Barry Gibbs, man framed by 'mafia cop,' gets $9.9M settlement for 18-year prison sentence
A man jailed for 18 years after he was framed by "Mafia Cop" Louie Eppolito won a $9.9 million settlement Thursday from the city.
Barry Gibbs, 62, scored the staggering award just days before jury selection was scheduled to start in his $18 million lawsuit.
The Rockaways resident sought $1 million for each year he spent behind bars after being sentenced to 20 years to life for the 1986 slaying of prostitute Virginia Robinson.
"The settlement amount speaks loudly about Barry's innocence and what they did to him, and to the police department's failure to take action against Eppolito," said Gibbs' attorney, Nick Brustin.
Gibbs is battling colon cancer, making his sudden windfall "obviously bittersweet," Brustin said.
Gibbs was freed in September 2005 after the Las Vegas arrests of Eppolito and former partner Stephen Caracappa - the two most corrupt cops in NYPD history.
Federal investigators reinvestigated the Robinson murder and determined Eppolito had coerced an eyewitness into identifying Gibbs as the killer.
Both Eppolito and Caracappa are serving life sentences for going on the Luchese family payroll as hitmen and informants while working as NYPD detectives.
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