Prosecutors to seek death penalty against ex-Colombo mob boss Joel Cacace for murder of NYPD cop

Prosecutors to seek death penalty against ex-Colombo mob boss Joel Cacace for murder of NYPD cop

  February 10, 2011    Dapper_Don

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Joel Cacace (r.) will face the death penalty in the 1997 murder of Ralph Dols, an NYPD police officer gunned down outside his home.

The U.S. attorney general has ordered prosecutors to seek the death penalty against mobster Joel (Joe Waverly) Cacace for ordering the murder of an NYPD cop, officials said Thursday.
Cacace, 69, a former acting boss for the Colombo crime family, is charged with putting a contract on Officer Ralph Dols after the cop married his ex-wife.
Dols was off duty when he was gunned down outside his home in Brooklyn in 1997.
Attorney General Eric Holder declined to seek the death penalty against former Colombo boss Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioeli and soldier Dino (Little Dino) Saracino, who are also charged in the ambush slay.
It is rare for the feds to seek the death penalty against a mafioso, but according to the government's theory, Dols was killed because he was a cop and not over a mob dispute.
Cacace's lawyer blasted the decision, calling it a "legal and ethical disgrace."
"I thought President Obama was going to bring integrity to the criminal justice system and not pander to the political climate," said lawyer Susan Kellman.
"The government's half-cocked theory [about Dols' murder] doesn't make sense, and they'll never prove it because it's not true," she said.
The star witness against Cacace will be former capo Dino (Big Dino) Calabro, who was part of the hit team and is now cooperating with the feds.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/02/10/2011-02-10_prosecutors_to_seek_death_penalty_against_excolombo_mob_boss_joel_cacace_for_mur.html#ixzz1DcX6iAOR