U.S. v. Eppolito

436 F.Supp.2d 532

UNITED STATES v. Louis EPPOLITO and Stephen Caracappa.

No. 05-CR-192.

United States District Court, E.D. New York.

June 30, 2006.

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Daniel Nobel, New York, NY, for Defendant Stephen Caracappa.

The Law Offices of Joseph A. Bondy, by Joseph Aaron Bondy, Beth Hailey Citron, New York, NY, for Defendant Louis Eppolito.

United States Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York, by Robert W. Henoch, Mitra Hormozi, Daniel E. Wenner, Brooklyn, NY, for the United States.

MEMORANDUM, ORDER & JUDGMENT

WEINSTEIN, Senior District Judge.

Table of Contents

  I. Introduction ....................................................................... 539
  II. Facts and Procedural History ...................................................... 539

       A. Arrest and Indictment ......................................................... 539
       B. Pre-Trial Discussion of the Statute of Limitations ............................ 540
       C. Trial ......................................................................... 541
          1. Government's Evidence at Trial ............................................. 541
             a. Evidence of the New York Acts ........................................... 541
                i. Testimony of Burton Kaplan ........................................... 541
                ii. Testimony of Peter Franzone ......................................... 546
                iii. Testimony of Betty Hydell .......................................... 547
                iv. Other Evidence of the New York Acts ................................. 548
             b. Evidence of the Nevada Acts and the Continuation of the
                  Conspiracy ............................................................ 549
                 i. Testimony of Burton Kaplan Concerning the Defendants'
                      Move to Las Vegas ................................................. 549
                ii. Testimony of Burton Kaplan Concerning Racketeering Act
                      Fourteen .......................................................... 550
                iii. Testimony of Steven Corso Concerning Racketeering Acts
                       Fifteen, Sixteen and Seventeen ................................... 551
                iv. Other Evidence of the Continuation of the Conspiracy ................ 553
             c. Hearsay Declarant Anthony Casso ......................................... 553
          2. Defense .................................................................... 554
          3. Defendants' Motion for a Mistrial .......................................... 554
          4. Summation on Statute of Limitations ........................................ 555
          5. Jury Charge ................................................................ 556
          6. Verdict .................................................................... 556
       D. Defendants' Post-Trial Motions ................................................ 556
       E. June 5, 2006 Sentencing Hearing  .............................................. 556
       F. June 23, 2006 Evidentiary Hearing  ............................................ 557
          1. Defendant Eppolito's Witnesses ............................................. 557
          2. Defendant Caracappa's Witnesses ............................................ 559
  III. Defendants' Rule 33 Motions ...................................................... 560
       A. Standard of Review ............................................................ 560
       B. Defendants' Brady Claim ....................................................... 560
          1. Law ........................................................................ 560
          2. Application of Law to Facts ................................................ 560
       C. Defendants' Claims of Ineffective Assistance of Trial Counsel ................. 561
          1. Law ........................................................................ 561
             a. Failure to Investigate, Call Favorable Witnesses, and Admit or
                  Marshal Favorable Evidence ............................................ 562
             b. The Right to Testify .................................................... 562
          2. Application of Law to Facts ................................................ 562
             a. Failure to Investigate, Call Favorable Witnesses, and Admit or
                  Marshal Favorable Evidence ............................................ 562
             b. The Right to Testify .................................................... 564
       D. Allegedly "Misleading" Redirect of Government Witness Steven Corso ............ 565
          1. Law ........................................................................ 565
          2. Application of Law to Facts ................................................ 566
  IV.  Defendants' Rule 29 Motions ...................................................... 567
       A. Rule 29 ....................................................................... 568
          1. Standard of Review ......................................................... 568
          2. Timing of Motion ........................................................... 568
       B. Racketeering Conspiracy ....................................................... 569
          1. Law ........................................................................ 569
             a. Statute of Limitations .................................................. 569
             b. Enterprise .............................................................. 569
             c. Pattern of Racketeering Activity ........................................ 570
             d. Special Dangers Associated with Conspiracy and Racketeering
                  Prosecutions .......................................................... 570

          2. Application of Law to Facts ................................................ 571
       C. Narcotics Conspiracy and Distribution ......................................... 573
          1. Law ........................................................................ 573
          2. Application of Law to Facts ................................................ 574
  V. Spillover Prejudice ................................................................ 575
  VI. The Rule of Law ................................................................... 576
  VII. Conclusion ....................................................................... 577
  Appendix A: Final Superseding Indictment .............................................. 578

I. Introduction

The evidence presented at trial overwhelmingly established the defendants' participation in a large number of heinous and violent crimes, including eight murders. While serving as New York City police detectives, the defendants used their badges not in service of the public, but in aid of organized crime. They kidnapped, murdered, and assisted kidnappers and murderers, all the while sworn to protect the public against such crimes.

Nevertheless, an extended trial, evidentiary hearings, briefings and argument establishes that the five-year statute of limitations mandates granting the defendants a judgment of acquittal on the key charge against them—racketeering conspiracy. As a result of spillover prejudice resulting from the trial of that charge with other crimes charged in the indictment, defendants are entitled to a new trial on the remaining charges.

II. Facts and Procedural History

A. Arrest and Indictment

After a lengthy investigation, defendants Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa were indicted on March 9, 2005 and arrested in Las Vegas, Nevada. In a series of superseding indictments, they were charged with participating in a racketeering conspiracy in violation of section 1962(d) of Title 18 of the United States Code ("RICO"). The wide-ranging conspiracy described in the final superseding indictment was alleged to have begun in New York City in the early 1980s and continued in Las Vegas until the date of the defendants' arrest in 2005.

The charged enterprise consisted of the two defendants, three members and associates of organized crime—Frank Santoro, Jr.; Burton Kaplan; and Anthony Casso— and unnamed others. Its purpose was to generate money for its members and associates through legal and illegal means. According to the allegations in the final superseding indictment, the members and associates of the enterprise sought to:

a. Enrich members and associates of the Enterprise through assisting La Cosa Nostra ("LCN"), a nationwide criminal organization that engaged in, and the activities of which affected, interstate and foreign commerce;

b. Preserve and protect the ability of the Enterprise to enrich its members and associates through the use and abuse of the facilities of the New York City Police Department;

c. Promote and enhance the criminal activities of the Enterprise and its members and associates; and

d. Keep victims and others in fear of the Enterprise and its members and associates through violence, intimidation, abuse of positions of trust and threats of violence.

Alleged were seventeen predicate acts creating a pattern of racketeering activity. Fourteen of the racketeering acts— charges of murder, murder for hire, kidnaping, bribery, criminal facilitation, tampering with and retaliating against informants, and obstruction of justice— occurred in New York City between 1986 and 1991, while one or both of the defendants were members of the New York City police department ("the New York acts"). Of the remainder ("the Nevada acts"), one act—conspiracy to engage in unlawful monetary transactions, charged against defendant Eppolito alone—took...