Jimmy Hydell: Kidnapping, Murder, and the Mafia Cops Case

Jimmy Hydell was a young Gambino crime family associate from Staten Island who was kidnapped in October 1986 by two NYPD detectives secretly working for the mob and delivered to Lucchese underboss Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso, who tortured and murdered him in retaliation for a failed assassination attempt. His body has never been found. The case sat cold for nearly two decades until his mother recognized one of the detectives on a daytime talk show, an identification that helped launch the federal investigation now known as the Mafia Cops case.

The Failed Hit That Marked Him for Death

In September 1986, a group of Gambino associates ambushed Anthony Casso, then the underboss of the Lucchese crime family. Casso was wounded but survived. Hydell was identified as one of the shooters.¹ Casso, known for retaliation, immediately began hunting the men responsible, and he had an unusual resource to help him find them: two decorated New York City police detectives already on his payroll.

How the Detectives Tracked Him Down

The two detectives were Louis Eppolito, assigned to the 63rd Precinct, and Stephen Caracappa, who served on a major-case task force. Their connection to Casso ran through Burton Kaplan, a Lucchese associate and drug dealer, who had been introduced to them by Frank Santoro Jr., Eppolito’s cousin and a Gambino associate. Beginning in late 1985 or early 1986, Santoro had offered the detectives’ services to Kaplan in exchange for money, promising access to law enforcement databases.²

After the botched hit, Kaplan asked Santoro to have the detectives pull whatever they could from police files on the shooting. Eppolito and Caracappa compiled crime scene reports containing names, car descriptions, license plates, and home addresses of suspects. Hydell was on the list.²

The Kidnapping

Casso wanted Hydell alive so he could interrogate him about the other shooters. According to court records, he offered Santoro, Eppolito, and Caracappa $35,000 to grab Hydell, plus a $5,000 bonus.² Prosecutors at the 2006 trial put the total at $45,000.³

In October 1986, the three men grabbed Hydell. Casso later said the detectives approached Hydell in an unmarked police car under the pretense of an arrest.³ Trial testimony established that Hydell was handcuffed and locked in the trunk of a car Casso had provided. Santoro drove the car to a Toys “R” Us parking lot, where he handed it to Kaplan. Eppolito and Caracappa followed in a separate vehicle and stood guard at the entrance during the transfer.²

What Casso Did to Him

Kaplan drove Hydell to a house Casso controlled. Casso interrogated him to extract the names of the other men involved in the assassination attempt.⁴ Testimony described a prolonged killing. Casso shot Hydell roughly a dozen times in areas calculated to cause severe pain without killing him quickly. During the ordeal, Hydell reportedly begged Casso to dump his body in the street so his mother could collect on a life insurance policy. Casso agreed and then lied.⁵ Hydell’s remains have never been recovered. Investigators believe they are buried somewhere in Canarsie, Brooklyn.⁶

The Talk Show That Broke the Case Open

The investigation went cold for years. What eventually revived it was the persistence of Hydell’s mother, Betty Hydell, a Staten Island resident.

In 1992, Betty was watching the Sally Jessy Raphael show when she saw a retired NYPD detective named Louis Eppolito promoting his autobiography, “Mafia Cop.” She recognized him as the heavyset man who had appeared at her door on the day Jimmy disappeared in October 1986, asking for her son. She bought the book, studied the photographs, and became certain.⁷

Betty did not go to authorities right away. It was not until September 2003, when NYPD Detective Tommy Dades was investigating the separate murder of her younger son Frank, that she told anyone what she had seen on television. Her identification is credited with launching the eighteen-month federal investigation that followed.⁸

Betty testified at the 2006 trial. She told the court that on October 18, 1986, she had seen two men in a blue car circling her home, and that when she pulled alongside them, the driver flashed a badge. Prosecutors did not ask her to identify the defendants from the witness stand, reportedly to avoid cross-examination about conflicting statements she had earlier given to the FBI and DEA.⁹

Hydell’s Killing as Part of a Larger Scheme

Hydell’s murder was one incident in a years-long arrangement. Between 1986 and 1992, Eppolito and Caracappa took $4,000 a month from Casso for a steady stream of confidential police intelligence: wiretap targets, surveillance details, the identities of informants, and pending indictments. On top of the retainer, they accepted individual payments of up to $65,000 per killing.¹⁰ The federal indictment, filed in March 2005, charged both detectives with participating in or aiding eight murders and three attempted murders or murder conspiracies.¹

What Happened to the Men Who Killed Him

Eppolito and Caracappa were arrested near the Las Vegas Strip in March 2005, where both had retired.¹¹ At their 2006 federal racketeering trial in Brooklyn, Burton Kaplan was the prosecution’s central witness, describing the murders and the detectives’ corrupt relationship with the mob in detail across four days of testimony.¹² The jury convicted both men on all counts, including racketeering conspiracy, eight counts of murder, narcotics trafficking, and money laundering.²

On March 6, 2009, U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein sentenced both to life without parole. Eppolito got life plus 100 years; Caracappa got life plus 80 years. Each was fined more than $4 million.¹¹ Caracappa died in federal custody on April 8, 2017, at age 75.¹³ Eppolito died in federal prison on November 3, 2019.¹⁰

Frank Santoro Jr., the cousin who drove the car with Hydell in the trunk, was never prosecuted. He was killed in a gangland shooting in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, in September 1987, while in the company of someone Casso had targeted.¹¹

Anthony Casso, who ordered and personally carried out the killing, spent his final decades in federal prison after his cooperation agreement was revoked in 1998. He died on December 15, 2020, at age 78, from complications of COVID-19 at a hospital near USP Tucson.¹⁴

The Second Hydell Brother

Jimmy’s murder was not the last time organized crime reached the Hydell family. His younger brother, Frank Hydell, began cooperating with the FBI about five months before his own death, reporting on Gambino family crimes.¹⁵ On the night of April 27, 1998, a close friend named John Matera lured Frank to a Staten Island strip club. When Frank left, he was shot three times in the back at close range in front of the club.¹⁶ Gambino soldier Thomas “Huck” Carbonaro, who drove the getaway car, received 70 years. Matera pleaded guilty and got 20 years. Letterio DeCarlo and Thomas Dono, who planned the killing, each received 15 years.

Betty Hydell lost both sons to organized crime, twelve years apart. Jimmy’s body was never returned to her.

1
U.S. Department of Justice. Former NYPD Detectives Charged as Mafia Hit Men
2
Findlaw. United States v. Eppolito
3
CBS News. Ex-Mob Boss Points a Finger
4
U.S. Department of Justice. Jury Convicts Former NYPD Detectives
5
New York Post. Rat Squeals Mafia Cops Delivered Wiseguy to Executioner
6
New York Daily News. Two Cops Who Killed for Mafia, Feds Say
7
New York Post. Victim’s Mom Fingered Mafia Cop From TV Talk Show
8
Vanity Fair. Dirty Cops Murder
9
New York Daily News. Testimony Against Mafia Cops a Dud
10
New York Times. Louis Eppolito, Detective Convicted as Mob Hit Man, Dies
11
The Mob Museum. Mob Cops Saga Still Reverberates
12
Police1. Devastating Testimony May Bury NY Mafia Cops
13
SILive. Staten Island Mob Cop Begged for Freedom
14
New York Post. Ex-Lucchese Underboss Anthony Gaspipe Casso Dies From COVID-19
15
SILive. Three Charged in 1998 Staten Island Murder
16
FBI. Two Gambino Associates Sentenced for Frank Hydell Murder