Jews have been profoundly influential in increasing America's drug problems. Jews and drugs, here. General crime here and here.
Betrayed by mob, 'the old man' sang,
by William Sherman, New York Daily News, March 19, 2005
"Burton Kaplan of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, is the last man you would suspect of being the trusted intermediary between the Mafia and the two NYPD detectives now indicted as contract killers for the mob. He worked for years as an importer and sportswear manufacturer in the Garment District. Pisces Trading was one of his companies. His daughter is a highly successful professional woman. That's one side of Burton Kaplan. The other side is that for nearly 50 years, Kaplan has been a confidant, adviser and friend of the city's highest-ranking mafiosi, not to mention earning millions of dollars as one of the biggest marijuana importers in U.S. history. He had connections in Mexico, South America and Asia. The wiseguys from various crime families affectionately called him "The Old Man." On one occasion alone, Kaplan was paid $500,000 in cash for a single marijuana delivery in Staten Island, according to law enforcement records. Kaplan had a secret warehouse in Staten Island where he kept the marijuana, the records detail. He was rich enough to make $20 million bail yet he attracted little or no attention from the law until he was past 60. "He is in the tradition of Meyer Lansky," said a source familiar with Kaplan's activities in a reference to the late Jewish mob kingpin. "A modest guy, not flashy, up from the streets, very smart, smarter than the Mafia guys he was with, and very, very loyal," said the source. To a point. Nearly a year ago, Kaplan, jailed since 1997 on tax fraud and marijuana smuggling convictions and facing 19 more years in prison, began negotiating with prosecutors to tell what he knows about the two NYPD detectives who allegedly were secretly on the payroll of the Luchese crime family. The two detectives, now retired, allegedly committed murders for the mob and also provided information to an underboss in the Luchese organization. And on March 11, the ex-detectives, Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, were arrested in Las Vegas and charged with participating in at least eight murders on behalf of the Mafia beginning in the mid-'80s. As the go-between, Kaplan was an eyewitness to alleged dirty work by Eppolito and Caracappa, as well as their paymaster, providing them with $4,000 a month in cash. To protect his life, Kaplan has been moved to a series of federal prisons, including facilities in West Virginia and the New York City metropolitan area. His family also is under federal protection. Meanwhile, Kaplan's decision to become a cooperating witness came about because he was betrayed by his best friend in the mob, Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso, a Luchese family underboss ... Kaplan's major earnings came from the marijuana trade. Court documents filed by prosecutors state that Kaplan was importing between 4,000 and 5,300 pounds at a time from Juarez, Mexico, into Texas in produce trucks, Winnebagos and cars. Kaplan insulated himself carefully, seldom personally meeting with growers, transporters and buyers in the United States. In wiretapped telephone conversations, Kaplan was always referred to as "The Old Man." He paid his workers well, sometimes as much as $20,000 a trip." |
