A man who spent 18 years behind bars after he was framed for murder by mob cop Louis Eppolito settled his civil suit with the city today for $9.9 million.
The city agreed to the whopping payout for Barry Gibbs, 62, this morning, just days before his case was set to go to trial in Brooklyn federal court.
“Mr. Gibbs is very happy,” said his lawyer Nick Brustin. “We uncovered massive misconduct in the police department. What was most shocking was how brazen it was.”
Gibbs, a former postal worker with a drug history, was convicted of strangling prostitute Virginia Robertson in 1988.
He was exhonerrated and released from jail in 2005 after the only eyewitness in the case recanted his testimony and confessed that Eppolito had coerced him into perjuring himself on the witness stand.
Gibbs sued the city and Eppolito in 2006 after the mob cop and his partner Steven Caracappa were convicted of moonlighting as hitmen for the Lucchese crime family.
“We have agreed to settle this case and believe it is in the best interest of all parties,” said Connie Pankratz, spokeswoman for the city law department.