Louis Eppolito: 'Mafia cop' who murdered people for infamous crime family dies in prison
New York police officer used his position to pass information to the Lucchese crime family for years
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.So-called “mafia cop” Louis Eppolito, who was convicted of murdering several people for the Lucchese crime family and who appeared in the mob movie Goodfellas, has died in federal prison while serving a life sentence. He was 71 years old.
Eppolito was convicted of helping to orchestrate eight mob killings roughly between 1986-1990 along with his partner Stephen Caracappa.
Eppolito and Caracappa also passed on information about ongoing police investigations into the mafia, including the names of informants, while working as police officers for the NYPD.
The Lucchese crime organisation was one of the so-called “Five Families” that dominated crime in New York City for decades.
In some cases, the murders were perpetrated based on information from Eppolito and Caracappa.
One the victims did not have connections to organised crime but was unfortunate enough to share a name with a member of the rival Gambino crime family. Nicholas Guido was 26 when he was shot outside his mother’s house in a hit ordered by the Lucchese family on information passed on by Eppolito and his partner.
Guido’s family won a $5 million lawsuit against New York City for his death.
In other cases Eppolito and Caracappa acted as hitmen themselves. The pair killed a diamond dealer named Israel Greenwald after using the NYPD police database to find his licence plate number and tail him.
Mr Greenwald’s remains were excavated from beneath a Brooklyn warehouse in 2005.
Somewhat ironically, during the same time that Eppolito was working with the Lucchese family, he had a bit part in the movie Goodfellas as Fat Andy.
The New York Post reports that Eppolito had had health problems for some time.
Eppolito and Caracappa were convicted of racketeering, kidnapping, and murder, among other charges. Caracappa died of cancer in a federal prison in North Carolina in 2017.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments