ringside.
And they worked together as often as possible. So on that day in September 2003 when Tommy walked in his door with a big, knowing, maybe even a little sheepish smile on his face and flopped down in that wooden chair, Mike knew he was about to go on another interesting legal journey that was guaranteed to be unusual. “Whattya got?” he asked him.
“You know those two detectives, Eppolito and Caracappa? I think we can finally get them,” he said matter-of-factly. “I can corroborate Gaspipe. You interested?”
Mike leaned back and clasped his hands behind his neck. “It isn’t too often a guy just drops into your office and changes your life in a couple ofsentences,” he recalls. “But as soon as I heard him mention Eppolito and Caracappa I knew I was in. I didn’t know where Tommy was taking me, but I was going with him.
“Just like everybody else in law enforcement, I had heard all the stories about those two guys. I knew all about Louie my whole life so nothing about him surprised me. Tommy and I had even discussed the case a few times over dinner. I didn’t know any of the details. I hadn’t read Casso’s 302s. I knew Eppolito and Caracappa were supposedly dirty, but I didn’t know how deep the mud went. I also remembered that the case had fallen apart when the U.S. Attorney tore up Casso’s cooperation agreement. The fact that they hadn’t pursued the allegations meant they didn’t have enough evidence to support Casso and they probably didn’t believe him. So when Tommy asked me if I was interested I told him, ‘Are you kidding me? Of course I’m interested. What’ve you got?’”
By the time Tommy finished relating his conversation with Betty Hydell, Mike was pumping out ideas. “This is great,” he said several times, “this is great.”
Tommy explained to Mike that he had already made some moves. The first person he’d called after speaking with Betty Hydell was Joe Ponzi. Ponzi was Chief of the District Attorney’s Investigations Unit, and Tommy worked with him all the time. Investigations is a squad of 115 people with powers equal to NYPD officers’ that works directly for the DA’s office. They do mundane things like serving subpoenas and finding witnesses, but they also conduct high-profile and dangerous investigations. They do insurance fraud, tax violations, they work undercover, they even do organized crime cases. Whatever needs to be done to help make a case, that’s what they do.
Joe Ponzi had spent two decades in the Brooklyn DA’s office, gaining a reputation as one of the best interviewers and polygraph operators in the business. He had the gift for making bad guys want to talk to him. He’d been responsible for an impressive number of confessions. People used to say Ponzi was so smooth he could talk an oyster into giving up its pearl. After meeting more than a decade earlier, Dades and Ponzi had almost immediately become close friends. As Tommy summed up their friendship, “The day we met I would have given him my kidney.”
Ponzi also had a personal investment in the case. The flamboyant Eppolito had met the immaculately dressed Caracappa in 1979 when bothdetectives were assigned to the Brooklyn Robbery Squad, which was then commanded by Ponzi’s father. Sergeant Larry Ponzi had been their boss for about two years. In fact, in his introduction to Mafia Cop, Eppolito acknowledged, “Sergeant Larry Ponzi…who taught me how to be a detective, I send my respect.”
Joe Ponzi knew Eppolito very well. “I would see both of them, Eppolito and Caracappa, in social settings. When the precinct had a 1013, a fundraising party for cops having financial problems or medical problems, or a promotion party, I’d see them there. Louie more than Steve. I didn’t know Steve that well; he was always a mysterious character as far as I was concerned.
“But Louis…I can remember Louis coming into the Homicide Bureau on the fourth floor of the Municipal Building with
And they worked together as often as possible. So on that day in September 2003 when Tommy walked in his door with a big, knowing, maybe even a little sheepish smile on his face and flopped down in that wooden chair, Mike knew he was about to go on another interesting legal journey that was guaranteed to be unusual. “Whattya got?” he asked him.
“You know those two detectives, Eppolito and Caracappa? I think we can finally get them,” he said matter-of-factly. “I can corroborate Gaspipe. You interested?”
Mike leaned back and clasped his hands behind his neck. “It isn’t too often a guy just drops into your office and changes your life in a couple ofsentences,” he recalls. “But as soon as I heard him mention Eppolito and Caracappa I knew I was in. I didn’t know where Tommy was taking me, but I was going with him.
“Just like everybody else in law enforcement, I had heard all the stories about those two guys. I knew all about Louie my whole life so nothing about him surprised me. Tommy and I had even discussed the case a few times over dinner. I didn’t know any of the details. I hadn’t read Casso’s 302s. I knew Eppolito and Caracappa were supposedly dirty, but I didn’t know how deep the mud went. I also remembered that the case had fallen apart when the U.S. Attorney tore up Casso’s cooperation agreement. The fact that they hadn’t pursued the allegations meant they didn’t have enough evidence to support Casso and they probably didn’t believe him. So when Tommy asked me if I was interested I told him, ‘Are you kidding me? Of course I’m interested. What’ve you got?’”
By the time Tommy finished relating his conversation with Betty Hydell, Mike was pumping out ideas. “This is great,” he said several times, “this is great.”
Tommy explained to Mike that he had already made some moves. The first person he’d called after speaking with Betty Hydell was Joe Ponzi. Ponzi was Chief of the District Attorney’s Investigations Unit, and Tommy worked with him all the time. Investigations is a squad of 115 people with powers equal to NYPD officers’ that works directly for the DA’s office. They do mundane things like serving subpoenas and finding witnesses, but they also conduct high-profile and dangerous investigations. They do insurance fraud, tax violations, they work undercover, they even do organized crime cases. Whatever needs to be done to help make a case, that’s what they do.
Joe Ponzi had spent two decades in the Brooklyn DA’s office, gaining a reputation as one of the best interviewers and polygraph operators in the business. He had the gift for making bad guys want to talk to him. He’d been responsible for an impressive number of confessions. People used to say Ponzi was so smooth he could talk an oyster into giving up its pearl. After meeting more than a decade earlier, Dades and Ponzi had almost immediately become close friends. As Tommy summed up their friendship, “The day we met I would have given him my kidney.”
Ponzi also had a personal investment in the case. The flamboyant Eppolito had met the immaculately dressed Caracappa in 1979 when bothdetectives were assigned to the Brooklyn Robbery Squad, which was then commanded by Ponzi’s father. Sergeant Larry Ponzi had been their boss for about two years. In fact, in his introduction to Mafia Cop, Eppolito acknowledged, “Sergeant Larry Ponzi…who taught me how to be a detective, I send my respect.”
Joe Ponzi knew Eppolito very well. “I would see both of them, Eppolito and Caracappa, in social settings. When the precinct had a 1013, a fundraising party for cops having financial problems or medical problems, or a promotion party, I’d see them there. Louie more than Steve. I didn’t know Steve that well; he was always a mysterious character as far as I was concerned.
“But Louis…I can remember Louis coming into the Homicide Bureau on the fourth floor of the Municipal Building with
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