A reputed Genovese capo who spent nearly 11 years on the lam to avoid arrest for a 1977 mob hit was finally forced to face the music as his racketeering trial got under way yesterday.
Michael “Mikey Cigars” Coppola, 63, is accused of gunning down gangster John “Johnny Coca Cola” Lardiere outside a New Jersey motel on April 10, 1977 — a hit that took two tries after the killer’s first gun jammed.
“He carried out that Mafia hit in cold blood,” Assistant US Attorney Jacquelyn Rasulo said in opening statements in Brooklyn federal court, adding that the gangster was arrested 30 years later on the Upper West Side, where he spent part of his time living with his wife as a fugitive, hiding in plain sight.
Prosecutors claim that Lardiere taunted Coppola when his first weapon failed to fire, sneering, “What’re you gonna do now, tough guy?” But the alleged killer whipped out a second pistol and pumped bullets into the victim’s head and chest.
Coppola’s lawyer acknowledged that his client went on the lam but denied that he killed Lardiere.