Former Lucchese underboss Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso has died after recently contracting coronavirus in prison, Bureau of Prisons and court records show.
The 78-year-old mobster — who sought and was denied compassionate release last month — died Tuesday, according to the Bureau of Prisons website and a law enforcement source.
On Nov. 25, Casso’s lawyers wrote to a judge explaining that their client had contracted COVID-19 while serving a life sentence in United States Penitentiary, Tuscon.
The lawyers also said that the wheelchair-bound Casso had a slew of health issues before he caught the virus — including prostate cancer, coronary artery disease, kidney disease, hypertension, bladder disease and lung issues from years of smoking, the court papers said.
But, Brooklyn Federal judge Frederic Block rejected the bid for early release finding that “in light of the nature and extent of defendants criminal history, that he remains a danger to the community.”
Casso — who pleaded guilty to 14 mob murders — infamously struck a deal with two crooked NYPD cops Louis Eppolito and his partner Stephen Caracappa to pass information about mob rats to the crime family in exchange for a monthly salary.
The cops also moonlighted as hitmen for the Lucchese family.
An investigator who covered Casso’s cases described him as “a ruthless homicidal maniac who enjoyed killing.”
