Facts: NG Investigates Taking Down the Mob
Photo: The New York warehouse area (View larger version)
- For decades, Brooklyn, New York has been known as a Mafia haven. Hosting a large percentage of Italian-American ethnicity, the Bensonhurst neighborhood in particular has been scene to many mob hits.
- The biggest scandal in the history of the New York City Police Department came down to just two men. Two detectives – Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa – were decorated cops who also operated on the wrong side of the law. For years, they took payoffs from the Mafia for selling police information – and even murdering for the Mob.
- The Bypass Gang was made up of members from all five of the major organized crime families in New York. They were responsible for stealing nearly $300 million in jewels, goods, and money.
- The Bypass Gang was given their name for their ability to bypass sophisticated security systems and break into banks, factory warehouses, and department stores. Members of the gang would cut telephone lines, dig a hole in the roof with a pickax and then lower other members into the building, where they would disable any alarms. Some members would remain outside to watch for the police while using walkie-talkies to communicate with the members inside.
- One of the members of the Bypass Gang, Dominick Costa, was skilled at opening safes. He was a licensed locksmith and could open any safe on the market, never leaving a trace behind.
- Dominick Costa, the safecracker for the Bypass Gang, used the difficult “open-by-sight” technique to get into safes and get out unnoticed.
- The NYPD also used mafia guys to be their insiders. Dominick Costa flipped and began working for the cops as an informant. When the mob found out, they had him shot – five times in the head.
- The Mafia is not dead. As recently as January 2011, huge numbers of arrests were being made in New York City. It’s estimated that the Mob still controls industries like construction and sanitation, while they continue with practices of extortion, gambling, and loan-sharking. FBI agents say younger Mob members are coming onboard because they want to live “a Soprano’s lifestyle.”
- The family of crooked cop Louis Eppolito had a history with the Mob. Eppolito wrote a book about his experiences – before he was arrested – which was titled Mafia Cop: The Story of an Honest Cop Whose Family was the Mob.
- Mafia cop Louis Eppolito turned his fame as a police officer into acting gigs – and even had a bit-part in the major Mafia movie Goodfellas.
- Burt Kaplan – the Brooklyn mobster who ratted out Mafia cops Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa – has a daughter. Her name is Deborah Kaplan, and she is a respected Manhattan Supreme Court judge.
- In 2010, New York paid the largest settlement in the city’s history – $9.9 million. The amount went to Barry Gibbs, who served 19 years in prison for murdering a prostitute. Gibbs did not commit the crime – and it was Mafia cop Louis Eppolito who helped manufacture the evidence that put Gibbs behind bars.
- Mafia Cop Louis Eppolito is serving his sentence at a high-security federal prison in Tucson, Arizona. He had requested a prison close to his family, which resides in Las Vegas. Stephen Caracappa is serving his sentence at a federal prison in California.
- In order to make the movie Thief, which is based on the thievery style of the Bypass Gang, star James Caan learned the tricks of the trade from real New York burglars who, according to Caan, are known on the streets as “right guys.”
- Members of the Bypass Gang came from all five of New York’s organized crime families, but many members didn’t know each other. Leaders of the Mob kept everyone in the dark, so if one member was caught and flipped, he would only be able to give limited information on how the rest of the gang operated.
