Coppola
found guilty on drug, rackets charges
BYLINE: EPSTEIN,
GAIL Gail Epstein Staff Writer STAFF DATE: April 25,
1987 PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution EDITION:
The Atlanta Journal Constitution SECTION: LOCAL NEWS PAGE: A/1
"The
government could not claim complete victory, however. Of Coppola's three
co-defendants, one, Frank Church, was convicted and two were acquitted. Those
acquitted were Darrell Brown and Coppola's former bodyguard, Tommy Papanier,
who witnesses had linked to a New York organized crime family.....
....`I
had the Lord on my side'...
.Papanier
let out a loud sigh of relief and buried his face in his hands when his
verdict was read. Outside the courtroom later, as he embraced his wife,
Margaret, Papanier was asked why the jury convicted Coppola but not
him. "All
I can say is I had the Lord on my side," he said tearfully.
"I
prayed for this," added Papanier, whose fellow church members attended
portions of the trial. "At 4 a.m. I was woken up in my cell and the Lord
laid it out for me to pack my stuff."
Papanier had
faced three racketeering and cocaine-distribution charges. Prosecution
witnesses testified that he participated in murder plots against two of
Coppola's associates, helped Coppola plan a cocaine-distribution network and
bragged about his links to New York's Gambino syndicate. Papanier
disputed their testimony.
His attorney,
Alan Begner, said the government failed to prove charges in the indictment and
instead "sought to put on evidence of such things
as possible Gambino connections, things I did not think were
relevant to the case."
