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Report: Reputed Former Mobster Acquitted In Cop's Murder

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A reputed former mobster was acquitted Tuesday in the execution-style murder of an NYPD officer in 1997, according to a published report.

Joel "Joe Waverly" Cacace, 72, had served as the consigliere for the Colombo crime family – one of the five historic New York City mafia families, according to a Newsday report. The Deer Park, Long Island man was acquitted in Brooklyn U.S. District Court of the execution of Officer Ralph Dols, the newspaper reported.

Cacace had been charged with ordering Dols' slaying because he was jealous over Dols' marriage to his ex-wife, Kim Kennaugh, the newspaper reported.

Dols was shot and killed as he got out of his car near his Brooklyn apartment on Aug. 25, 1997, the newspaper reported. He had once worked for Cacace at a gym in the area and had met Kennaugh there, the paper reported. They went on to marry and have a daughter, the paper reported.

Cacace remains imprisoned until 2020 on an unrelated racketeering conviction, the paper reported.

He pleaded guilty in 2004 to racketeering, in part for allegedly ordering a hit on former federal prosecutor William Aronwald, the paper reported. The hit men assigned to the job instead killed Aaronwald's 78-year-old father, George, by mistake in 1987, the paper reported.

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