Mob figure’s interview about murders to be on ‘60 Minutes’

Jace Radke

Friday, April 8, 2005 | 9:32 a.m.

A former underboss of a New York crime family who turned government witness is scheduled to appear on the CBS television show "60 Minutes" Sunday, where he will allegedly describe two murders that he paid former New York cops and Las Vegas residents Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa to set up or commit.

The interview was conducted with Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, a former underboss for New York's Luchese crime family, during a prison interview with Ed Bradley in 1998. The portions of the interview, set to air Sunday night, involving Eppolito, 56, and Caracappa, 63, were not originally aired, CBS officials said.

The two retired police detectives face charges that they secretly served as mob informants and hitmen while employed with New York City Police in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Eppolito and Caracappa, who have been living in Las Vegas for a decade, are facing charges in connection with eight mob-related slayings and three attempted killings in the New York City area.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Henoch, who is prosecuting the case, said the two men served as insiders for Casso, feeding him police information that led to the murders.

The government's evidence in the case will include audio tapes and videotapes, testimony from citizens, law enforcement officers and cooperating witnesses as well as crime scene evidence, Henoch said.

Attorneys for Caracappa and Eppolito have argued that their clients are decorated former police officers and that the government's evidence amounts to stories being told by criminals and Mafia bosses.

Eppolito and Caracappa were arrested by waiting federal agents as they were walking into the upscale Piero's restaurant on Convention Center Drive on the evening of March 9.

One of the underworld figures the two detectives allegedly killed was Edward Lino, a Gambino family captain who was believed to have been associated with the crew that tried to kill Casso.

The indictment charges that Casso paid Eppolito and Caracappa $65,000 for the hit. The detectives allegedly pulled Lino over as he was driving in Brooklyn and shot him.

Eppolito and Caracappa also accepted a contract from Casso to kill Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, a ranking Gambino family member who later became a government witness, according to prosecutors. The attempt to kill Gravano, authorities said, was unsuccessful.

Eppolito worked for New York Police from 1969 to 1990, and Caracappa was employed there from 1969 to 1992.