Opinion ID: 1212404
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Murder of Jimmy Hydell

Text: 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.