...And Never Let HerGo

become involved in the aftermath of Anne Marie’s disappearance. If Louie was stonewalling the government to protect Tom, he was also putting his immediate family at risk.
    Gerry Capano’s activities were even more suspect. His drug use was common knowledge, some of his close friends had prison records, and Gerry collected weapons the way some men accumulate baseball cards. Any one of these preferences could put him and those around him in jeopardy with the law. Intelligence said that Gerry was still the spoiled kid in the Capano family, the bad little boy. In his cups, he had ruined many a holiday and reduced his mother to tears. When he wasn’t drinking or drugging, Gerry was likable, but he wasn’t smooth and he wasn’t brilliant. His judgment had never been very good, and he had the Capano instinct to look after his own.
    Gerry looked like the weakest link in the chain the family had erected to protect Tom. Maybe Tom had drawn Gerry into his own dark plan because he knew that more than anyone else his little brother was malleable.
    Given Gerry’s proclivities, Connolly and Alpert contacted the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) agency. Diane Iardella, an ATF agent and her husband, Doug, a Wilmington police detective, joined the investigation. Both of the agencies they worked for had had reason to look suspiciously at Gerry’s activities. Now, because Tom Capano was under suspicion, the rest of his family were drawn into the probe. The “feds” would watch Gerry’s activities and apply pressure if he broke any laws. The Iardellas added much to the team.
    When they weren’t at their half-million-dollar beach house in Stone Harbor, Gerry and his wife, Michelle, lived in a beautiful home on Emma Court in Brandywine Hundred. On the night of Wednesday, October 8, 1997, there was a loud knocking at their door. A federal search warrant was about to be executed; the warrant specified that authorities had reason to suspect they would find evidence of three crimes: possession of cocaine, distribution of cocaine or possession with intent to distribute, and possession of a firearm by a drug user. The ATF agents did not come away empty handed. In an unlocked gun safe in one of the children’s bedrooms, they found ten shotguns, four rifles, four revolvers, and eight “illegal explosive devices.”
    They located two more revolvers and another shotgun in the dining room. They also verified Gerry’s possession of drugs. Field testing established that there was cocaine in his truck and a Baggie with cocaine in the laundry room cupboard (along with a rolled-up dollar bill and a credit card with powder residue on the washing machine). There was marijuana in the laundry room and in a tool chest in the garage. A guest—Gerry’s business partner—had both cocaine and marijuana on his person.
    Carrying out the search warrant verified that Gerry had broken the law that forbids a drug user to possess guns. He couldn’t have looked more guilty of the crimes they suspected unless he had had white powder clinging to his nose and a bandolier around his chest. Even so, Gerry could find legal arguments that would tend to cut down the sentence he would receive. He could claim, at least half truthfully, that he used the weapons for lawful hunting and sporting, and that he collected them as a hobby. A conviction on such a gun charge could bring him about six months in jail. And in point of fact, the raid had not unearthed much weight in the illegal drugs found.
    A week later, however, the federal agents raided Ed Del Collo’s house and found another gun. Del Collo was Gerry’s best friend, but he was also a convicted felon. And convicted felons are not permitted to own guns. A check of the serial numbers showed that Gerryhad purchased the gun for Ed. He had broken another federal law; he had not only transferred guns, he had purchased them for a convicted felon. Furthermore, he could not argue that all the guns he’d ever possessed were for lawful hunting and sporting purposes.
    Now Gerry was looking at three years or more in prison.
    A week later, the Division of Family Services began an investigation of Gerry and Michelle’s suitability as parents. Authorities were concerned that their children, both toddlers, were living surrounded by guns and drugs.
    Some time earlier, Tom had stepped in to help Gerry and said he should consult an attorney, even telling his little brother whom to call. Gerry did, and his lawyers suggested