Trial date set for alleged mob cops

After turning down a bid by the "Mafia Cops" to get their indictment dismissed, a Brooklyn federal judge set Feb. 21 as the date for trial.

Judge Jack B. Weinstein didn't buy arguments that the racketeering indictment against Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa was defective and said both the men and the city deserve to have their days in court.

Eppolito, 56, and Caracappa, 63, were arrested in March on charges they worked as hit men for the Luchese crime family and had roles in a total of 10 gangland murders.

After listening to more than an hour of arguments by defense attorneys and prosecutors, Weinstein ruled that the indictment was valid on its face and that at this stage of the case it had to go to trial.