Opinion ID: 1212404
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Events in the New York Area

Text: At the times pertinent to the Indictment, the New York City area Mafia consisted of five Organized Crime Families: the Bonanno, the Colombo, the Gambino, the Genovese, and the Lucchese. The government's key witness at trial was Burton Kaplan, a former associate of the Lucchese Crime Family who had been involved in, inter alia, narcotics trafficking, sales of stolen goods and misbranded clothing, and attempts to negotiate stolen financial instruments. At the time of this trial, Kaplan had served roughly one-third of a 27-year sentence imposed on him for conspiracy to engage in narcotics trafficking. Pursuant to his cooperation agreement in connection with the present case, Kaplan had pleaded guilty to, inter alia, participating in the RICO conspiracy alleged in the present prosecution. At trial, Kaplan testified principally that Eppolito and Caracappa were a partnership that in 1986-1993 provided various services to him as an associate of organized crime and, through him as an intermediary, to his close friend Anthony Casso, a Lucchese Crime Family member who in the late 1980s became its underboss, i.e., second in command. In the early 1980s, Kaplan had been in prison with Frank (Frankie) Santoro, Jr., who was loosely associated with the Gambino Crime Family. In late 1985 or early 1986, after both men had been released from prison, Santoro approached Kaplan and said that Santoro had a cousin who was a police detective, whom he identified as Eppolito, and that Eppolito and his partneronly later identified to Kaplan as Caracappa (Trial Transcript (Tr.) 426-27)would, in exchange for money, provide Kaplan with law enforcement information and other types of assistance. At that time, Eppolito was an NYPD detective in the 63rd Precinct in Brooklyn; Caracappa, likewise an NYPD detective, was a member of a task force whose members included local detectives and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). While Eppolito generally had access only to information in his precinct, Caracappa's position with the task force gave him access to a great deal of information about both local and federal matters. Kaplan testified that Santoro, in offering the services of Eppolito and Caracappa, said Eppolito could search around and find out if I had anything pending against me or if I was under any kind of surveillance and that... [Santoro's] cousin had a partner that had a prestigious job and between the two of them, they could help me and if I had any problems physically, they could help me. (Tr. 515.) Frankie approached me and said that his cousin was a detective and that if I wanted his cousin [could] get me information and could help me if I ever have a problem and could probably help me on ongoing investigations. .... ... He offered to get me information on any investigation that was going on and if I had a serious problem in the street, he offered to do murders for me. (Tr. 426, 427; see also id. at 516 (He said that if I had any kind of serious problem, thatthat he himself, his cousin and his cousin's partner were capable of doing a murder.).) Kaplan initially rejected Santoro's offer, explaining that he didn't want to do business with any cops because it possibly could come back and haunt [him] if one of them would later on in life become an informant. (Tr. 427-28.) Santoro assured Kaplan that [Santoro] had done things with them previously and that they were good stand-up guys and that he would have no fear of anything, doing anything with them. (Tr. 517.) The term stand up, in the vernacular of organized crime, means refusing to give information to law enforcement agents, even if that refusal means receiving punishment and going to jail. (Tr. 748; see also id. at 551-52 (conversely, to go bad means become [an] informant [ ]).)
Notwithstanding his initial rejection of Santoro's offer of assistance from Eppolito and Caracappa, Kaplan soon had a change of heart. In early 1986, having learned that his participation in a scheme involving stolen Treasury bills was in danger of being exposed, Kaplan hired Santoro, Eppolito, and Caracappa to murder one of the other participants in the scheme, Israel Greenwald. Santoro, Eppolito, and Caracappa carried out their mission by following Greenwald's car on a highway and turning on flashing lights on their car, thereby causing Greenwald to stop on the side of the road. They told Greenwald that he was a suspect in a hit-and-run and that they needed to take him to the police station for a lineup. They then drove Greenwald instead to the premises of an auto repair shop in Brooklyn, where Santoro shot and killed him. Kaplan paid Santoro $30,000 for the murder; Santoro kept $5,000, unbeknownst to Eppolito and Caracappa, and divided the remaining $25,000 among himself, Eppolito, and Caracappa.
In mid-1986, there was an unsuccessful attempt on the life of Casso, who was then the acting underboss of the Lucchese Crime Family. The attack took place in the 63rd Precinct, to which Eppolito was assigned. Kaplan then for the first time revealed to Casso that Kaplan had a friend whose cousin works in that precinct and that he's a good guy and that he could probably help us to identify Casso's attackers. (Tr. 574.) Without disclosing to Casso either Santoro's identity or defendants' names, Kaplan told Casso that [Santoro] and his cousin, [and] his cousin's partner had done something for [Kaplan] ... and that [Casso and Kaplan] could trust them. ( Id. ) Casso asked Kaplan to see what the friend, the cousin, and the partner could find out. Kaplan relayed the request to Santoro, who said he would speak to Eppolito. Santoro thereafter gave Kaplan a packet of information that had been collected by Eppolito and Caracappa. The packet contained, inter alia, crime scene reports listing Casso's attackers, including Gambino Crime Family associate Jimmy Hydell and Nicky Guido, and describing the cars that had been used, including the license plate numbers and the addresses of the registered owners. When Santoro delivered the information packet, he declined Kaplan's offer of payment, saying that the information was a gift from my cousin and his partner. This is just to show you the kind of things that they would do. (Tr. 575.) Santoro said, my cousin and his partner won't take any money for something where somebody close to us got hurt. We're not that kind of people. (Tr. 580-81.) After Kaplan gave the information packet to Casso and described the methods that Santoro, Eppolito, and Caracappa had used with Greenwald, Casso had Kaplan offer Santoro, Eppolito, and Caracappa $35,000 to kidnap Hydell and turn him over to Casso. They accepted the offer. They were cautioned not to kill Hydell, as Casso wanted to extract from Hydell information as to who had ordered or approved the attempt on Casso's life. In mid-October 1986, Santoro, Eppolito, and Caracappa kidnaped Hydell and put him into the trunk of a car that had been provided by Casso. Santoro drove the car to a Toys R Us parking lot in which he had agreed to meet Kaplan and gave Kaplan the car keys; Eppolito and Caracappa had followed Santoro to the parking lot and remained at the entrance in order to provide protection. Casso, who was standing in the parking lot, asked Kaplan who the men were at the entrance; Kaplan recognized them as Eppolito and Caracappa, although they had not been formally introduced to him. Kaplan responded that they were his friend's cousin and the cousin's partner; Casso instructed that everyone should leave. Kaplan gave Casso the keys to the car in whose trunk Hydell had been placed, and Kaplan, Santoro, Eppolito, and Caracappa departed. Casso took Hydell to a meeting of high-ranking members of the Lucchese and Gambino Crime Families and questioned him as to who had ordered the attempt on Casso's life. Hydell named three members of the Gambino Crime Family, including Edward Lino, see Part I.A.8. below. Casso thereafter killed Hydell. Having offered to pay $35,000 for the kidnaping of Hydell, Casso added a $5,000 bonus. Kaplan delivered the $40,000 to Santoro, who kept the bonus for himself and divided the remaining $35,000 among himself, Eppolito, and Caracappa.
After Hydell's kidnaping and murder, Casso instructed Kaplan to ask Santoro for the address and a photograph of Nicky Guido, who was mentioned in the packet of information on the attempted assassination of Casso. Santoro, after consulting Eppolito, reported to Kaplan that Eppolito would provide the information for $4,000. Casso considered the request greedy, given that he had added an unsolicited $5,000 bonus for the Hydell kidnaping; he refused to pay for the information on Guido, stating that he would get it another way. On December 25, 1986, Casso caused the murder of a man called Nicky Guido, but it was not the Nicky Guido referred to in the information packet. Santoro and Eppolito told Kaplan that Casso would have gotten the right Nicky Guido if Casso had been willing to pay $4,000 for the information.
Although during the initial period of their association Kaplan had seen Eppolito and Caracappa on two or three occasions, he had never been introduced to them, and he dealt with them only through Santoro. In September 1987, while in the company of someone Casso had targeted for assassination, Santoro was killed. Only then did Kaplan reveal to Casso that Santoro was the friend whose cousin was one of the police detectives who were providing them with information. After Santoro's death, Eppolito sent Santoro's widow to one of Kaplan's stores to ask whether Kaplan would like to meet Eppolito directly. Thereafter, Eppolito and Kaplan met in the Santoro home, while Caracappa remained outside, watching the house from a car. Eppolito proposed that he and Caracappa would give [Kaplan] everything that we get on every family, any bit of information we get about informants, about ongoing investigations, wiretaps, and imminent arrests (Tr. 620) in exchange for a retainer of $4,000 per month. [M]urder contracts were to cost extra. (Tr. 621.) Kaplan relayed Eppolito's offer to Casso, who accepted it on the condition that Eppolito and Caracappa work exclusively for us, i.e., the Lucchese Crime Family, and not give any information to members of other crime families. (Tr. 625-26.) For the next several years, Eppolito and Caracappa gave confidential law enforcement information to Kaplan, who relayed it to Casso; and Casso, through Kaplan, paid Eppolito and Caracappa $4,000 per month. When asked at trial what Casso did with the information received from Eppolito and Caracappa, Kaplan testified that if it was information about somebody from a different family, then Casso would pass it to the different families. He'd pass some information to the Bonannos and he passed some information to the Genovese. If it was someone that had something to do with him and they were informants, Casso had them killed. (Tr. 442; see also id. at 165, 665-66 (describing relay by Casso of such information to high-echelon members of the Colombo Crime Family).) Kaplan testified that Eppolito said he liked doing business with Kaplan and Casso because when [Eppolito] gave us information people got taken care of that deserved it, and that in the past he gave information to other people and they never acted on it. (Tr. 657.) Although Eppolito and Caracappa knew they were dealing, through Kaplan, with Casso, Kaplan never told Casso Eppolito's and Caracappa's names. Even in 1992, when Eppolito published an autobiography called Mafia Cop that contained photographs of himself and Caracappa, and Casso told Kaplan he recognized them as the men who had helped Santoro kidnap Hydell, Kaplan refused to confirm that the detectives on Casso's payroll were Eppolito and Caracappa. After Santoro died, Kaplan initially communicated principally with Eppolito. The two had a falling-out, however, when Eppolito sought more money and insisted on meeting Casso, and Kaplan adamantly refused. Thereafter, Kaplan communicated principally with Caracappa. Throughout, the methods used for communications between Kaplan and Eppolito and/or Caracappa were designed to avoid disclosure or suspicion of their association. Kaplan never used his home telephone to contact Eppolito or Caracappa; he used pay phones or cell phones. He purchased cell phones sometimes in his own name, sometimes in the names of others; and at times he had other persons purchase cell phones for him. When calling each other on the telephone, Kaplan, Eppolito, and Caracappa did not use their own names but frequently used the code name Marco. Kaplan's personal telephone book contained the real names of many members or associates of organized crime families; only Eppolito and Caracappa were given coded entriesthe name Marco. Kaplan generally met Eppolito and/or Caracappa in private places, such as their homes late at night when no one was on the street, or at the homes of relatives; or at locations where it would be difficult to identify or overhear them, such as on the shoulder of a busy highway; or in out-of-the way places, such as a cemetery in Staten Island. Kaplan testified that from the beginning of [his] relationship with Mr. Eppolito and Mr. Caracappa, ... one of the goals of the relationship [was] to conceal the relationship. (Tr. 1144.)
Soon after Eppolito and Caracappa were placed on retainer, Casso asked Kaplan to have them find out whether Lucchese Crime Family associate John Otto Heidel was cooperating with the authorities. Eppolito enlisted the help of Caracappa and later reported to Kaplan that Heidel was, in fact, cooperating. Kaplan gave the information to Casso; in October 1987, Casso had Heidel killed. Thereafter, Eppolito gave Kaplan audio tapes that Eppolito said he had removed from Heidel's apartment while investigating the murder. He told Kaplan, this will prove that I was right, that the guy was cooperating, and that he was taping people. (Tr. 651.) Kaplan gave the tapes to Casso, who subsequently-informed Kaplan that the contents of the tapes confirmed that Heidel had been cooperating with the authorities by recording conversations.
In the late 1980s, Lucchese Crime Family member Anthony Dilapi, who was on parole, was suspected of having become a government informant. And when summoned by Casso to account for gambling establishments that Dilapi controlled, Dilapi did not appear for the meeting but instead sold his establishments and left town. Casso asked Kaplan to have Eppolito and Caracappa try to locate Dilapi. Caracappa wrote to Dilapi's parole officer indicating that he needed to contact Dilapi as part of an ongoing police investigation, and he was ultimately able to give Kaplan an address for Dilapi in California. Kaplan relayed the information to Casso, who sent three men to kill Dilapi. Dilapi, however, recognized one of the men and escaped, moving to a new location. At Casso's request, relayed by Kaplan, Caracappa then obtained and reported Dilapi's new address in Hollywood. In February 1990, Casso had Dilapi killed in the garage of his new apartment building.
In August 1990, Eppolito, who had retired from NYPD in early 1990, reported to Kaplan that there were impending arrests in an investigation focusing on New York's jewelry district. As Bruno Facciola, a Lucchese Crime Family capo, was not to be indicted but would merely be named an unindicted coconspirator, Eppolito told Kaplan that Facciola was a government cooperator. Though Casso at that time was a fugitive, see Part I.A.11. below, Kaplan remained in communication with him and relayed Eppolito's information about Facciola. In August 1990, Casso had Facciola killed.
As discussed in Part I.A.2. above, Casso had interrogated his would-be assassin Jimmy Hydell and had been informed that one of the men who ordered the attempt on Casso's life was Edward (Eddie) Lino. Beginning in 1987 or 1988, Casso sought to have Lino killed. Casso asked Kaplan to offer Eppolito and Caracappa $65,000 to kill Lino. Eppolito and Caracappa accepted the contract, eventually carried it out, and were paid $70,000. Kaplan testified that he learned of their success in November 1990 when Eppolito told him, I got good news. I said, what. He says, we got Eddie Lino. I said, what do you mean you got him? He says, we killed him. (Tr. 723.) When Kaplan asked how they had done it, Eppolito indicated that they had begun with the same ploy used on Greenwald and Hydell i.e., following Lino on a highway and using flashing lights to have him stop on the side of the road. After Eppolito spoke briefly to Lino, Caracappa shot [Lino] a number of times. [Kaplan asked] how come Steve shot him? [Eppolito] said, Steve is a much better shot. ( Id. ) A few days later, in payment for the Lino killing, Kaplan relayed to Eppolito a box containing $70,000 in $100 bills. ( See Tr. 724-25.)
In the mid-1980s and again beginning in 1991, Kaplan was engaged in marijuana trafficking. During those periods, the least he distributed in a given year was between 500 and 1,000 pounds. In his best year, he distributed 12,000 or 13,000 pounds of marijuana ( see Tr. 443), for which his personal profit was [p]robably a couple of million dollars ( id. at 832). Kaplan had several discussions with Eppolito and Caracappa about his marijuana business during those years. Both of them had asked me together and separately if I wanted them to help me in any way that they wouldthey would follow my truck in a car or surveil my warehouses and see if I had any heat on me, and any[ ]way that they could help me, they were willing to do it. They said they don't want any money for it, it's just a friendship situation, and I told them I appreciate it but we're doing certain things together and this has nothing to do with that, and I don't want to involve them in that business. (Tr. 783.) Kaplan said it was not frugality that led him to decline their offer; they offered to do it for nothing, out of friendship. ( Id. )