Mob FilesPublic-domain archive of American organized crime
Viewer page 292 of Part 01 of the FBI Vault's Operation Donnie Brasco file: a New York airtel of December 12, 1986 to the Director, subject Genus Black Nova, reporting that Judge Robert W. Sweet sentenced James Episcopia to five years on November 17, 1986
Open the full imagePNG, 1000 × 1294 px, 0.2 MB

FBI Vault, Operation Donnie Brasco, Part 01, viewer pp. 288-293 (1984-1986): James Episcopia

FBI reports on James Episcopia, a defendant in the 1982 case. They record his conviction on December 12, 1983 for methaqualone conspiracy and distribution, a sentence in November 1984, and a five-year sentence imposed by Judge Robert W. Sweet on November 17, 1986.

Date
1984-11-26/1986-12-12
Kind
case-file
Source
FBI Records: The Vault
Retrieved
2026-10-12
Rights
A record of the Federal Bureau of Investigation released under FOIA. A work of the United States government, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. The page image of viewer page 292 is stored here; the full scans are at the Vault URL. The report forms on the other pages print personal identifiers, and no image of them is stored.

Viewer pages 288 to 293 of Part 01 of the FBI Vault’s “Operation Donnie Brasco” file: FBI accomplishment reports and an airtel about James Episcopia, Bureau file 183A-4899 (the OCR also reads 183K-4899). He was one of the defendants in United States v. Napolitano.

The first report, dated November 26, 1984, says in its remarks: “Subject, a Captain in the Bonanno Family LCN, was convicted on 12/12/83, of conspiracy and illegal distribution of methaqualone. Due to a serious illness, he had not been sentenced until 11/14/84, at which time he was only sentenced on the conspiracy count.” (The OCR’s misspellings are corrected.)

The airtel of December 12, 1986 (page 292, from the page image) reads: “On November 17, 1986 Judge Robert W. Sweet USDC SDNY sentenced Bonanno family member James Episcopia aka ‘Jimmy Legs’ to 5 years incarceration for conviction in above captioned matter, (T 21 S 841), distribution of Methqualon.” It adds that New York would keep the case pending “due to the need to use evidence gathered in this case against Joseph Messina acting head of the Bonanno family at his upcoming trial in January 1987.” A report of November 1986 on page 293 again calls him “a captain in the Bonanno Family LCN.” Its sentence grid is partly illegible in the OCR, so only the five-year figure is recorded here.

“Captain,” “member” and “acting head” are the FBI’s labels in these reports. They are not charted. The reports print Episcopia’s date of birth and other identifiers, which are left out here.

itemUnited States v. Napolitano, 552 F. Supp. 465 (S.D.N.Y. 1982)Judge Robert W. Sweet's pretrial rulings of January to July 1982 in the RICO case against Dominick Napolitano, Benjamin Ruggiero and others, charged as members or associates of "the Bonanno Family of La Cosa Nostra." The opinion records that "Ruggiero had been told that an FBI agent, Donnie Brasco, had infiltrated his activities."itemFBI Vault, Operation Donnie Brasco, Part 01, viewer pp. 133-136 (May-June 1981)New York teletypes of May and June 1981. The first reports a source's information that Alphonse Indelicato, Philip Giaccone and Dominic Trinchera were killed on or about May 5, 1981, and that Anthony "Bruno" Indelicato was hiding with a contract on his life. The second records the surveillance of Ruggiero's flight to Montreal.