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.