Two retired New York City police detectives were found guilty on Thursday of moonlighting as mafia hitmen while they were cops, in what one prosecutor described as a case of "evil personified."
After two days of deliberations, the jury in a Brooklyn court delivered guilty verdicts against Stephen Caracappa, 64, and Louis Eppolito, 57 on 17 acts of racketeering, including eight killings.
Both men now face the prospect of life imprisonment. Sentencing was set for May 22.
evil
The two former cops "perverted the shield of good and turned it into a sort of evil," US Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf told reporters after the verdict was handed down.
"We gave them that shield. We gave them their power. We trusted them and we expected them to protect us," Mauskopf said.
"They didn't deliver us from evil, they themselves were evil personified," she added.
Eppolito and Caracappa had pleaded not guilty to the charges but declined to take the witness stand during the trial.
They were accused of leading a double life for many years as decorated city detectives who moonlighted as hired killers for the infamous Luchese crime family underboss Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso.
Their crimes related to a period when they were still serving as police officers in the 1980s and 1990s.
contract killing
In one of the murder cases, the defendants accepted a US$65,000 contract from Casso to murder Edward "Eddie" Lino, a Gambino family captain who was suspected of involvement in an attempt on Casso's life in 1986.
The two shot Lino dead on Nov. 6, 1992 after they pulled him over on Brooklyn's beltway.
Casso is currently serving a life sentence without parole, after admitting to a role in 36 gangland-style killings.
Caracappa's attorney, Edward Hayes, had accused federal prosecutors of compromising the defendants' right to a fair trial by leaking detrimental pre-trial information about the case to the press.
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