2 Cops Who Killed For The Mafia
Daily News
March 11, 2005

Name Got Good Guy Whacked (John Marzulli)

Right name, wrong guy.
Detectives were initially baffled when 26-year old Nicholas Guido was slain in a hail of gunfire as he sat in a car near his Brooklyn home on Christmas Day 1986.
Guido pushed his Uncle Tony to the floor of the car just before the gunman in a knit cap and dark jacket and fired nine shots through the driver-side window. Guido saved his uncle’s life, but was fatally wounded in the chest.
The murder has all the earmarks of a gang-land hit, but Guido was a law-abiding citizen – a phone installer who came from a family of cops.
“It was a horrible scene,” one neighbor recalled yesterday.
Three months earlier, Lucchese family underboss Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso – who had just survived an attempt on his life – learned that a Gambino crime associate named Nicholas Guido was involved in the attack.
Casso allegedly turned to his Detectives Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa to find Guido. Caracappa typed the name into an NYPD computer database and came up with the wrong Nicholas Guido, according to prosecutors.
Authorities have recovered a printout of the name check done by Caracappa. It showed a Nicholas Guido whose date of birth was Feb 2,1960 --- the name and birth date of the phone installer.
Not long after the murder, a lawyer for a gangster named Nicholas Guido contacted the detectives and told them his client had a contract on his head – and the Christmas Day victim was the wrong “Nicholas Guido,” according to court papers.

Feds say retired detective pals are linked to at least 8 murders (John Marzulli)

In what could be the worst scandal in NYPD history, two retired detectives were charged yesterday with moonlighting as hit men for the mob – allegedly carrying out one gangland execution and aiding in at least seven others.
Federal agents stunned Louis Eppolito, 56, and Stephen Caracappa, 63, when they grabbed the ex-cops at Piero’s Italian restaurant in Las Vegas, Wednesday night.
Eppolito, a cop-turned-actor who retired in 1990, had bit parts in movies like “Goodfellas.” A much-decorated detective, he was the subject of a 1992 book, “Mafia Cop: The story of an Honest Cop Whose Family Was the Mob.”
Nearly 20 years after he allegedly began disgracing the badge he was still playing the tough-guy role.
“Louie was trying to be brave, but Caracappa was really shaken,” said a law enforcement source.
Law enforecement officials were still in disbelief yesterday over the extent of the crimes – including eight murders, two attempted murders, murder conspiracy, drug distribution and money laundering – and how long the went unsolved.
It’s just “stunning,” said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Roslyn Mauskopf, who announced the indictment at a news conference. “These corrupt former detectives betrayed their shields, their colleagues and the citizens they swore to protect.”
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, whose office played a key role in breaking the case, called it “one of the most shocking examples of criminal activity I’ve ever witnessed.”
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly called the alleged crimes “shocking and disgraceful.”
According to the indictment, Lucchese underboss Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso began paying the detectives $4,000 a month in 1986 fir confidential information – including the identities of police informants, who were whacked.
Casso referred to the detectives as his “Crystal Ball.”
When Casso became a turncoat in 1994, he told the feds that Eppolito and Carappa accepted a $65,000 contract and murdered Gambino soldier Edward Lino on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn on Nov. 6,1992. he said Caracappa, who had retired on a disability pension that year, was the shooter.
Casso also blabbed that in September of 1986 the pair abducted anther Gambino thug, James Hydell, who was behind a murder attempt on the underboss.
The detectives stuffed Hydell into the trunk of their car and delivered him to Casso, authorities said. The victim was tortured and killed. His body, thought to be buried in Canarsie, Brooklyn, was never found.
But Casso had a lot of baggage and the case wouldn’t fly on his word alone, a law enforcement source said.
The files gathered dust at the U.S. attorney’s office until NYPD Detective Thomas Dades, developed new leads in late 2003, closely tying the rogue ex-cops to to Hydell the day he was snatched in Dyker park, Brooklyn.
Sources said Dades went to the Brooklyn district attorney’s chief investigator, Joseph Ponzi. With the encouragement of federal prosecutors, the stacked boxes of files on handcarts and moved them to the 17th-floor war room on Jay St., Brooklyn.
Dades rummaged through precinct basement storage rooms, tracking down Eppolito’s and Caracappa’s work schedules for particular days.
He also found logs detailing corruption allegations against the detectives over the years – bur Internal Affairs officials said many of the investigation files were lost.
A paper trail of computer records emerged that showed Caracappa, who worked in a sensitive organized crime homicide unit, had grossly abused his position, officials said.
One printout was a smoking gun: Caracappa had searched for information on a Nicholas Guido, who was shot to death on Christmas Day 1986. Caracappa allegedly gave the information to Casso, who wanted a Gambino associate named Nicholas Guido killed. But the detective had called up the wrong Guido – a law-abiding telephone installer.
The investigation gathered steam as Ponzi flipped a key witness with the knowledge of Casso’s murderous plans as well as the detectives’ assistance in locating victims, many of them law enforcement informants.
They learned Eppolito and Caracappa even accepted a contract to kill John Gotti’s underboss Salvatore (Sammy the Bull) Gravano in 1986, but couldn’t pull that one off.
“They make [drug-dealing cop] Michael Dowd look like an alter boy,”
Dades, now retired, tolde the Daily News yesterday. “They will go down as the two most disgraceful police officers in history.”
Eppolitio and Caracappa, who both owned homes in Las Vegas, appeared before a federal magistrate there late yesterday and were ordered held without bail.
“The government is relaying on the words of rats,” their lawyer, David Chesnoff, said.

Second Career of Louis Eppolito (Daily News)

Goodfellas - 1990 (Mobster Fat Andy)
State of Grace - 1990 (Borelli's man, a mobster)
Predator 2 - 1990 (patrolman)
Switch - 1991 (Al the guard)
Company Business - 1991 (Paco Gonzalez)
Ruby - 1992 (Detective Taylor)
Mad Dog and Glory - 1993
Hand Gun - 1994 (Raid Cop)
Bullets Over Broadway - 1994 (Waterfront Hood)
Lost Highway - 1997 (Ed the Detective)
Da Game of Life - 1998 (assassin)

Crime Timeline (Daily News)

January 1986 - Eppolito and Caracappa accept contract from Gaspipe Casso to find and kill Gambino underboss Salvatore (Sammy the Bull) Gravano. They track Sammy for a while, but do not carry out hit.
September 1986 - James Hydell is a abducted by Eppolito and Caracappa, who stuff him in the trunk of their swdan and deliver him to Lucchese underboss Casso. Hydell is tortured and killed. His body was never found.
December 1986 - Nicholas Guido, a Brooklyn telephone installer, is murdered in a case of mistaken identity. Eppolito and Caracappa fingered the wrong Nicholas Gudio, mistaking him for mob associate with the same name.
October 1987 - John Heidel, a member of a safecracking crew, is shot to death after Caracappa and Eppolito tell Casso he is cooperating with authorities.
February 1990 - Anthony Dilapi, a Lucchese soldier, is whacked after refusing to meet with Casso. Caracappa and Eppolito helped Casso locate him.
May 1990 - James Bishop, an official in Painters Union Local 37, is slain after Caracappa and Eppolito disclose he is cooperating in a corruption investigation.
August 1990 - Gambino soldier Bruno Facciola is slain after he is identified as an informant by Eppolito and Caracappa.
May 1991 - Gambino soldier Bartolomeo (Bobby) Boreillo is killed after Eppolito and Caracappa provide Casso with a possible address for him.
November 1992 - Gambino capo Edward Lino is shot dead on the Belt Parkway after his vehicle is pulled over by Eppolito and Caracappa, who followed him from a social club. Caracappa is the shooter. The contract paid $65,000

Wow, great article Thanks for sharing

WATCH | Murderous “Mob Cops” and their homicidal New York Mafia boss hit the big screen https://gangstersinc.org/2025/03/01...-new-york-mafia-boss-hit-the-big-screen/

We need a good Martin Scorsese film on the Mafia Cops.

Great idea!

Based on The Brotherhoods would be great, interesting book. I never understand why nobody bought the movie rights at least I'm not aware of it.

https://www.amazon.com/Brotherhoods-True-Story-Murdered-Mafia/dp/1416523383

Martin Scorsese should've kept making movies in the same style as Goodfellas and Casino, there's so many untold mob stories he could've done. I even think he would've made the best Gotti movie, but with the same actors as the one with Armand Assante.

This man in certain aspects is like an Italian 'ndrangheta version of Eppolito and Caracappa, in my opinion:

The video is in Italian, but the auto-translation of the subtitles in English is bearable imo, if you turn on the option; sadly, I couldn't find an English version, but I think Donato Giordano's story would make a good mob movie too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uELPEAiddfA

The Brotherhoods should be the title of the Movie both Mafia and the NYPD are actually that.

For sure Hollander, having 2 police officers killing for you is probably a flex the American Mafia will never have again lol.

Never say never ! Murders probably not but cops are easily corrupted.