari, apparol for net et cetera. Obviously those all have slightly different flavor. Profiles and differences in the level of bitterness that will shift the drink a little. But we're talking about a splash a tiny amount, less than a quarter of an ounce, So you want it to add a bitter base note to it, but it's not
going to change the whole drink too much. And then to all of this, you're gonna add an ounce and a half of bourbon. And then you're gonna shake this with ice and strain it over fresh ice. I like a Collins glass for this one. Top it with just a teeny bit of club soda, like an ounce or less. You don't want much because you want all of these flavors.
And then you are dune ski And this is like a weird variation on a John Collins and it has a very unique flavor because you don't get the acid of the tomato, but you get the rest of the flavor, which is pretty interesting. And it doesn't it's definitely sweet, it's not tart. To make it a mocktail, basically, instead of amorrow, you're gonna use a little bit of bitters. If you use bitters, if you do absolutely zero alcohol
and bitters are off the table. I would add both a little bit of salt and a little bit of pepper, and then instead of bourbon, you're gonna use dark tea. This is a different tasting drink than the cocktail, but it's also really good. It's like you've made some sort of yummy, really interesting iced tea and it's delicious. It's full of lycopene.
It's healthy.
I don't know that it is. I don't know that the lycopene survives the process. It might, I don't know, but that's the dirty cop which is a fun reason to use my tomato syrup idea, which is actually pretty good, and I have used it also in some other drinks. I won't use it again here because I try not to repeat too much. But like, you can make this same colins, like as a regular tom collins with gin, as a vodka colins with vodka. You can also use
it in just other cocktails. You can also do a tomato and soda or a tomato and champagne.
It's one of those ingredients where I kind of want to just try it and a whole bunch of things. Yes, right, because how much does this ever come up?
In Live Never? And the brown sugar, I think is the key because it just adds a lot of depth to it, and it's not a white, your standard white granulated sugar. It just doesn't seem like it's gonna work to me. So hopefully if you try it, you like it. The Dirty Cop. We are so grateful that you spent time with us here this week hearing about these dirty cops and the cocktail to go with it. We'll have another tale of criminal duos next week, as well as
some more drinks. We hope to see you there. Criminalia is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.