Rickie "Chops" Cozza is an heir to the mob of Mario Damiano with intentions of starting a war between mobsters and law enforcement to prove his worth.
History[]
"Chops" Cozza was a young petty criminal ingratiating himself towards ailing mob boss Mario "Fico di Capo" Damiano to take over his reigns. Mario already hated his son Mikey, who partied and spent the family's money, as a candidate, so Chops took the chance to promise proving himself in hopes he could win Mario's blessing.
With Mikey and Chops' closest friend and comrade, Lou-Lou Versini, they all arranged to break the trust between police and prosecutors so they could swoop in and take control to impress Mario before he died. Starting off with stalking out Danny Lucci, a witness testifying against the mob, Versini and Chops' uncle Eddie staged an argument where Danny was having dinner with his family, before Eddie pulled a revolver and grouped his shots to fire one at Danny's head, killing him instantly, before the two bolted. Chops then killed Eddie and the stuffed his corpse in a barrel filled with construction gravel to tie up loose ends.
Targeting the ADA on Danny's case next, Perez, the three guys then slashed his wife, undercover officer Nina, into critical condition after blowing her cover in the papers, infuriating Perez enough into wanting justice. Goren and Eames figure out the motives on the case, speak with Mario to hear what tells he gives off, and even find Eddie's body. Tracing the crimes back to Chops, they trick him into giving up his print, the same instance Goren notices he's a sociopath who can only express personal resentment.
Devising a setup to get confessions, the team tracks the three mobster wannabes to a basement where they hid evidence, having taken it so as to ambush them with a confrontation. While repeatedly confusing Chops with his lack of emotional response, Goren turns the crew against each other with betrayals they were responsible for and Goren lied about. Chops gets furious enough to lunge at Versini and Mikey out of assuming they double-crossed them, leading to all their arrests and the two accomplices of Chops being ready to testify against him. They're all found guilty, Chops in particular facing the maximum sentence for being the mastermind. (CI: "Fico Di Capo")
Known Victims[]
- Danny Lucci (shot by Uncle Eddie with the help of Versini)
- Uncle Eddie (killed and stuffed in a barrel of gravel)
- Nina Grotsky Perez (assaulted; repeatedly slashed alongside Versini and Mikey)