Michael Cannell book delves into true story of New York cops who killed for the Mafia

Organized crime does its business in spite of law enforcement's efforts to curb those dirty deeds. But what if rogue cops were paid off to help criminals with their exploits? Or even kill for them?

That's exactly what happened in mid-1980s New York, when two NYPD detectives, Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, provided Lucchese and Gambino crime "bosses" with insider information on investigations and police informants and even assassinated people on behalf of the Mob. Those intricate, expansive and often horrific exploits drive Michael Cannell's "Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the Nation" (out now from Minotaur Books).

Cannell's eclectic works of nonfiction run from a biography of architect I.M. Pei ("I.M. Pei: Mandarin of Modernism") to the story of American racing driver Phil Hill's 1961 world championship ("The Limit"). But the former New York Times editor decided to go back to the criminal well with "Blood and the Badge," as it follows 2020's gripping "A Brotherhood Betrayed," in which he chronicles the rise of a criminal enterprise known as Murder, Inc.

USA TODAY conducted a friendly interrogation of Cannell, who reveals why he's back with another Mafia tale, whether he was fearful conducting his research, and if such a police double-cross could happen in 2025. The interview was edited for clarity and length.

Question: Why write about the Mob again?

Cannell: "A Brotherhood Betrayed" was about a period when organized crime became organized, and "Blood" is a bookend to that, because it's when organized crime became disorganized. (The Mafia) truly formed in the 1930s but became unraveled in the 1990s for a range of reasons, including the decision by Rudy Giuliani (then U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York) to use neglected RICO laws, which allowed convictions based on racketeering charges, to take down top-tier mobsters.

So does the Mob as described in your book still exist?

I rode around Bensonhurst with a former Colombo family hitman, and I asked him that question and expected him to say "No." But to my surprise he said yes, the Mob is still there, involved in loan sharking and gambling. But they don't engage in the kind of violence that existed before, they're not as menacing. Why? Part of the answer to that is simply the prevalence of security cameras. A former detective told me that cameras and RICO busted the Mob. Simply, you can't abduct someone on the street without video of it existing somewhere.

Were you ever fearful while researching these guys even if this saga was some 20 years after the NYPD cops were convicted and sentenced to prison?

No, I never felt unsafe. I will say that I did agree to change the names of a couple of people (who were informants) in the book at the request of retired law enforcement. They'd be in danger otherwise. Now, that went against my journalistic instincts, but their safety was at issue. But I didn't personally feel any threat. The thing about the Mafia is they're not cowboys, they follow rules and one is you don't harm outsiders. They almost without exception kill their own. But having said that there are some former mobsters who were recently released from prison who are like serial killers. That's not great for anyone.

There's a lot of mayhem and gore in the tale, how did you deal with all that, did it keep you up at night?

I don't like violence in real life or on TV or in movies, I'm almost babyish and squeamish about it. But on the printed page it doesn't bother me in the slightest. If you are writing a book, you know you have to keep the reader's attention, particularly in this era of TikTok. So if someone is strangled to death in the basement of a florist shop in Staten Island, that is a windfall in terms of keeping reader attention. And it's also a graphic representation of what this life was like, the violence was real and an everyday presence in a way that's unthinkable to us now.

Is this sort of corruption in the NYPD or another big city police department possible today?

The corruption in the NYPD is cyclical, it seems to come and go. This story takes place when corruption was at full tide. However, the episode of Eppolito and Caracappa not just working for but also murdering for the Mob was sui generis, it was one of a kind and beyond anyone's conception. The detectives I spoke with said when those headlines came out with those accusations, they couldn't' believe these two actually murdered for the Mob.

Why did they do it?

Louis Eppolito was born into a prominent Mafia family, his father, Fat the Gangster, and uncle, Jimmy the Clam, were capos, they led their own crews. Fat was abusive to his son, so he rebelled against his father and joined the police department. But slowly his family drew him back in. It's a common experience, we're drawn back to our families, like gravity he came back to La Cosa Nostra. So the crimes were a kind of homecoming. For Caracappa, it's more complicated. He didn't have a background in organized crime, but he had a criminal heart. And some told me that he did it for money, too. But there is more to it. For him, I think it was about getting over on people, about pulling one over on the police department.

Will you do a third Mob book, or never again?

I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I don't know how many times you can go back to the well. On the other, writing about the Mafia is to write about life, family, love, betrayal and brotherhood. It's "The Godfather." It's all of Shakespeare's stories. So who knows.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Blood and the Badge': The story of NY cops who killed for the Mafia