back
Israel, an Orthodox Jew, was married with two young daughters living in Far
Rockaway, NY. He was a devoted husband and loving father and was known for being
charitable and kind. He was also very hard working and built himself a successful
diamond business called Blue River Inc. where he had an impeccable reputation.
In 1985 a Hassidic jeweler friend and business associate of Israel Greenwald
named Herman, asked Israel to deposit a bond for him as a favor on one of Israel's
frequent business trips to Europe. Unbeknownst to Israel, the bond was "stolen".
After depositing it and returning back to the U.S., Israel was questioned by
FBI at customs about the bond and where it came from. He told the FBI that he
had been given the T-bill by a friend and that his friend had asked him to do
it because he was trying to hide some assets from his wife during contentious
divorce proceedings. The FBI told him that he has to cooperate and tape record
Herrman telling him where it came from and where the money went. Israel was
always a very loyal friend and did not want to get Herman in trouble. Unaware
of how dangerous Herman really was and who was behind this whole sordid affair,
he angrily approached him. Israel expressed his anger at Herman for duping him
into doing something illegal and pressed him for the names of who was behind
this scheme. He tried to convince him to just come clean and tell the FBI the
truth. Herman refused to divulge that information claiming that he feared for
his life and if he would talk he would be killed.
(* see below)
At some point Israel was forced by the FBI to tape record Herman admitting
to something, but it was unsuccessful and it is unclear from the tape exactly
what happened. Did his friend discover the tape? Only Herman knows the truth.
What is certain is that Israel did not know that
Herman was working directly under a Hassid named "Banda" who was one
of the men behind the bond scam. According to testimony during the mafia cops
trial, Banda was working with criminal mastermind and later the star witness
of the mafia cops trial Burt Kaplan. When Herman told Banda about what had happened,
the word got back to Kaplan who feared that eveything would go bust now and
he would end up in big trouble if Greenwald cooperated with the FEDS. Kaplan,
whom never even met Israel Greenwald, decided to get rid of him himself. According
to his testimony, he did not tell Banda about his plans to kill Israel, he merely
said "Give me his information: Let me talk to him, I'll convince him to
go away on a long vacation".
Kaplan remembered a guy named Frank Santora who he met back in
his prison days. Santora had mentioned to him that he had a cop cousin who would
do "work" for money. He called Santora and told him he had a problem
that had to be dealt with. Santora contacted his cop cousin Louis Eppolito and
partner Stephen Caracappa who said "It'll be easy without a doubt."
and then, using the police database they got all the information they needed
to know about Israel Greenwald (his home address, car make, etc.).
On Monday morning, Feb. 10, 1986 the cops and Santora followed
Israel as he was driving to work and pulled him over using their badges. They
pretended to arrest him citing that someone fingered him as a hit and run and
he has to come to the station to clear it up. Israel willingly went with them,
not knowing he was being led to his own execution. It was then that they took
him to a Brooklyn garage on Nostrand Avenue, belonging to Pete Franzone (a hard
working, non-criminal man who was friendly with Santora) where Greenwald was
shot and buried.
According to the testimony of the garage owner Pete Franzone,
he saw the cops and Santora walk in that Feb. 10, 1986 day with a Jewish man
wearing a skullcap. While Louis Eppolito stood guard in his unmarked police
car, Caracappa and Santora entered an enclosed garage with the Jewish man. Twenty
minutes later Caracappa walked out and left with Eppolito. Santorra then asked
Pete to come into that room where he saw Israel Greenwald's dead body. Santorra
told Pete that he must help him bury the body or else he will be killed along
with his family. Pete dug, praying that he too won't be thrown into that grave.
Even after Santora was murdered a year later, Pete never divulged his secret.
He was terrified for his life. Who would ever believe him that two cops murdered
for the mob? He figured that if he talks he would end up being framed for this
murder, or worst, murdered himself. He kept this secret for 19 years.
After Kaplan finally agreed to talk in 2005 and admitted that
he paid the cops and Santora $30,000 to kill a Jewish jeweler, he was not able
to say where the jeweler was killed and buried since he was not given that information
from the cops and Santora. (Kaplan couldn't even recall the Jeweler's name.)
He only knew that he was killed in a garage on Nostrand Avenue. But Nostrand
Avenue is several miles long and finding a garage there is like finding a needle
in a haystack. (Kaplan also had never even heard of Pete Franzone nor was he
aware that Franzone witnessed the murder.) In addition Santora was no longer
alive. He was murdered in 1987. It seemed that the Greenwald case would never
be solved without a body and further proof.
Investigators doubled there efforts and finally located the original
Santora homicide file. It was then that the diligent investigators found what
they needed: Frank Santorra's old phonebook which had Pete Franzone’s
contact information under "towing company". This led to Franzone being
questioned by detectives about this two decade old murder and Franzone leading
them to where Israel's body was buried. Kaplan and Franzone's stories completely
corroborated even though the two had never met or even heard of each other in
their lives. Franzone became the most important civilian wittness in the mafia
cops trial and is now living in wittness protection program.
In April 2005, after Israel Greenwald’s body was found his
family finally buried him in the land he loved so much and the land he was born
in, Israel. After 19 years of not knowing what had happened, the family had
some sort of closure and a grave.
True closure and true justice finally came in April 2006 when
his killers Stephen Caracappa and Louis Eppolito were finally convicted of his
murder and sentenced to life along with 7 other murders.
A month later Judge Weinstein revoked the verdict citing statute of limitations
issues. As of April 2007 the case is still being appealed by the government.
Regardless of what happens, Israel finally has a grave
and his family has a place to go to and answers. This story proves that miracles
can happen.
Click to read an excerpt from the book "The
Brotherhoods"
written by the detective Willian Oldham who cracked the case, which tells the
story in greater detail
* Interestingly, 2 years after Israel was murdered, Kaplan hired
the cops to kill this Hasid Herman because he feared that he would talk. The
convicted cops approached him in a stairwell in Williamsburg and tried to "arrest"
him. Herman knew something was wrong...perhaps he thought the same thing that
happened to Greenwald would happen to him. With all his strength he pushed Louis
Eppolito (the larger cop) away and Eppolito nearly fell down the stairs. He
then ran out screaming "Help, they are trying to kill me!" The cops
quickly left and told Kaplan about what had happened. Eppolito joked about how
amazed he was that a little man like that can push him away. Herman ran to Banda
in fear. Banda, figuring it was Kaplan behind this, called Kaplan and demanded
he leave man alone. Kaplan listened and Herman is still alive today. The cops
were convicted in April 2006 (along with 8 murders) of Herman's attempted kidnapping
and murder too.