Deal With the Devil: The FBI's Secret Thirty-Year Relationship With a Mafia Killer
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20. U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., transcript, 5152.
21. DeVecchio, 209 memo, February 25, 1992.
22. Victor J. Orena and Pasquale Amato v. U.S., hearing, March 3, 1997, transcript, 360–72.
23. Memorandum from special agent in charge, Organized Crime, to special agent in charge II, subject: NY: , February 27, 1992.
24. Memo from special agent in charge Donald North, Organized Crime, to special agent in charge II (copying Supervisory Special Agent R. Lindley DeVecchio), February 27, 1992.
25. Matthew Chayes, “People Still Nervous at Scene of Massapequa Killings,” Newsday, June 4, 2008.
26. DeVecchio, 209 memo, March 31, 1992.
27. Mitchell Maddux and Jeremy Olshan, “Mobster Admits Nun Slay, Fears He’ll Rot in Hell!,” New York Post, May 13, 2011.
28. Special Agents Jeffrey W. Tomlinson and Howard Leadbetter II, FBI 302 memo re: Carmine Sessa, June 1, 1993.
29. Pasquale Amato and Victor Orena v. U.S., hearing before Hon. Jack B. Weinstein, testimony of Gregory Scarpa Jr., January 7, 2004, transcript, 57–58.
30. Ibid.
31. In granting the new trial, the U.S. district court found: “Most significantly for purposes of this appeal, the 209s also revealed that, in discussions with the FBI, Scarpa had lied about or misrepresented his own involvement in several murders, which he either attributed to the ‘Persico faction’ without identifying himself as the member of the faction responsible for the murders or falsely attributed to someone else.” The Second Circuit citing the district court’s decision per Judge Charles P. Sifton, U.S. v. Russo, Russo and Monteleone, 257 F.3d 210, paragraph 18, http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/257/210/625356/#fn2.
32. U.S. v. Orena, 145 F.3d 551, 1998, http://174.123.24.242/leagle/xmlResult.aspx?page=6&xmldoc=1998696145F3d551_1629.xml&docbase=CSLWAR2-1986-2006&SizeDisp=7.
33. John Marzulli, “Colombo Crime Family Hit Man ‘Frankie Blue Eyes’ Sparaco Lied and Killed While FBI Informant,” New York Daily News, September 20, 2011.
34. Press release, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, “Colombo Organized Crime Family Acting Boss, Underboss, and Ten Other Members and Associates Indicted,” June 4, 2008, http://www.justice.gov/usao/nye/pr/2008/2008jun04.html.
35. Tom Hays, “Thomas Gioeli, Reputed NYC Mob Boss, Cleared of Killing Officer,” Associated Press, May 9, 2012.
36. DeVecchio, 209 memo, December 30, 1991.
37. Pasquale Amato and Victor Orena v. U.S., hearing before Hon. Jack B. Weinstein, January 7, 2004, transcript, 56.
38. DeVecchio and Brandt, We’re Going to Win This Thing, 223.
39. Joseph Gambardello and Patricia Hurtado, “FBI Guilty: Jury Finds Feds Fueled a Mob War,”Newsday, July 1, 1995.
40. Author’s interview with Andrew Orena, February 8, 2012.
41. Mary B. Tabor, “Man Accused as Colombo Chief Is Held in Slaying of Ex-Member,” New York Times, April 2, 1992.
42. U.S. v. Victor J. Orena, testimony of Special Agent Joseph Fanning, December 10, 1992, transcript, 2467–564.
43. FBI teletype RETEL from FBI New York Office to director, FBI, March 3, 1992.
44. FBI teletype from director, FBI, to FBI New York Office, April 2, 1992.
45. FBI teletype from FBI New York Office (R. Lindley DeVecchio) to director, FBI, April 2, 1992.
46. FBI teletype from director, FBI, to FBI New York Office, April 7, 1992.
47. Author’s interview with Flora Edwards, January 13, 2012.
48. Victor J. Orena and Pasquale Amato v. U.S. 2255, hearing before Judge Jack B. Weinstein, testimony of Special Agent Donald North, May 21, 1996, transcript, 371, 374.
49. Ibid., 376.
50. FBI teletype from director, FBI, to FBI New York Office, April 7, 1992.
51. Special Agent Chris Favo, sworn statement, July 7, 1995, 3.
52. FBI teletype from FBI New York Office (R. Lindley DeVecchio) to director, FBI, April 22, 1992.
53. Victor J. Orena and Pasquale Amato v. U.S. 2255, North testimony, 383.
54. Douglas Martin, “Donald V. North, 62, Leader in F.B.I.’s Fights Against Mafia, Is Dead,” New York Times, January 29, 2005.
55. DeVecchio and Brandt, We’re Going to Win This Thing, 226.
CHAPTER 29: WHO’S GOING TO WIN THIS THING?
1. Linda Stasi, “Show’s Finale Fires ‘Blanks,’” New York Post, June 11, 2007.
2. Nicholas Pileggi, “Mobsters at the Wheel,” New York, March 12, 1979.
3. Special Agents Jeffrey W. Tomlinson and Howard Leadbetter II, FBI 302 memo re: Carmine Sessa, May 29, 1993.
4. U.S. v. William Cutolo et al., testimony of Carmine Sessa, transcript, 795.
5. U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., testimony of Carmine Sessa, transcript, 2308–9.
6. Tomlinson and Leadbetter II, 302 memo, May 29, 1993.
7. Ibid.
8. Tom Robbins, “Tall Tales of a Mafia Mistress,” Village Voice, October 30, 2007.
9. U.S. v. Theodore Persico, testimony of Larry Mazza, transcript, 3788–89.
10. Tomlinson and Leadbetter II, 302 memo, May 29, 1993.
11. U.S. v. Theodore Persico, Mazza testimony, 3792–93.
12. Ibid. Pileggi wrote that “on December 13, 1973 Lampasi was shot during the Gallo-Colombo war by a couple of ski-masked hit men who had barged into a Bath Beach, Brooklyn hairstyling salon and opened fire.”
13. Tomlinson and Leadbetter II, 302 memo, May 29, 1993.
14. Author’s interview with Larry Mazza, January 8, 2013.
15. Author’s interview with Andrew Orena, January 13, 2012.
16. Dennis Hevesi, “7 Found Not Guilty in Plot Tied to a Mob Family Feud,” New York Times, July 1, 1995.
17. Special Agent Chris Favo, FBI 302 memo, February 6, 1994, 5.
18. U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., testimony of Chris Favo, transcript, 5209–10.
19. U.S. v. Theodore Persico, testimony of Joseph Ambrosino, transcript, 1115–18.
20. U.S. v. Victor M. Orena, testimony of R. Lindley DeVecchio, transcript, 93.
21. U.S. v. Victor J. Orena, testimony of Joseph Ambrosino, transcript, 923–24.
22. Ibid., 972.
23. U.S. v. Theodore Persico, Mazza testimony, 3845.
24. R. Lindley DeVecchio, FBI 209 memo for Top Echelon (TE) informant designated “NY3461,” November 17, 1992.
25. U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., Favo testimony, 5213.
26. Special Agents Jeffrey W. Tomlinson and Chris Favo, FBI 302 memo re: Joseph Ambrosino, April 25, 1994, 5.
27. U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., Favo testimony, 5181–83.
28. Ibid., 5152–53, 5181.
29. Ibid., 5214–15.
30. Ibid., 5273.
31. Ibid., 5182.
32. 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.
33. Special Agents Maryann Walker-Goldman and Chris Favo, FBI 302 memo, debriefing of Larry Mazza, February 7, 1994.
34. Special Agent Raymond Andjich, sworn statement, April 7, 1994, 2.
35. Ibid., 3.
36. U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., Favo testimony, 5216–17.
37. Special Agent Howard Leadbetter II, sworn statement, April 6, 1994, 3–4.
38. U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., Favo testimony, 5217.
39. U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., testimony of Howard Leadbetter II, transcript, 1291, 1328.
40. U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., Favo testimony, 5218.
41. Washington Square Post No. 1212 v. City of New York, 808 F. Supp. 264 (1992), http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=19921072808FSupp264_11045.xml&docbase=CSLWAR2-1986-2006.
42. U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., Favo testimony, 5187–89.
43. Statement of Assistant U.S. Attorney George Stamboulidi
s and Supervisory Special Agents Kevin P. Donovan and Robert J. O’Brien, FBI 302 memo, September 9, 1994, 3.
44. U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., Favo testimony, 5189, 5219–20.
45. Author’s interview with Flora Edwards, January 13, 2012.
46. U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., Favo testimony, 5185.
CHAPTER 30: SCARPA’S WAR
1. R. Lindley DeVecchio, FBI 209 memo for Top Echelon (TE) informant designated “NY3461,” July 9, 1992.
2. R. Lindley DeVecchio, FBI 209 memo for Top Echelon (TE) informant designated “NY3461,” July 13, 1992.
3. Special Agent Chris Favo, FBI 302 memo, November 15, 1995, 3.
4. 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; U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., transcript, 5171–75.
5. 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), 239–40.
6. Author’s interview with Andrew Orena, January 13, 2012.
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 i
n 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