Louis Eppolito, 57, and Steven Caracappa, 64, former New York Police Department detectives were convicted today of participating in eight murders between 1986 and 1990.

Some of the victims were murdered by Eppolito and Caracappa, while others were delivered by the two for Mafia killings.

While working for NYPD, the men were on the payroll of the the Luchese crime family underboss Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso. Their price was $4,000 each per month, with additional money if they personally killed someone.

The prosecution’s key witness was Burton Kaplan, a drug dealer who said that he was the middleman between Casso and the detectives.

In addition to the murder charges, Eppolito and Caracappa were also convicted of racketeering conspiracy, witness tampering, witness retaliation, and obstruction of justice.They could get life in prison.

Coca-Cola changed the director compensation plan to one that will pay members of the board of directors if the company hits financial targets. Under this plan, “equity share units” valued at $175,000 will be granted to each director if the company hits earnings targets. Directors will have to wait three years to cash in the units, and will be able to do so only if Coke posts compounded annual growth in operating earnings per share of 8% in 2006, 2007, and 2008. It is estimated that EPS will have to rise to $2.73 in 2008 (from $2.17 in 2005) in order for directors to get paid.

Netflix Inc. is suing Blockbuster Inc. for illegally copying its ideas, namely having a DVD wish list and offering rentals with no time limits and no late fees. Both companies offer subscribers up to three DVDs at a time for the monthly fee of $17.99. When movies are returned, the service automatically sends the subscriber the next available movie on her or his wish list.

Netflix patented the process of managing wish lists in June 2003. Netflix had 4.2 million subscribers at the beginning of 2006, while Blockbuster has signed up about 1.2 customers so far.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Eliot Spitzer, New York State Attorney General, has filed suit against online advertiser Direct Revenue LLC. The suit claims that the company was secretly installing millions of spyware pop-up advertising programs on people’s computers. Direct Revenue allegedly installed advertising software without user’s consent or knowledge, with the code wrapped into free applications that consumers could download.

Spitzer seeks a court order stopping Direct Revenue from installing spyware or sending ads through the spyware already on computers. In addition, he seeks financial records related to the company’s revenue so that appropriate fines can be assessed.

The defense in the case against former [tag]Enron[/tag] president [tag]Jeffrey Skilling[/tag] and former Enron chairman [tag]Kenneth Lay[/tag] is claiming that there was no wrongdoing at the company. In day one of the defense case, testimony by five former Enron employees was meant to refute the government’s accusations that Skilling and Lay mischaracterized the performance to the retail energy services unit. Skilling might testify as early as Tuesday.

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