Deal With the Devil: The FBI's Secret Thirty-Year Relationship With a Mafia Killer

by Peter Lance

  24. R. Lindley DeVecchio, FBI 209 memo for Top Echelon (TE) informant designated “NY3461,” August 4, 1988.

  25. Special Agents Lucian J. Gandolfo and Jeffrey Tomlinson, FBI 302 memo re: Carmine Sessa, September 28, 1993.

  26. Author’s interview with Vic Orena Jr., February 7, 2007.

  27. “Ninety-weight” is the English translation of the Mafia slang term for a “big shot,” i.e., pezza novante, http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pezzonovante.

  28. Tomlinson and Leadbetter II, FBI 302 memo re: Carmine Sessa, May 16, 1993; Arnold H. Lubasch, “Prosecutors Tell of Colombo Family Murder Plot,” New York Times, September 1, 1991.

  29. R. Lindley DeVecchio, FBI 209 memo, June 13, 1989.

  30. DeVecchio, teletype, June 8, 1988, 3.

  31. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, Sessa testimony, 1372.

  32. Tomlinson and Leadbetter II, FBI 302 memo re: Carmine Sessa, May 28, 1993.

  33. Author’s interview with Flora Edwards, January 13, 2012.

  34. John Kroger, Convictions (New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2008), 135.

  35. Supervisory Special Agents Kevin Donovan and Robert J. O’Brien, FBI 302 memo re: Carmine Sessa, September 1, 1994, 3.

  36. Ibid.

  37. Author’s interview with Andrew Orena, January 13, 2012.

  38. DeVecchio, 209 memo, August 1, 1989.

  39. DeVecchio, 209 memo, November 16, 1989.

  40. DeVecchio, 209 memo, December 26, 1989.

  41. FBI wiretap transcript, Wimpy Boys social club, tape 42, April 7, 1986, and tape 52, April 18, 1986.

  42. Author’s interview with John Orena, February 7, 2008.

  43. DeVecchio, 209 memo, June 12, 1990.

  44. Frederick B. Lacey, “Opinion of the Independent Administrator,” August 20, 1990, http://irbcases.wrlc.org/bitstream/handle/38989/c01m37qvx/gwu_ibt_irb_case_00106_ia.pdf?sequence=1.

  45. FBI addendum, Criminal Investigative Division, September 16, 1991.

  46. Andrew Orena interview, January 13, 2012.

  47. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, Sessa testimony, 1390.

  48. Ibid., 1385.

  49. Ibid., 1392–93.

  50. R. Lindley DeVecchio, teletype from FBI New York Office to director, FBI, March 8, 1989, 5.

  51. Ibid., 6.

  52. Edwards interview, January 13, 2012.

  53. Tomlinson and Leadbetter II, FBI 302 memo re: Carmine Sessa, April 7–May 10, 1993.

  54. DeVecchio, 209 memo, June 5, 1991.

  55. U.S. v. Victor J. Orena, Ambrosino testimony, 886.

  56. Tomlinson and Leadbetter II, FBI 302 memo re: Carmine Sessa, April 7–May 10, 1993.

  57. U.S. v. Victor J. Orena, Ambrosino testimony, 849.

  58. Ibid., 885.

  59. Tomlinson and Leadbetter II, FBI 302 memo re: Carmine Sessa, May 13, 1993.

  60. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, Sessa testimony, 1397; Tomlinson and Leadbetter II, 302 memo, May 16, 1993: “SESSA and the others realized they had to kill ORENA before ORENA killed SESSA.”

  CHAPTER 25: PEARL HARBOR

  1. U.S. v. Victor Orena, testimony of Joseph Ambrosino, transcript, 886–87.

  2. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, testimony of Carmine Sessa, October 25, 2007, transcript, 1401.

  3. U.S. v. Victor Orena, Ambrosino testimony.

  4. Ibid., 888.

  5. U.S. v. Victor Orena, opening statement of Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Weissmann, November 19, 1992, transcript, 43.

  6. Special Agents Jeffrey W. Tomlinson and Howard Leadbetter II, FBI 302 memo re: Carmine Sessa, April 7–May 10, 1993, 2.

  7. Greg B. Smith, “Family Wants Retrial for ‘Different Man,’” New York Daily News, September 21, 2003.

  8. Tomlinson and Leadbetter II, FBI 302 memo re: Carmine Sessa, April 7–May 10, 1993, 2.

  9. Author’s interview with Victor M. Orena, February 8, 2007.

  10. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, Sessa testimony, 1399.

  11. Author’s interview with John Orena, February 7–8, 2007.

  12. Tomlinson and Leadbetter II, FBI 302 memo re: Carmine Sessa, April 7–May 10, 1993, 3.

  13. Ibid.

  14. Ibid., 2–3.

  15. Tomlinson and Leadbetter II, FBI 302 memo re: Carmine Sessa, May 13, 1993.

  16. U.S. v. Victor J. Orena, Weissmann opening statement, transcript, 43.

  17. Victor M. Orena interview.

  18. John Orena interview, February 7–8, 2007.

  19. U.S. v. Victor Orena, Ambrosino testimony, 896–97.

  20. R. Lindley DeVecchio, FBI 209 memo for Top Echelon (TE) informant designated “NY3461,” August 1991, 3.

  21. R. Lindley DeVecchio, 209 memo, July 8–August 13, 1991.

  22. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, testimony of Larry Mazza, October 18, 2007, transcript, 792.

  23. Ibid., 782–83.

  24. John Orena interview.

  25. Curtis Sliwa, interview with R. Lindley DeVecchio, WNYM Radio, May 10, 2011.

  26. Tomlinson and Leadbetter II, FBI 302 memo re: Carmine Sessa, May 17, 1993.

  27. Selwyn Raab, Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America’s Most Powerful Mafia Empires (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2005), 335.

  28. Author’s interview with Andrew Orena, January 13, 2012.

  29. DeVecchio, 209 memo, October 9, 1991.

  30. Ibid.

  31. “FBI: Gotti Missed Date with Draft Board,” Associated Press, March 28, 2004.

  32. DeVecchio, 209 memo, October 9, 1991.

  33. DeVecchio, 209 memo, November 4, 1991.

  34. Ibid.

  35. Interview with Victor M. Orena. In 1996, after being cleared in a 1995 racketeering trial, Victor M. Orena was serving four years for loan sharking. He was offered a chance to get out of prison by the Feds if he pleaded guilty to new charges that he tampered with a jury and conspired to murder Leale. (Helen Peterson, “Five-State Ban’s Part of Plea Deal,” New York Daily News, March 17, 1996.) “My brother was looking at many more years behind bars or a chance at freedom,” says Andrew Orena. “So he took the plea. But the Feds made it clear that if he hadn’t admitted to something in relation to Jack Leale they’d have thrown away the key. That’s how important it was for them to blame that murder on the Orenas.”

  36. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, testimony of Linda Schiro, October 29, 2007, transcript, 1662–63.

  37. Linda Schiro interview, I Married a Mobster, Investigation Discovery Channel, airdate December 3, 2011.

  38. Special Agents Jeffrey W. Tomlinson and Howard Leadbetter II, FBI 302 memo re: Larry Mazza, April 28, 1994, 6.

  39. Tomlinson and Leadbetter II, FBI 302 memo re: Carmine Sessa, May 17, 1993, 1–2.

  40. Special Agent Chris Favo, FBI 302 memo, November 16, 1995. Supervisory Special Agents R. Patrick Welch and Richard L. Lambert, 5.

  41. Special Agents Maryann Walker-Goldman and Christopher Favo, FBI 302 memo re: Larry Mazza, February 7, 1994. While Mazza also stated, per that 302, that Scarpa received information from a “source from the ORENA faction,” most of that FBI debriefing, including details that federal prosecutors later suggested DeVecchio had leaked, came from the source Mazza identified as the “Girlfriend.” That particular 302 memo became infamous as “the Girlfriend 302” when defense lawyers argued that it had been withheld by Assistant U.S. Attorney Valerie Caproni. For more on other leaks see: Letter from Assistant U.S. Attorney Ellen Corcella to defense counsel in U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., May 8, 1995, listing eight possible disclosures of FBI intelligence by SSA DeVecchio to Gregory Scarpa Sr. See Chapter 37, page 410.

  42. DeVecchio, FBI 209 memo, November 18, 1991.

  43. Schiro, I Married a Mobster.

  CHAPTER 26: GO OUT AND KILL SOMEBODY

  1. U.S. v. Victor Orena, testimony of Joseph Ambrosino, transcript, 910–12.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Special Agents Jeffrey W. Tomlinson and Howard Leadbetter II, FBI 302 memo re: Carmine S
essa, May 17, 1993.

  4. Ibid.

  5. George James, “Killing in Brooklyn Social Club Is Linked to Mob Power Struggle,” New York Times, December 6, 1991.

  6. Anne Murray and Karen Phillips, “Wrong Man Killed in Mob War: Cops,” New York Post, December 4, 1991.

  7. Tomlinson and Leadbetter, 302 memo, May 17, 1993.

  8. U.S. v. Victor Orena, Ambrosino testimony, 902.

  9. R. Lindley DeVecchio, FBI 209 memo for Top Echelon (TE) informant designated “NY3461,” November 25, 1991.

  10. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, testimony of Carmine Sessa, October 25, 2007, transcript, 1426.

  11. Richard Stratton, “The Grim Reaper’s Girlfriend,” Penthouse, August 1, 1996.

  12. Ibid.

  13. U.S. v. Victor Orena, Ambrosino testimony, 908.

  14. Jerry Capeci, “I Spy,” New York Daily News, October 19, 1998.

  15. U.S. v. Victor Orena, Ambrosino testimony.

  16. Jack B. Weinstein, judgment, memorandum, and order, U.S. v. Victor J. Orena and Pasquale Amato, March 10, 1997, 30–31.

  17. Author’s interview with former attorney for Gregory Scarpa, January 10, 2012.

  18. Tomlinson and Leadbetter II, FBI 302 memo re: Carmine Sessa, January 26, 1994, 1.

  19. Supervisory Special Agents Kevin P. Donovan and Robert J. O’Brien, FBI 302 memo re: Carmine Sessa, September 14, 1994.

  20. Special Agents David M. Parker and Robert J. O’Brien, FBI 302 memo re: Carmine Sessa, April 18, 1994, 6.

  21. Ibid., 3.

  22. U.S. v. Theodore Persico, testimony of Carmine Sessa, transcript, 2239–40.

  23. Parker and O’Brien, FBI 302 memo re: Carmine Sessa, May 31, 1994, 2.

  24. Author’s interview with Flora Edwards.

  25. James, “Killing in Brooklyn Social Club.”

  26. Murray and Phillips, “Wrong Man Killed.”

  27. Ibid.

  28. Ibid.

  29. James, “Killing in Brooklyn Social Club.”

  30. DeVecchio, 209 memo, December 5, 1991.

  31. Brad Hamilton, “My Life as a Colombo Hit Man,” New York Post, March 4, 2012.

  32. U.S. v. Theodore Persico, testimony of Larry Mazza, transcript, 3711.

  33. Hamilton, “My Life as a Colombo Hit Man.”

  34. Gregory Scarpa Sr., sworn affidavit, June 7, 1994; People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, testimony of Larry Mazza, October 18, 2007, 698.

  35. Lee A. Daniels, “Brooklyn Slaying Tied to Mob Feud,” New York Times, December 8, 1991.

  36. Ibid.

  37. Robert McFadden, “Brooklyn’s Mob War Interrupted with a Quiet Day in Court,” New York Times, December 17, 1991.

  38. Selwyn Raab, “Even to the 5 Families, the Fighting Colombos Have Been Black Sheep,” New York Times, December 10, 1991.

  39. Ibid.

  40. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, Sessa testimony, 1426.

  41. Author’s interview with Andrew Orena, January 23, 2012.

  42. U.S. v. Gregory Scarpa Sr., transcript of sentencing before Judge Jack B. Weinstein, December 15, 1993, 6; People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, Mazza testimony, 698. The three homicide charges to which Greg Scarpa Sr. pled guilty are those of Vincent Fusaro, Nicholas Grancio, and Larry Lampasi. Larry Mazza pled guilty to the murder of Gaetano Amato and implicated Scarpa in that crime as well. Scarpa is also linked to the March 1992 murders of John Minerva and Michael Imbergamo, which “34” attributed to Jo Jo and Chuckie Russo.

  43. Joseph A. Gambardello, “Colombo Family Has Bloody Past,” Newsday, December 17, 1991; Greg B. Smith, “Innocent Victim’s Dad Rages,” New York Daily News, September 4, 1995.

  44. George James, “Killing Is Tied to Mafia War in Brooklyn,” New York Times, December 9, 1991.

  45. Ibid.

  46. Patricia Hurtado, “3 Convicted in Mob-War Shootings,” Newsday, August 22, 1995.

  47. Jerry Capeci, “A Father’s Calm Gives Way at Trial of His Son’s Killer,” New York Daily News, August 2, 1995.

  48. Edward Doherty, “The Twilight of the Gangster,” Liberty, October 24, 1931, http://www.libertymagazine.com/crime_doherty.htm.

  49. 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), 213.

  50. Ibid., 310. In a conversation with his wife that DeVecchio describes, he writes, “There was no need to kill me anymore, just frame me a little better than Favo and Caproni had done.”

  51. Ibid., 213.

  52. Supervisory Special Agent R. Lindley DeVecchio and Special Agents Raymond Andjich and Jeffrey W. Tomlinson, FBI 302 memo, debriefing of Gregory Scarpa Sr., December 10, 1991.

  53. Special Agent Chris Favo and Supervisory Special Agents R. Patrick Welch and Richard L. Lambert, FBI 302 memo, November 16, 1995, 5; Chris Favo, sworn affidavit, July 7, 1995, 2.

  54. DeVecchio, 209 memo, December 11, 1991.

  55. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, Mazza testimony, 699.

  56. Selwyn Raab, Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America’s Most Powerful Mafia Empires (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2005), 338.

  57. DeVecchio, 209 memo, December 19, 1991.

  58. DeVecchio, 209 memo, December 30, 1991.

  CHAPTER 27: THE HIT ON NICKY BLACK

  1. Selwyn Raab, “Even to the 5 Families, the Fighting Colombos Have Been Black Sheep,” New York Times, December 10, 1991.

  2. Robert McFadden, “Brooklyn’s Mob War Interrupted with a Quiet Day in Court,” New York Times, December 17, 1991.

  3. Jack B. Weinstein, judgment, memorandum, and order, U.S. v. Victor J. Orena and Pasquale Amato, March 10, 1997, 7.

  4. Author’s interview with Detective Joseph Simone, NYPD (ret.), April 30, 2004.

  5. Amanita Duga, “Police Tie 2 Islanders to Organized Crime Family,” Staten Island Advance, December 17, 1991.

  6. R. Lindley DeVecchio, FBI 209 memo for Top Echelon (TE) informant designated “NY3461,” January 7, 1992.

  7. Simone interview, April 30, 2004.

  8. “4 Cops Catch 36-Time Rapist and 3 Communities Breathe a Sigh of Relief,” Kings Courier, October 5, 1981.

  9. Glenn Chapman, “Cops Arrest Leader of Alleged Drug Ring,” Staten Island Advance, January 30, 1985.

  10. Lee A. Daniels, “Brooklyn Slaying May Be 6th in Mob Families’ 2-Month Feud,” New York Times, January 8, 1992.

  11. Simone interview.

  12. Ibid.

  13. Author’s interview with Larry Mazza, January 8, 2013.

  14. Brad Hamilton, “My Life as a Colombo Hit Man,” New York Post, March 4, 2012.

  15. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, testimony of Larry Mazza, October 18, 2007, 710–12.

  16. Ibid.

  17. Mazza interview.

  18. Hamilton, “My Life as a Colombo Hit Man.”

  19. Author’s interview with Flora Edwards, April 27, 2004.

  20. U.S. v. Pasquale Amato and Victor Orena, hearing before Hon. Jack B. Weinstein, testimony of Stephen Dresch, January 7, 2004, transcript, 127–28.

  21. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, Mazza testimony, 114.

  22. Ibid., 113.

  23. Senior U.S. District Judge Frederic Block, memorandum and order,Maria Grancio v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, Christopher Favo and the United States of America, July 24, 2008.

  24. Ibid., 23.

  25. Ibid., 8, citing DeVecchio affidavit at paragraph 3.

  26. Ibid., citing Favo affidavit at paragraph 17.

  27. Ibid., section 26.

  28. Author’s interview with Flora Edwards, January 13, 2012.

  29. DeVecchio, 209 memo, January 7, 1992.

  30. Special Agent Chris Favo, February 6, 1994, 2. “Over the length of the war I began to withhold information concerning Gregory Scarpa or what could not be leaked to the media because I believe SSA DeVecchio was leaking information to both Scarpa and Jerry Capece [sic].”

  31. Author’s interview with Andrew Orena, January 2
3, 2012.

  32. U.S. v. William Cutolo et al., October 1994, transcript, 1286.

  33. Author’s interview with Flora Edwards, April 26, 2004.

  34. Larry Mazza affidavit, paragraph 8.

  35. Ibid., paragraph 9.

  36. Ibid., Judge Block, 25.

  37. Ibid., 22.

  38. DeVecchio, 209 memo, January 8, 1992.

  39. U.S. v. William Cutolo et al., October 1994, transcript, 660–61.

  40. Mazza interview.

  41. 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), 218.

  42. U.S. v. William Cutolo et al., 5035.

  43. U.S. v. Joseph Simone, transcript of cross-examination of Special Agent Lynn Smith, 665–69.

  CHAPTER 28: CLOSING AND REOPENING “34”

  1. U.S. v. William Cutolo et al., October 1994, transcript, 4271.

  2. Ibid., 5034–35.

  3. R. Lindley DeVecchio, FBI 209 memo for Top Echelon (TE) informant designated “NY3461,” January 24, 1992.

  4. Author’s interview with FBI Special Agent Dan Vogel (ret.), February 8, 2012.

  5. 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, 11–12.

  6. DeVecchio, 209 memo, January 24, 1992.

  7. U.S. v. William Cutolo et al., testimony of Sal Miciotta, transcript, 2420.

  8. R. Lindley DeVecchio, FBI 209 memo for Top Echelon (TE) informant designated “NY3461,” January 29, 1992.

  9. DeVecchio, 209 memo, January 24, 1992.

  10. U.S. v. Theodore Persico et al., Larry Mazza testimony, transcript, 3728–29.

  11. “Suspect Mob Capo, 51, Shot in Brooklyn,” New York Times, January 27, 1992.

  12. Erika Martinez, “Mob Eyed in Cop Slay—Colombo Big Was Widow’s Ex-Lover,” New York Post, August 26, 2002.

  13. U.S. v. Theodore Persico, Larry Mazza testimony, transcript, 3781–82.

  14. U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., testimony of Carmine Sessa, May 1995, transcript, 2301–2.

  15. U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., Special Agent Chris Favo testimony, transcript, 5161–84; Special Agent Chris Favo, FBI 302 memo, February 6, 1994, 3.

  16. Ibid.

  17. U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., transcript, 5184.

  18. Ibid., 5242.

  19. 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), 221.