Deal with the Devil
Page 66
7. Patricia Hurtado, “Assassination Plot; Doc and Aide Are Charged,” Newsday, July 31, 1992.
8. Jerry Capeci and Tom Robbins, “Mafia Big Shot Battling AIDS: He Was Infected During ’86 Operation,” New York Daily News, August 17, 1992.
9. Patricia Hurtado, “Civil Suit Juror Cries at Scarpa’s AIDS Tale,” Newsday, August 20, 1992.
10. Patricia Hurtado, “Alleged Capo’s Dr. Testifies,” Newsday, August 22, 1992.
11. Mary B. W. Tabor, “Settlement in Lawsuit on H.I.V.-Tainted Blood,” New York Times, August 30, 1992.
12. Patricia Hurtado, “Amicable End to AIDS Suit; Hospital Settles with Scarpa,” Newsday, August 29, 1992.
13. Selwyn Raab, “The Mobster Was a Mole for the F.B.I.,” New York Times, November 20, 1994.
14. Frederic Dannen, “The G-Man and the Hit Man,” New Yorker, December 16, 1996.
15. Supervisory Special Agents Robert J. O’Brien and R. Patrick Welch, FBI 302 memo, statement of Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Weissmann, August 16, 1994, 2.
16. Supervisory Special Agents Kevin P. Donovan and Robert J. O’Brien, FBI 302 memo re: statement of Assistant U.S. Attorney George Stamboulidis, September 9, 1994.
17. Dannen, “The G-Man and the Hit Man.”
18. Fredric Dannen, interview with Joseph Benfante, October 4, 1996.
19. Jonathan Rabinovitz, “2 Men Slain in Brooklyn Said to Have Ties to Mob,” New York Times, October 19, 1992.
20. Ibid., Stamboulidis FBI 302 memo, 4.
21. Ibid., 1.
22. Victor J. Orena and Pasquale Amato v. U.S. 2255, hearing before Judge Jack B. Weinstein, testimony of Special Agent Chris Favo, May 20, 1996, transcript, 32–33.
23. Ibid., 59.
24. U.S. v. Victor M. Orena, transcript of direct examination of R. Lindley DeVecchio by Gerald Shargel, February 28, 1997, 174–202.
25. Author’s interview with Gerald Shargel, November 9, 2011.
26. Interview with Linda Schiro, I Married a Mobster, episode 6, Investigation Discovery Channel, airdate December 3, 2011.
27. Helen Peterson, “Feds Have New Canary,” New York Daily News, December 21, 1997.
28. Ibid.
29. Dannen, “The G-Man and the Hit Man”; Brad Hamilton, “My Life as a Colombo Hit Man,” New York Post, March 4, 2012.
30. Memo to FBI director from assistant director in charge, New York, April 10, 1996, regarding the ongoing DeVecchio OPR investigation: “NY requests that whatever investigation is to be conducted as a result of this letter be conducted expeditiously. . . . The failure of the DOJ . . . to administratively resolve this matter continues to have a serious negative impact on the government’s prosecutions of various LCN figures in the EDNY and casts a cloud over the NYO.”
31. Mazza confirmed that number as recently as March 2012, telling Brad Hamilton of the New York Post that he participated in twenty-five murder plots from the time he met Greg Scarpa Sr. in 1979—“four of them slayings where he delivered the kill shot.” Hamilton, “My Life as a Colombo Hit Man.” That homicide count (twenty-five) beginning in 1979 is just shy of the number of murders directly linked to Greg Scarpa Sr. in this investigation during the period 1980 to 1992, when Lin DeVecchio was Scarpa’s contacting agent.
CHAPTER 31: A GRAIN OF SAND ON JONES BEACH
1. Jack B. Weinstein, judgment, memorandum, and order, U.S. v. Victor J. Orena and Pasquale Amato, March 10, 1997, 9.
2. Ibid.
3. Judge Jack B. Weinstein during a hearing in the case of U.S. v. Michael Sessa, CR-92-351, September 24, 2001, 20.
4. DeVecchio’s conversation on the “Hello” phone to Scarpa following Imbriale’s arrest was proof positive of that. Special Agent Chris Favo, FBI 302 memo, February 6, 1994, 3.
5. Sworn statement of Special Agent Howard Leadbetter II, April 6, 1994, 4.
6. Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963).
7. Robert Hochmann, “Brady v. Maryland and the Search for Truth in Criminal Trials,” University of Chicago Law Review 63, no. 4 (Fall 1996).
8. Author’s interview with Ellen Resnick, February 21, 2012.
9. Author’s interview with Flora Edwards, January 13, 2012.
10. U.S. v. Michael Sessa, order of Judge Allyne R. Ross, January 25, 2011, 3.
11. U.S. v. Orena, transcript of direct examination of R. Lindley DeVecchio by Gerald Shargel, February 28, 1997, 155.
12. William Sherman, “Mob Retrials Loom,” New York Daily News, January 9, 2006.
13. Victor J. Orena and Pasquale Amato v. U.S. 2255, hearing before Judge Jack B. Weinstein, testimony of Special Agent Chris Favo, May 20, 1996, transcript, 55–66.
14. Supervisory Special Agents Kevin P. Donovan and Robert J. O’Brien, FBI 302 memo re: statement of George Stamboulidis, September 9, 1994, 2.
15. Ibid. 3.
16. U.S. v. Michael Sessa, 2.
17. U.S. District Court judgment and probation/commitment order, February 6, 1987; satisfaction of judgment, filed February 5, 1992; Greg Smith and Jerry Capeci, “Mob, Mole & Murder,” New York Daily News, October 31, 1994.
18. Edwards interview, January 13, 2012.
19. Gustave H. Newman, “Victor J. Orena’s Memo of Law in Support of His Motions to Dismiss the Indictment or for a New Trial Pursuant to Rule 33 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and 28 USC Section 2255,” January 16, 1996, 123.
20. Ibid., 123–24.
21. Ibid., 124–25.
22. U.S. v. Victor J. Orena, summation of Gustave H. Newman, transcript, 3122.
23. Gregory Scarpa Jr., sworn affidavit, U.S. penitentiary, Florence, CO, July 30, 2002.
24. Author’s interview with Gustave Newman, October 4, 2011.
25. U.S. v. Victor J. Orena, rebuttal, John Gleeson, 3217; Weinstein, judgment, memorandum, and order, March 10, 1997, 21–22.
26. Judgment and probation commitment order, Gregory Scarpa Sr., February 6, 1987.
27. Letter from Assistant U.S. Attorney Ellen Corcella to defense counsel, U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., May 8, 1995, listing eight possible disclosures of FBI intelligence by Supervisory Special Agent R. Lindley DeVecchio to Gregory Scarpa. See Chapter 37, page 410.
28. U.S. v. Victor J. Orena, Gleeson rebuttal, 3204.
29. Ibid., 3023.
30. Ibid., 3204.
31. U.S. v. Victor J. Orena, summation by George Stamboulidis, 3021.
32. Ibid., 3024.
33. For example, there’s an exception to the Rule Against Hearsay for the statements of co-conspirators [Rule 801 (d)(2)(E) Federal Rules of Evidence]. Much of the testimony against Orena by Michael Maffatore and Harry Bonfiglio, particularly with respect to that alleged walk-and-talk between Vic Orena and Jack Leale, amounted to hearsay. Orena’s lawyer Gus Newman argued that once the war had commenced in June 1991, Vic Orena could hardly be seen as being a co-conspirator with members of the Persico faction—particularly witnesses like Joe Ambrosino, who testified against him. However, seeming to ignore that a schism had taken place in the family, Judge Weinstein ruled that “the ongoing Colombo conspiracy was continuing and that these conversations were in aid and during the continuance of the conspiracy” (U.S. v. Victor J. Orena, ruling of Judge Jack B. Weinstein, transcript, 822–23). He also held that other hearsay statements could come in because they were “offered as evidence of a material fact . . . more probative on the point than other evidence which can be gotten through reasonable efforts” (U.S. v. Victor J. Orena, ruling of Judge Jack B. Weinstein, transcript, 1286–87). Rule 807 [formerly Rule 803(24)] provides for exceptions in certain circumstances: “(a) In General. Under the following circumstances, a hearsay statement is not excluded by the rule against hearsay even if the statement is not specifically covered by a hearsay exception in Rule 803 or 804: (1) the statement has equivalent circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness; (2) it is offered as evidence of a material fact; (3) it is more probative on the point for which it is offered than any other evidence that the proponent can obtain
through reasonable efforts; and (4) admitting it will best serve the purposes of these rules and the interests of justice. (b) Notice. The statement is admissible only if, before the trial or hearing, the proponent gives an adverse party reasonable notice of the intent to offer the statement and its particulars, including the declarant’s name and address, so that the party has a fair opportunity to meet it.”
34. When evidence surfaced that Reiter had been killed by Tommy “Karate” Pitera and that Mark Reiter, Greg’s father, had hired white supremacist Jack Stancell to kill Billy Bright under the mistaken assumption he was responsible for his son’s death. See Chapter 23, pages 233–234.
35. Weinstein, judgment, memorandum, and order, March 10, 1997, 5.
36. Ibid., 95–98.
37. U.S. v. Victor J. Orena, summation by George Stamboulidis, 2978.
38. U.S. v. Victor J. Orena, Gleeson rebuttal, 3213.
39. Ibid., 3223.
40. Edwards interview, January 13, 2012.
CHAPTER 32: EXPECTING TO GO HOME
1. Selwyn Raab, “Prosecutors Shift Attack Against the Mafia,” New York Times, January 23, 1993.
2. Philip Carlo, Gaspipe: Confessions of a Mob Boss (New York: William Morrow, 2008), 246–47.
3. Author’s interview with Anthony Casso, September 23, 2011.
4. Carlo, Gaspipe, 253.
5. Ibid., 254.
6. Assistant U.S. Attorney George Stamboulidis, sworn affidavit, January 27, 1995, 7.
7. “Reputed Mobster Sent to Hospital by Judge,” New York Times, February 23, 1993.
8. U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., transcript, 1294.
9. Special Agent Chris Favo, FBI 302 memo, February 6, 1994, 7.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid., 1.
12. Ibid.
13. Special Agent Jeffrey Tomlinson, sworn affidavit, April 7, 1994, 5.
14. Ibid., 7.
15. Ibid., 5.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid., 6–7.
18. Ibid., 8.
19. Ibid., 9.
20. “Mobster with AIDS Gets Special Sentence,” New York Times, April 25, 1993.
21. R. Lindley DeVecchio, FBI 209 memo for Top Echelon (TE) informant designated “NY3461,” August 27, 1993.
22. Special Agents John L. Barrett and Thomas Fuentes, FBI 302 memo re: Valerie Caproni, January 26, 1994, 2.
23. FBI official biography of Valerie Caproni, http://web.archive.org/web/20080813135548/http://www.fbi.gov/libref/executives/caproni.htm.
24. Barrett and Fuentes, 302 memo, January 26, 1994, 4.
25. R. Lindley DeVecchio and Charles Brandt, We’re Going to Win This Thing: The Shocking Frame-up of a Mafia Crime Buster (New York: Berkley, 2011), 253–54.
26. Ibid.
27. Barrett and Fuentes, 302 memo, January 26, 1994, 4.
28. DeVecchio and Brandt, We’re Going to Win This Thing, 289.
29. Ibid., 290.
30. Supervisory Special Agents Timothy T. Arney and Robert J. O’Brien, FBI 302 memo re: Valerie Caproni, September 14, 1994, 5–6.
31. Philip Carlo, Gaspipe: Confessions of a Mob Boss, original draft manuscript, 311–14. In the final published edition of Gaspipe, DeVecchio and a second alleged “crooked agent” on the Gambino Squad were combined into a single composite character, agent “Doug McCane.” The full details are revealed in Chapter 36.
32. E-mail to author from FBI Special Agent James Brennan (ret.), January 19, 2013.
33. Arney and O’Brien, 302 memo, September 14, 1994, 6.
34. George James, “Man Tied to Crime Family Is Shot to Death in Queens,” New York Times, October 22, 1993.
35. Selwyn Raab, “Ex-F.B.I. Official Is Pressured to Testify on Ties to Mobster,” New York Times, January 26, 1997.
36. Al Guarte, “Wiseguys Acquitted in Colombo Murders,” New York Post, July 1, 1995.
37. U.S. v. Victor Mr. Orena, testimony of R. Lindley DeVecchio, November 19, 2002, transcript, 88–94.
38. Jonathan Rabinovitz, “2 Men Slain in Brooklyn Said to Have Ties to Mob,” New York Times, October 19, 1992.
39. Arnold H. Lubasch, “Peace Efforts by Mobsters Recounted,” New York Times, November 14, 1992.
40. R. Lindley DeVecchio, FBI 209 memo for Top Echelon (TE) informant designated “NY3461,” November 4, 1991, on the murder of Jack Leale, attributed by Gregory Scarpa Sr. to the “Persico faction.”
41. U.S. v. Gregory Scarpa, hearing before Judge Jack B. Weinstein, December 15, 1993, first transcript, 3–4.
42. Ibid., 6.
43. Ibid., 7–8.
44. Ibid., 9.
45. Ibid., 10.
46. Ibid., 10–11.
47. Ibid., 11.
48. Ibid., 13.
49. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, testimony of Larry Mazza, October 18, 2007, transcript, 714.
50. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, testimony of Carmine Sessa, October 25, 2007, transcript, 1426.
51. U.S. v. Gregory Scarpa, hearing before Judge Jack B. Weinstein, December 15, 1993, second transcript, 2.
52. U.S. v. Gregory Scarpa, hearing before Judge Jack B. Weinstein, December 15, 1993, third transcript, 6.
53. Ibid., 7.
54. Author’s interview with Flora Edwards, November 3, 2011.
CHAPTER 33: THE OPR
1. Letter from Assistant U.S. Attorney Ellen Corcella to defense counsel, U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., May 8, 1995, admitting to eight possible disclosures of FBI intelligence by Supervisory Special Agent R. Lindley DeVecchio to Gregory Scarpa. The precise language used by Corcella in referring to the eight leaks was: “Special Agent R. Lindley DeVecchio may have disclosed [them] to Gregory Scarpa Sr.” (emphasis added). See Chapter 37, page 410.
2. Special Agents Maryann Walker-Goldman and Christopher Favo, FBI 302 memo, Larry Mazza, February 7, 1994.
3. Special Agents Maryann Walker-Goldman and Christopher Favo, FBI 302 memo, Larry Mazza, February 11, 1994. Note that while the interview with Mazza took place sometime between January 7 and February 11, it was dictated and dated February 11.
4. R. Lindley DeVecchio and Charles Brandt, We’re Going to Win This Thing: The Shocking Frame-up of a Mafia Crime Buster (New York: Berkley, 2011), 227.
5. Christopher Favo, sworn affidavit, April 4, 1994, 2–3.
6. Special Agent Christopher Favo, FBI 302 memo, February 6, 1994, 1.
7. Ibid., 4.
8. Supervisory Special Agents Kevin P. Donovan and Robert J. O’Brien, FBI 302 memo, statement of Assistant U.S. Attorney George Stamboulidis, September 9, 1994, 4.
9. Favo affidavit, 4.
10. Special Agent Howard Leadbetter II, FBI 302 memo, William Meli, January 21, 1994.
11. Favo affidavit, 4.
12. Ibid., 5.
13. Ibid.
14. A bio of Thomas Fuentes can be found at http://www.silobreaker.com/biography-for-thomas-fuentes-5_2259328017513840640_4. By 2010, Fuentes had become a regular contributor to CNN, http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2010/08/11/ac.terror.baby.cnn#/video/bestoftv/2010/08/11/ac.terror.baby.cnn.
15. Favo affidavit, 6.
16. Ibid., 7.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid., 8.
19. Ibid.
20. Author’s interview with Flora Edwards, January 13, 2012.
21. Favo affidavit, 8.
22. Ibid., 9.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid., 9–11.
25. Ibid., 12.
26. Ibid.
27. Chris Favo, appointment diary, OPR investigation of R. Lindley DeVecchio, Bates-stamped pages 000316–000329.
28. Author’s interview with Alan Futerfas, May 24, 2004.
29. U.S. v. Anthony Russo et al., 92 CR351 (S9) (CPS), affirmation of Valerie Caproni, May 28, 1996.
30. U.S. v. Anthony Russo, 92 CR 351 (S-9) (CPS), memorandum of law by Alan Futerfas,19–20.
31. FBI memo from Mr. Reutter to L. A. Potts. Subject: Unauthorized Dissemination of Information to Colombo LCN Capo
Gregory Scarpa Sr., New York Division, OPR Matter, March 21, 1994, 2.
32. Author’s interview with Flora Edwards, November 3, 2011.
33. Special Agents Thomas Fuentes and John L. Barrett, FBI 302 memo, phone call with Valerie Caproni, February 1, 1994.
34. Reutter-Potts memo, March 21, 1994.
35. U.S. v. Anthony Russo, Futerfas memo, 1–22.
36. Memo from assistant director in charge, FBI New York Office, to director, FBI, April 10, 1996.
37. Author’s interview with FBI Special Agent Dan Vogel (ret.), October 14, 2011.
38. Letter from Lee J. Radek, chief, Public Integrity Section, Criminal Division, Department of Justice, to Douglas E. Grover, attorney for Lin DeVecchio, September 4, 1996.
CHAPTER 34: THE DYING DECLARATION
1. Jerry Capeci, “Fading Mobster Hits on Pal’s Alibi,” New York Daily News, May 31, 1994.
2. Author’s interview with Linda Schiro, November 3, 2007.
3. Interview with Little Linda Schiro, I Married a Mobster, episode 6, Investigation Discovery Channel, airdate December 3, 2011.
4. U.S. v. Victor J. Orena et al., option of the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals, decided June 3, 1998.
5. Memo from Chris Favo to special agent in charge, FBI Division II, May 25, 1994.
6. Sworn affidavit of Greg Scarpa Sr., Rochester, MN, June 7, 1994.
7. FBI 209 memo on Top Echelon (TE) informant designated “NY3461,” June 17, 1994.
8. Ibid.
9. Joseph Friend, “Mob Figure Acquitted in Murder and Racketeering Case,” New York Times, August 9, 1994.
10. Gustave H. Newman, “Victor J. Orena’s Memo of Law in Support of His Motions to Dismiss the Indictment or for a New Trial Pursuant to Rule 33 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and 28 USC Section 2255,” January 16, 1996, 83.
11. DeVecchio, 209 memo, November 4, 1991.
12. DeVecchio, 209 memo, November 18, 1991.
13. U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., testimony of Chris Favo, transcript, 5252.
14. Ibid., 5253–54; U.S. v. William Cutolo et al., October 1994, transcript, 4952–53.
15. Newman, “Victor J. Orena’s Memo.”
16. U.S. v. William Cutolo, 2756, 4959; U.S. v. Victor M. Orena, 5248–50.