Record settlement for NY man framed by 'Mafia cop'

The city on Thursday agreed to pay $9.9 million to an innocent man who spent 19 years behind bars after being framed by a notorious New York Police Department detective who doubled as killer for the mob. The settlement for Barry Gibbs set a record for a civil rights lawsuit against the city. The previous high - $8 million - went to a man left paralyzed when he was shot by a police officer in 1999. "We have agreed to settle this case and believe it is in the best interest of all parties," the city Law Department said in a statement. In a phone interview, Gibbs said he plans to spend some of the money on medical bills and on his grandchildren's college education. "I had my freedom taken away from me and now I have it back," Gibbs said. "I'm going to live each day like it's my last." The wrongful conviction of Gibbs, a 61-year-old one-time postal worker, was a disturbing footnote to the sensational case of former detectives Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, the so-called "Mafia cops."...more