Michael J. Coppola (born May 18, 1946), also known as "Mikey Cigars", is an American mobster and
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
in the
Genovese crime family
The Genovese crime family, () also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the American M ...
active in their New Jersey faction. He made national headlines when he went into hiding for 11 years to avoid a possible murder conviction. He should not be confused with
Michael "Trigger Mike" Coppola
Michael "Trigger Mike" Coppola (July 2, 1900 – October 1, 1966) was a New York City mobster who became a caporegime of the 116th Street Crew of the Luciano family, which later came to be known as the Genovese family. Coppola headed many G ...
(1900–1966), also a member of the Genovese family.
Early criminal career
Michael Coppola has been working for the Genovese family since the 1960s. He became a
made man
In the American and Sicilian Mafia, a made man is a fully initiated member of the Mafia. To become "made", an associate first must be Italian or of Italian descent and sponsored by another made man. An inductee will be required to take the oat ...
in the late 1970s and was part of a Genovese hit team known as "The Fist", according to government documents. This team performed murders ordered by the Genovese administration in the late 1970s and 1980s. Coppola was involved in labor racketeering in the trucking industry and
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
docks. Coppola served almost five years in prison from 1979 to 1983 for conspiracy and extortion. Coppola became an acting
caporegime
A caporegime or capodecina, usually shortened to capo or informally referred to as "captain" or "skipper", is a rank used in the Mafia (both the Sicilian Mafia and Italian-American Mafia) for a ''made member'' of an Italian crime family who head ...
(captain) while Tino Fiumara was in prison in the 1980s and 1990s,''The Changing Face of Organized Crime in New Jersey'' A Status Report. May 2004. (pg 105-114 /ref> running the day-to-day activities of the New Jersey faction Fiurama had orders relayed to him.
Alleged murder
In 1996, Coppola was charged in the 1977 killing of John "Johnny Cokes" Lardiere. According to authorities, Lardiere was released for 26 hours from prison to spend the Easter holidays with his family. The reason for his sanctioned killing are not fully known, but is speculated that he had turned against the mob and was going to give the FBI information on the mob's influence on garbage hauling. Another story has it that Lardiere entered into a heated argument with Ralph "Blackie" Napoli, a caporegime in the
Philadelphia crime family
The Philadelphia crime family, also known as the Philadelphia Mafia, the Philly Mob or Philly Mafia, the Philadelphia-South Jersey Mafia, or Bruno-Scarfo family is an Italian-American Mafia family based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formed and ...
and his death was ordered. When Lardiere got out of his car at a
Bridgewater, New Jersey
Bridgewater Township is a township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. The township is both a regional commercial hub for Central New Jersey (home to Bridgewater Commons and different corporate headquarters) and is a bedroom suburb ...
motel, the killer was standing in front of him with a .22 automatic pistol, complete with a silencer. When the gunman squeezed the trigger, the gun jammed. Lardiere was both amused and annoyed by the man and allegedly said "What're you gonna do now, tough guy?". The gunman responded by pulling up his pant leg, and removing a .38 revolver from an ankle holster and shooting Lardiere four times. When police arrived at the crime scene, realizing it was a mob hit, they found the shooter had left behind his weapons and a hat. In 1996,
Lucchese crime family
The Lucchese crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, in the United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as ...
mobster Thomas "Tommy" Ricciardi who had been arrested on murder and extortion charges, decided to cooperate with authorities. He told the FBI that Lardiere's killer was Coppola. Ricciardi told police that he heard the entire story of Lardiere's murder from Coppola while talking about mob murders with
Michael Taccetta
Michael Salvatore Taccetta (born September 16, 1947), also known as "Mad Dog," is a high-ranking member of the Lucchese crime family, who controlled the family's New Jersey faction in the 1980s.
Personal life
Taccetta, also known as "''Mike T' ...
at a party in 1983.
Fugitive and arrest
A gun and hat were left at the murder scene. Since the advancement of forensics since 1977, a judge ordered Coppola to submit a DNA test. When the FBI requested a DNA sample on August 8, 1996 which could have proved he was at the murder scene, Coppola fled his
Spring Lake, New Jersey
Spring Lake is a borough situated on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 2,993, He spent most of his time moving between apartments in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
and
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. During his time on the run, he was featured on ''
America's Most Wanted
''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Alternative Entertainment division of Fox Corporation. At the time of i ...
''. Although on the run, authorities believed he was still holding power over
organized crime
Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
in New Jersey as a fugitive. A fellow New Jersey mobster for the Genovese family and a Furmara/Coppola associate, was charged by the FBI with illegally harboring Coppola during the months before he was caught and arrested. In April 2002, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey obtained an indictment against Fiumara for conspiring to assist Coppola in Coppola's flight. In March 2003, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to conceal and failing to report that he had been in contact with Coppola. In November, a federal judge ordered Fiumara back to prison for eight months for concealing Coppola's whereabouts.
While on the run, investigators were searching for him in
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, and
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
. On March 9, 2007, after 11 years on the run Coppola and his wife Linda were found and arrested. While conducting a search of their
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...
home they found a book entitled "The Methods of Attacking Scientific Evidence". Coppola pleaded guilty to fugitive charges and was given a 42-month (3 and a half years) sentence. His wife Linda also pleaded guilty to harboring a fugitive and received probation. Louis James Rizzo Jr., Coppola's step-son, was also convicted for conspiracy to harbor a fugitive and sentenced to 3 years in prison. Rizzo was released on November 10, 2009.
Trial
In 2009, the FBI believed that Coppola was going to
turn state's evidence
A criminal turns state's evidence by admitting guilt and testifying as a witness for the state against their associate(s) or accomplice(s), often in exchange for leniency in sentencing or immunity from prosecution.Howard Abadinsky, ''Organized C ...
against the Genovese family and cooperate with the FBI. The FBI was willing to give him
immunity from prosecution
Legal immunity, or immunity from prosecution, is a legal status wherein an individual or entity cannot be held liable for a violation of the law, in order to facilitate societal aims that outweigh the value of imposing liability in such cases. Su ...
and enter him in the
Witness Protection Program
Witness protection is security provided to a threatened person providing testimonial evidence to the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after a trial, usually by police. While a witness may only require p ...
if he cooperated. The FBI believed he was involved in the killing of Lawrence Ricci (along with his son and stepson) on orders of Tino Fiumara, one of the men the FBI was hoping to prosecute with Coppola's cooperation. Coppola waived a speedy arraignment and spent the next two nights sleeping at FBI headquarters in lower Manhattan at an undisclosed hotel. He also met with a government arranged lawyer known as a shadow counsel. On the third day, however, Coppola refused to cooperate. His defense lawyer Henry Mazurek said that Coppola only dragged out the process out of concern for his wife, who he feared would also be arrested and charged.
In July 2009, Coppola was put on trial for murder,
racketeering
Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit.
Originally and of ...
and extorting the Local 1235 of the
International Longshoremen's Association
The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) is a North American labor union representing longshore workers along the East Coast of the United States and Canada, the Gulf Coast, the Great Lakes, Puerto Rico, and inland waterways. The ILA h ...
for over 30 years. If found guilty of all counts, he could have faced
life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
. Defense lawyer Henry Mazurek told jurors that Coppola admitted to making a "rash" decision to flee, but that it didn't prove he's a killer. "He didn't want to stand trial for a murder he didn't commit," Mazurek said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Dennehy told the jury not to be fooled by Coppola's claims and that Coppola "ran because he didn't want to face a jury like you. He hid because he didn't want to face a jury like you." Thomas Riccardi testified that Coppola said he did not agree with the Lardiere murder, but that he followed the orders given to him by Tino Fiumara (who was never charged). Genovese family member turned government witness
George Barone
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...
was also called to aid the prosecution. Barone was such a difficult witness that the prosecutor apparently decided not to ask him about the Lardiere murder.
A witness to the murder, Raymond Zychlinski, was called on as a defense witness in the case. Zychlinski refuted the prosecutor's story that Lardiere's killer taunted him and said all he heard was a "horrifying scream". On July 21, 2009, Coppola was acquitted of the murder, partially due to the DNA test proving inconclusive since it matched 11 million white men in America. However, he was found guilty of violating the
RICO Act
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization.
RICO was e ...
for extortion and possessing false identification while he was a fugitive, which could have imprisoned him for up to 20 years. Coppola nodded and mouthed the words, "It's O.K.," to his wife after the verdict.
Coppola was then taken into custody already serving time for his original fugitive sentence in the
Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn
The Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn (MDC Brooklyn) is a United States federal administrative detention facility in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. It holds male and female prisoners of all security levels. It ...
. On December 18, 2009 Judge John Gleeson sentenced Coppola to 16 years in prison. He served most of his time at the
United States Penitentiary, Atlanta
The United States Penitentiary, Atlanta (USP Atlanta) is a medium-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Atlanta, Georgia. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice ...
before being sent to Residential Reentry Management in Brooklyn in 2021. His projected release from federal custody is October 10, 2023.Michael Coppola Inmate Locator at the
Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...