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March 09, 2006
Sopranos, the real-life version
If you're in law enforcement, whether a D.A. or a cop, this has to give you a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. According to the New York Sun, an esteemed ex-FBI agent will be indicted on murder charges, after an investigation revealed he fingered informers to his Mafia contact. One of the victims was a woman, held down on the floor of a "social club" while the capo shot her in the head three times.
Former FBI organized crime supervising agent
and mob informer R. Lindley DeVecchio
It's behind a login, but Captain Ed posted an excerpt:
In a case with stunning implications for both law enforcement and some convicted gangsters, prosecutors have decided to seek murder charges against a former mob-busting FBI agent for involvement in at least three Brooklyn Mafia hits between 1984 and 1992, Gang Land has learned.
The Brooklyn district attorney's office has concluded a six-month probe of the scandalous allegations against R. Lindley DeVecchio and will soon ask a grand jury to vote on murder charges against the retired agent, sources said. The move could come as early as today.
According to evidence before the panel, Mr. DeVecchio had no role in the actual slayings but passed along information to his longtime top echelon informer, Colombo capo Gregory Scarpa, knowing that the murderous mobster would use the details to kill his victims, sources said. ...
Victim no. 1 of the ex-G-man's alleged treachery was a beautiful 5-foot, 2-inch brunette named Mary Bari who often hung out with wiseguys. Bari was killed on September 24, 1984, when, according to court records, Scarpa shot her three times in the head as his son, Gregory Jr., held her down on the floor of a Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, social club.
Sources said Scarpa acted after Mr. DeVecchio alerted him that the "dropdead gorgeous" gun moll, who had once dated a Colombo family consigliere, was also a paid informant for the FBI. Mr. DeVecchio had become Scarpa's control agent four years earlier, in 1980, when the agent renewed the gangster's informer status five years after he had been closed. Before that, according to FBI records, Scarpa was an active paid informer between 1962 and 1975, although sources said he began working as a snitch in the late 1950s. He died in 1994.
The only thing worse than a mob killer is someone who'd finger a women for the hitman. And the only thing worse than that is when it's a cop.
This ex-FBI agent should get the honor of the first Fibbie on death row.
UPDATE
A 1998 investigation by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette details allegations that the FBI agent was dirty, but notes:
And what of the Justice Department’s probe into the actions of its rogue agent? The agency’s investigation exonerated DeVecchio.
The Post-Gazette’s two-year investigation into misconduct by federal law enforcement officials found the kid glove treatment of DeVecchio is not unusual.
The Justice Department did not respond to questions the newspaper posed about concerns raised in this story.
Why am I not surprised?
Posted by Mike Lief at March 9, 2006 08:21 AM
Comments
Police officers and prosecutors must remain ever vigilant to ensure that Capone-era corruption such as this does not again creep its way into the ranks of law enforcement.
With hundreds of millions of drug dollars at their disposal, the Mafia, drug cartels, and other criminal entitites can and will corrupt agents of law enforcement when given the opportunity.
We must encourage the rank and file of every agency to have the courage to come forward when they notice suspicious activity on the part of their peers.
Without a doubt, those with the courage of Frank Serpico are few and far between. Law enforcement agents must be trained and repeatedly instilled with rigid mores that the wayward and corrupt will be reported. When cops, federal agents and prosecutors look the other way, problems fester until ultimately they mushroom into something akin to Rampart or the mess that the FBI now finds itself in.
If the FBI really wants to get to the bottom of this problem, they will look at every agent who worked with and around R. Lindley DeVecchio to determine why the warning bells were not sounded earlier.
Posted by: Ace at March 12, 2006 08:07 PM