Louis J. Eppolito
PER
Louis J. Eppolito Eppolito
With clipped tones and a shy, retiring manner, a convicted marijuana dealer took the stand yesterday in the trial of Louis J. Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa and told jurors that the two retired New York detectives had served as killers for the mob, murdering at least two men and kidnapping another on its behalf. It was the first time in the week-old federal racketeering trial that any witness has directly implicated the men, who stand accused of taking part in at least eight murders for Brooklyn's Luchese crime family. After the court let out yesterday Mr. Eppolito told reporters he was annoyed by Mr. Kaplan's saying that their roles might have been reversed. In the trial of Louis J. Eppolito, a shy retiring manner, a convicted marijuana dealer took the stand, with clipped tones and Stephen Caracappa told jurors that the two retired detectives of New York had served as killers for the mob, murdering at least two men and kidnapping another on its behalf. Now he is expected to lay out a richer version of his ties to Mr. Eppolito, who is 57, and Mr. Caracappa, who is 64, and whom he said that he met after becoming familiar with Mr. Eppolito's cousin Frank Santora Jr. in the Allenwood Prison Camp. In 2004, he decided to cooperate with federal prosecutors because, as he told the jury, that he is no longer trusted that Mr. Eppolito and Mr. Caracappa were announced as ''stand-up guys,'' which is to say, that they would not betray him first.