Mob suspect must give DNA; bail set higher

SOMERVILLE, N.J. - A Superior Court judged upped the bail for Michael "Trigger Mike" Coppola to $5 million yesterday and ordered the suspected mob hit man to submit DNA samples that prosecutors hope will tie him to a notorious 1977 gangland murder.

Judge Paul W. Armstrong accepted prosecution arguments that Coppola, 60, was an extraordinary risk of flight because of the murder case and a federal investigation into another mob hit in which he is a suspect.

For those reasons, Armstrong said he was increasing the bail, which he had set at $1 million after Coppola's arrest in New York City last month.

Coppola, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, handcuffed and shackled at his ankles, appeared unruffled by the rulings or the two-hour court hearing.

He smiled and nodded to his wife, Linda, as Somerset County sheriff's deputies led him out of the courtroom.

Six armed deputies stood around the well of the courtroom during the proceeding.

Coppola, a reputed capo in the Genovese crime family, had been on the run for nearly 11 years, ducking New Jersey and federal investigators who had targeted him as a suspect in the 1977 murder of mobster John "Johnny Coca Cola" Lardiere.

The former Spring Lake, N.J., resident disappeared in August 1996 as the state sought a court order requiring him to supply blood and saliva samples for a DNA test in the then 19-year-old Lardiere murder investigation.

Coppola remained on the lam for nearly 11 years before being arrested on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on March 9.

Coppola's lawyers opposed the bail increase during yesterday's hearing. They also argued that the 1996 court order requiring Coppola to submit blood and saliva samples was invalid. Armstrong rejected the defense contentions.

Yesterday's hearing came one day short of the 30th anniversary of the Lardiere murder, a crime that Assistant Attorney General Robert Leaman said had attained almost folklore status in the underworld.

Lardiere was killed in the parking lot of a motel in Bridgewater, N.J., on Easter Sunday, April 10, 1977.

Nineteen years later, a mob informant told investigators that Coppola had boasted about the hit to him and others. That information led to the state's 1996 DNA request and Coppola's disappearance.

Lardiere, who was on a 26-hour furlough from a state prison when he was killed, was approached in the parking lot by Coppola, according to the informant. Coppola was armed with a .22-caliber pistol equipped with a silencer, but when he tried to shoot Lardiere, the gun jammed.

Lardiere then sarcastically said, "What are you going to do now, tough guy?"

With that, the informant said, Coppola drew a .38-caliber revolver from an ankle holster and pumped five shots into Lardiere.

Police recovered both weapons, the holster, and a baseball cap at the crime scene. Hairs were found on the holster and cap.

In 1996, when Coppola failed to appear at a court hearing in which the DNA issue was to be argued, a judge granted the state's request in absentia.

Described by Leaman yesterday as "cunning, manipulative and evasive," Coppola remained a fugitive until last month.

According to documents and records authorities seized, he and his wife used three different aliases and maintained apartments in Manhattan and San Francisco.

Judge Armstrong said Coppola enjoyed "an upscale lifestyle" despite no visible means of support and was "a major player" in the Genovese crime family.

Authorities allege that while on the run Coppola engaged in gambling, extortion and loansharking. They also say he and his son are suspects in the murder of Lawrence Ricci, a mob-linked union leader who was shot in the back of the head in 2005.

Ricci was on trial for racketeering when he was slain. His body was found stuffed in the trunk of a car parked behind a diner in Union City.