Opinion ID: 1212404
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Interactions Among Kaplan, Eppolito, and Caracappa

Text: Kaplan, after his sojourn in Mexico, took up residence in Portland but visited Las Vegas several times to see a lady friend. During such a visit in August or September 1994, Kaplan had his friend place a call from a public telephone to Eppolito, who was listed in the telephone book, and arrange for Eppolito to meet Kaplan the next day at a local supermarket. This would be the first of several meetings between the two at that location. Near the meeting time, Kaplan loitered around the slot machines in the market's vestibule until Eppolito arrived. The two then strolled around the supermarket, with Kaplan pushing a cart, discussing their respective situations and the publicity surrounding Casso's arrest and cooperation. Kaplan testified, [t]his was the first time I had seen him since the problem happened with Casso and I went on the lam, and I asked him what was going on, is he all right, is he under any pressure, is he getting any heat. (Tr. 777.) Eppolito responded that he had initially been bothered by the press, but that matters had improved. Eppolito also told Kaplan that Caracappa would be moving to Las Vegas and was building a house diagonally across the street from Eppolito's house. Caracappa eventually moved to Las Vegas in the latter half of 1996 and indeed lived across the street from Eppolito. From the fall of 1994 until he moved to Las Vegas permanently, Caracappa visited Las Vegas several times and met with Eppolito and Kaplan, Kaplan having moved to Las Vegas at the end of 1994. In November 1994, Kaplan offered to lend Eppolito money from Kaplan's narcotics trafficking business. Eppolito had inquired whether Kaplan could arrange for Eppolito to borrow $75,000 from a loanshark, explaining that he had made a down payment on the construction of one house, had found another house he preferred, and had been unable to persuade the builder to return his money before a new buyer was found for the first house; thus, Eppolito needed a bridge loan. Eppolito said he was willing to pay the loanshark interest of $750 a week. Kaplan, although a fugitive, had continued with his marijuana trafficking business, and he said that, rather than see Eppolito incur such an interest obligation, Kaplan would ask his marijuana supplier to agree to a delay in payment so that Kaplan could lend Eppolito the money. In early 1995, Kaplan had cash delivered to him from New York and gave Eppolito $65,000 in 13 envelopes containing $100 bills. In 1996, Eppolito repaid $55,000, giving Kaplan $30,000 or $35,000 in cash in an envelope that came from the bank and checks for the rest. (Tr. 802.) Kaplan forgave repayment of the remaining $10,000. In early 1996, Kaplan, knowing that Caracappa's wife sold a line of clothing through the QVC home-shopping television channel and was friendly with a woman who sold jewelry on QVC, sought Caracappa's help in attempting to get QVC to offer for sale a product in which a friend of Kaplan's had an interest. Caracappa mentioned that his wife's friend was going to serve as Caracappa's alibi for the killing of Eddie Lino by saying that she and her husband had dined with Caracappa and his wife that night. Caracappa arranged for Kaplan and Kaplan's friend to meet with a QVC executive. After moving to Las Vegas, Caracappa opened a business that provided security services. He employed Eppolito in that business. Eppolito, in the meantime, was attempting to write and sell movie screenplays. He had a film production company, of which he was president and Caracappa was vice president. Caracappa read everything that Eppolito wrote.