Lie detector tests for 'Mafia Cops' witness at issue


BY ANTHONY M. DESTEFANO
NEWSDAY STAFF WRITER

February 28, 2006


A key witness against the "Mafia Cops" gave deceptive and troublesome answers in lie detector tests, and defense attorneys will be allowed to raise questions about the issue in the trial to start next week, according to court records.

Information about problems in the lie detector results for the witness, convicted drug smuggler Burton Kaplan, 71, was disclosed Monday in a letter filed by prosecutors in Brooklyn federal court. The letter indicated that Kaplan harbored a desire to hurt or intimidate someone who testified against him but gave "deceptive" or "inconclusive" answers when questioned about it by the FBI in 2005.

The document was originally filed under seal but was revealed Monday during a pretrial hearing in the case of ex-detectives Louis Eppolito, 57, and Stephen Caracappa, 64. Both are under indictment for being paid hitmen for the Luchese crime family in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Brooklyn federal prosecutors argued that the polygraph results weren't admissible under federal law. Judge Jack B. Weinstein agreed and ruled Monday that test results couldn't be introduced, but he is allowing defense attorneys to question Kaplan on the witness stand about his desire to intimidate or threaten the witness.

Defense attorneys Bruce Cutler, who is defending Eppolito, and Edward Hayes, who is representing Caracappa, couldn't be reached for comment on the ruling late Monday.

Kaplan, who was sentenced in early 1998 to 20 years in prison for his conviction on a marijuana smuggling conspiracy, decided to become a federal witness in 2004 and gave evidence against Eppolito and Caracappa. When Kaplan was about to be brought into the federal witness security program, he was put through three polygraph interviews by the FBI. But, according to the court records, problems developed when the FBI examiner questioned Kaplan about whether he was entering the program to locate, harm or threaten any other witness.

Though Kaplan responded in the negative, the FBI examiner found that on two occasions during a Feb. 25, 2005, examination, Kaplan's answers were "inconclusive" regarding deception, the government letter said. Then on March 4, 2005, the same questions drew answers that the examiner said were "indicative of deception," prosecutors said.

After the February examination Kaplan admitted that he held a grudge against Robert Molini, a witness who he said testified falsely against him in the 1997 trial, prosecutors said. On April 5, 2005, Kaplan was given a final exam by the FBI and passed, court records show.

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In case anyone doesn't know or remember, Louis Eppolito had a bit part in the movie "Goodfellas."


Don Cardi