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

by Peter Lance

  84. Charles Sweeney, “Author/Reporter, Former Prosecutor, Testify in Hearing on Ex-FBI Agent’s Murder Indictment,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 13, 2007.

  85. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, Kastigar hearing, testimony of Noel Downey, August 8, 2007, 75–78.

  86. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, Kastigar hearing, testimony of Peter Lance, August 12, 2007, 270.

  87. Ibid., 304.

  88. Jerry Capeci, “Gaffe Benches G-Man Prosecutors,” New York Sun, September 6, 2007.

  89. Ibid.

  90. Edwards interview, November 3, 2011.

  91. Author’s interview with Anthony Casso, September 23, 2011.

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

  93. Alice McQuillan, “Prosecution: Retired FBI Agent Involved with Murder, Robbery, Prostitution,” WNBC.com, October 1, 2007.

  94. “Former ‘Radical’ Judge Presides over Former FBI Agent’s Trial.”

  CHAPTER 41: AGENT OF DEATH

  1. Alex Ginsburg, “Mob Mirth at Moll’s Slay,” New York Post, October 16, 2007.

  2. Steve Dunleavy, “Dirt Bag Is Grime of Century,” New York Post, October 16, 2007.

  3. Lester Holt, “Son of Sam 35 Years Later,” NBC Nightly News, http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/43956634#43956634.

  4. Scott Shifrel, “Celebrated Cop Laughs Off Memo Alleging Mafia Ties,” New York Daily News, October 27, 2007.

  5. Ibid.

  6. Author’s interview with NYPD detective Joe Coffey (ret.), February 13, 2010.

  7. Michael Brick, “On Trial, Ex-FBI Agent Faces Years of Scrutiny over Mob Killings,” New York Times, October 16, 2007; Ginnine Fried LinkedIn profile, http://www.linkedin.com/pub/ginnine-fried/3/b64/83a.

  8. Jim Dwyer, “Gustin Reichbach, Judge with a Radical History, Dies at 65,” New York Times, July 17, 2012.

  9. Fredric Dannen, “The G-Man and the Hit Man,” New Yorker, December 16, 1996.

  10. 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), 68.

  11. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, transcript, 4–5.

  12. Ibid., 5.

  13. Ibid., 15–16.

  14. Ibid., 19.

  15. Ibid., 24.

  16. Ibid., 31.

  17. Ibid., 35.

  18. Ibid., 36–37.

  19. Ibid., 38–39.

  20. Ibid., 40.

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

  22. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 69.

  23. Press release, Kings County district attorney, March 30, 2006, transcript of press conference in which DA Hynes repeated that allegation; Michael Brick, “Ex-FBI Agent’s Murder Trial Fizzles, as Does Chief Witness,”New York Times, November 1, 2007.

  24. Heidi Singer and Alex Ginsberg, “Mob-Busting Prober Quits Brooklyn DA,” New York Post, May 25, 2007.

  25. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 70.

  26. Ibid., 188.

  27. Ibid., 190.

  28. Ibid., 422.

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

  30. Ibid., 275.

  31. Ibid., 277.

  32. Special Agent Raymond Andjich, sworn statement, April 7, 1994, 3.

  33. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 297.

  34. Ibid., 307.

  35. Andjich, sworn statement, 6.

  36. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 333.

  37. Ibid., 370.

  38. Special Agent Jeffrey W. Tomlinson, sworn affidavit, April 7, 1994, 8–9.

  39. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 412–13.

  40. Tomlinson, sworn affidavit, April 7, 1994, 8.

  41. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 433.

  42. Author’s interview with Tommy Dades, November 12, 2007.

  43. U.S. v. William Cutolo et al., testimony of Detective Pat Maggiore, October 1994, transcript, 4271.

  44. Andrew Orena interview.

  45. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 473.

  46. Ibid., 480.

  47. Ibid., 502.

  48. Chris Favo, sworn statement, July 7, 1995, 3.

  49. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 505.

  50. Ibid., 525.

  51. Ibid.

  52. Ibid., 588.

  53. Ibid., 611.

  54. Scott Shifrel, “Mob Killer Becomes a Crybaby: Weepy Testimony of His Lost Life and Murderous Boss,” New York Daily News, October 19, 2007.

  55. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 716.

  56. Ibid., 714.

  57. Ibid., 774.

  58. Ibid., 777.

  59. Ibid., 1646.

  60. Ibid., 1648.

  61. Ibid., 1650.

  62. Ibid.

  63. Ibid., 1651.

  64. Ibid., 1655.

  65. Ibid., 1658.

  66. Priscilla Beaulieu Presley and Sandra Harmon, Elvis and Me (New York: Penguin, 1986).

  67. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 1709–14.

  68. Special Agent Chris Favo, FBI 302 memo, February 6, 1994, 7.

  69. Ibid.

  70. Jerry Capeci, “Ex-FBI Agent Probed in Mob Hits,”New York Sun, January 12, 2006.

  71. Matt Nestel and Alex Ginsberg, “DA Played ‘Dumb D-Dum Dumb,’” New York Post, November 3, 2007.

  72. “Ex-Newser Fights FBI-Mole Case Subpoena,” New York Daily News, August 2, 2007.

  73. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, 1716–17.

  74. Ibid.

  75. Ibid., 1820–22.

  76. Ibid., 1847.

  77. Ibid., 1848.

  78. Author’s interview with Mike Vecchione, October 30, 2007.

  CHAPTER 42: G-MAN STICKS IT TO DA

  1. Tom Robbins, “Tall Tales of a Mafia Mistress,” Village Voice, October 30, 2007.

  2. William Rashbaum, “F.B.I. Colleagues Help Ex-Agent Post Bail,” New York Times, March 31, 2006.

  3. Jerry Capeci, “G-Man Wins: Tapes Foil Mob Moll,” New York Sun, November 1, 2007.

  4. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 15, 2007, transcript, 2001–2002.

  5. Ibid., 2007.

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

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

  8. Michael Brick, “Ex-F.B.I. Agent’s Murder Trial Fizzles, as Does Chief Witness,” New York Times, November 1, 2007.

  9. Alex Ginsberg, “DeVecchio Off Hook,” New York Post, October 31, 2007.

  10. Alex Ginsberg, “Moll Rat Is a Tape Worm,” New York Post, November 2, 2007.

  11. Scott Shifrel, William Sherman, and Helen Kennedy, “Tapes Show Mob Moll Made It Up,” New York Daily News, November 1, 2007.

  12. Capeci, “G-Man Wins.”

  13. Alex Ginsberg, “Up Yours: G-Man Sticks It to DA with Toast at Mob-Slay Site,” New York Post, November 2, 2007.

  14. Scott Shifrel, “Ex-News Reporters Step Forward with Crucial Recordings,” New York Daily News, November 1, 2007.

  15. Alex Ginsberg, “Moll Tape a Real Killer,” New York Post, November 1, 2007: “Sources familiar with the tapes said Schiro specifically says DeVecchio had nothing to do with the 1987 murder of Scarpa protégé-gone-bad Joseph ‘Joe Brewster’ DeDomenico”; Shifrel, Sherman, and Kennedy, “Tapes Show Mob Moll Made It Up”: “Testimony of Linda Schiro implicated Lindley DeVecchio in four mob hits. But a 1997 taped interview she gave to reporters Jerry Capeci and Tom Robbins contradicted her claims in three cases, [including] the 1987 murder of Colombo soldier Joe DeDomenico.”

  16. Capeci, “G-Man Wins.”

  17. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, testimony of Linda Schiro, October 29, 2007, transcript, 1615.

  18. Ibid., 1617.

  19. Ibid., 1630.

  20. Supervisory Special Agen
ts Kevin P. Donovan and Robert J. O’Brien, FBI 302 memo, William Meli, June 13, 1994, 6.

  21. Robbins, “Tall Tales.”

  22. Al Guarte, “FBI Big Shots Knew Mob Rat Killed His Rivals,” New York Post, March 1, 1977; U.S. v. Michael Sessa, testimony of R. Lindley DeVecchio, November 2, 1992, transcript, 118–19.

  23. “Transcript from Linda Schiro’s Conversations with Reporters,” New York Daily News, November 2, 2007, http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/transcript-linda-schiro-conversations-reporters-article-1.256537.

  24. Ibid.

  25. Shifrel, Sherman, and Kennedy, “Tapes Show Moll Made It Up.”

  26. Scott Shifrel, “Special Prosecutor Appointed to Probe Linda Schiro Perjury Charge,” New York Daily News, November 8, 2007.

  27. Bob Garfield, “The Fed, the Mobster, the Mistress and the Reporter,” OntheMedia.org, November 2, 2007, http://www.onthemedia.org/2007/nov/02/the-fed-the-mobster-the-mistress-and-the-reporter/transcript/.

  28. Andrew Orena interview, January 13, 2012.

  29. Frank Lombardi and Tracy O’Connor, “Hynes Is Having Second Thoughts on Botched Case,” New York Daily News, November 2, 2007.

  30. Michael Brick, “How the Murder Case Against a Former F.B.I. Supervisor Collapsed,” New York Times, November 2, 2007.

  31. Matt Nestel and Alex Ginsberg, “DA Played ‘Dumb D-Dum Dumb,’” New York Post, November 3, 2007.

  32. Jerry Capeci, “Cop Still Treading Hot Water,” New York Daily News, November 8, 1994.

  33. Scott Shifrel, “Ex-News Reporters Step Forward with Crucial Recordings,” New York Daily News, November 1, 2007.

  34. Author’s interview with James Whalen, May 19, 2011.

  35. Michael Daly, “For a Victim’s Family It’s the Cruelest Halloween Trick,” New York Daily News, November 1, 2007.

  36. Gustin Reichbach, decision and order of dismissal, People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, November 1, 2007, http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/reichbach.pdf. See Appendix H.

  37. Ginsberg, “Up Yours.”

  38. Curtis Sliwa, interview with R. Lindley DeVecchio, Curtis Sliwa in the Morning, Radio AM 970 (Hasbrouck Heights, NJ), May 10, 2011.

  39. Judge Leslie Crocker Snyder (ret.), “Report of the Special District Attorney in the Matter of the Investigation of Linda Schiro,” October 22, 2008.

  40. Ibid.

  41. Warden Robert A. Hood, letter to the author, July 6, 2004.

  42. Warden Robert A. Hood, letter to the author, August 10, 2004.

  43. Sandra Harmon,Mafia Son: The Scarpa Mob Family, the FBI, and a Story of Betrayal (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2009).

  44. Author’s interview with Gregory Scarpa Jr., April 9, 2012.

  CHAPTER 43: THE SON ALSO RISES

  1. U.S. v. Gregory Scarpa Jr., trial testimony, October 13, 1988; U.S. v. Gregory Scarpa Jr., sealed affirmation, April 29, 1999; sworn affidavit, March 1, 2002; affidavit in support of the petitioner’s motion for the appointment of counsel, May 9, 2002; affidavit of Gregory Scarpa Jr. sworn before a notary at the ADX Florence prison, July 30, 2002; Pasquale Amato and Victor Orena v. U.S., hearing before Judge Jack B. Weinstein, testimony of Gregory Scarpa Jr., January 7, 2004.

  2. Author’s interview with Gregory Scarpa Jr., March 28, 2012.

  3. R. Lindley DeVecchio, FBI 209 memo for Top Echelon (TE) informant designated “NY3461,” July 1, 1980, 2–3: “SOURCE WAS CLOSED BY COMMUNICATION DATED MAY 5, 1975. IT IS NOTED THAT APPROXIMATELY SIX MONTHS HAVE BEEN REQUIRED TO DISCREETLY RE-CONTACT THE SOURCE AND TO PURSUADE [sic] HIM TO RESUME FURNISHING INFORMATION WHICH IS OF EXTREMELY HIGH QUALITY AND UNOBTAINABLE FROM ANY OTHER CURRENT NYO SOURCE.”

  4. Author’s interview with Gregory Scarpa Jr., April 3, 2012.

  5. Memorandum from special agent in charge, FBI New York Office, to director, FBI. Subject: Gregory Scarpa. Top Echelon (TE) Criminal Informant Program, New York Division, November 24, 1967, 7.

  6. Sworn affidavit of Gregory Scarpa Jr., March 1, 2002, 2.

  7. Author’s interview with Gregory Scarpa Jr., April 6, 2012.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Scarpa affidavit, March 1, 2002.

  10. Scarpa interview, April 3, 2012.

  11. Author’s interview of Gregory Scarpa Jr., April 9, 2012.

  12. “Edward R. Korman,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_R._Korman.

  13. 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. See Chapter 37, p. 410.

  14. Author’s interview of Gregory Scarpa Jr., June 4, 2012.

  AFTERWORD

  1. Jack Shafer, “Who Said it First? Journalism Is the ‘First Rough Draft of History,’” Slate.com, August 30, 2010.

  2. James Risen, “Traces of Terror: The Intelligence Reports; Sept. 11 Suspect May Be Relative of ’93 Plot Leader,” New York Times, June 5, 2002.

  3. Peter Lance, 1000 Years for Revenge: International Terrorism and the FBI: The Untold Story (New York: ReganBooks, 2003), 232–302. The book’s thirty-two-page illustrated timeline documents how both attacks on the Twin Towers were bankrolled by al-Qaeda, http://www.peterlance.com/1000_Years_Timeline.pdf.

  4. Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, Staff Statement 15, “Overview of the Enemy,” 5.

  5. Patrick Fitzgerald interview, transcript, Inside 9/11, Towers Productions Inc./National Geographic Channel, airdate August 22, 2005.

  6. Benjamin Weiser, “In Federal Court, a Docket Number for Global Terror,” New York Times, April 10, 2011.

  7. Ibid.

  8. “New York Terrorism Indictments,” New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/04/11/nyregion/20110411-indict-docs.html?ref=n?yregion.

  9. U.S. v. Omar Abdel Rahman et al., S5 93 Cr. 191 (MBM), February 7, 1995.

  10. John Kinfer, “Police Say Kahane Suspect Took Anti-Depressant Drugs,” New York Times, November 9, 1990.

  11. Peter Lance, Triple Cross: How Bin Laden’s Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets, and the FBI (New York: Harper, 2009).

  12. Author’s interview with FBI Special Agent Jack Cloonan (ret.), for Triple Cross, June 1, 2006.

  13. U.S. v. Ali Mohamed, S(7) 98CR.1023 (LBS) Sealed Complaint, September 1998. Affidavit of Daniel Coleman, FBI Special Agent, bin Laden unit New York Office. The complaint can be downloaded as a pdf from http://www.peterlance.com/Ali_Mohamed_Coleman_affidavit_9_98.pdf.

  14. U.S. v. Ali Mohamed, S(7) 98 Cr. 1023 (LBS), transcript of plea session, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, October 20, 2000.

  15. Joseph P. Fried, “Sheik Sentenced to Life in Prison in Bombing Plot,” New York Times, January 18, 1996.

  16. Questions about the Sheikh’s U.S. entry surfaced publicly in early 1993 and continued throughout the year following the bombing of the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993, and the Sheikh’s surrender to federal agents on July 3, 1993. Chris Hedges, “A Cry of Islamic Fury, Taped in Brooklyn for Cairo,” New York Times, January 7, 1993; Timothy Carney and Mansoor Ijaz, “Intelligence Failure? Let’s Go Back to Sudan,” Washington Post, June 30, 2002; James C. McKinley Jr., “Islamic Leader on U.S. Terrorist List in Brooklyn,” New York Times, December 16, 1990; James Risen, “Case of Spy in Anti-Terrorist Mission Points Up CIA’s Perils,” Los Angeles Times, February 11, 1996.

  17. Mary B. W. Tabor, “Slaying in Brooklyn Linked to Militants,” New York Times, April 11, 1993.

  18. Steven Emerson, American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us (New York: Free Press, 2002), 128–130.

  19. “Profile: Al-Kifah Refugee Center,” History Commons, http://www.history commons.org/entity.jsp?entity=al-kifah_refugee_center.

  20. “Meir Kahane,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meir_Kahane.

  21. FBI 302 memo on the contents seized from Nosair’s house on Novem
ber 8, 1990. The 302 was originally dated November 13, 1990.

  22. Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, The Age of Sacred Terror (New York: Random House, 2002), 6.

  23. Ralph Blumenthal, “Clues Hinting at Terror Ring Were Ignored,” New York Times, August 27, 1993.

  24. Joint Inquiry Statement of Staff Director Eleanor Hill, October 8, 2002; Greg B. Smith, “Bin Laden Bankrolled Kahane Killer Defense,” New York Daily News, October 9, 2002.

  25. Jailan Halawai, “Jihad Implicated in U.S. Embassy Bombings,”Al Ahram Weekly, May 27–June 2, 1999.

  26. Jim Dwyer, David Kocieniewski, Deidre Murphy, and Peg Tyre, Two Seconds Under the World (New York: Crown, 1994), 151.

  27. Hedges, “A Cry of Islamic Fury.”

  28. Interview with Tommy Corrigan, NYPD-JTTF (ret.), for Triple Cross documentary, June 13, 2006.

  29. Dwyer, Kocieniewski, Murphy, and Tyre, Two Seconds Under the World.

  30. Tabor, “Slaying in Brooklyn Linked to Militants.”

  31. Peter Lance, “The Spy Who Came in for the Heat,” Playboy, September 2010. A PDF of the article can be accessed at http://www.peterlance.com/wordpress/?p=99.

  32. U.S. v. Mohammed A. Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Mahmoud Abouhalima, also known as Mahmoud Abu Halima, Ahmad Mohammad Ajaj, also known as Khurram Khan, Defendants-Appellants, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, Bilal Alkaisi, also known as Bilal Elqisi, Abdul Rahman Yasin, also known as Aboud, Defendants nos. 94-1312 to 94-1315, argued Dec. 18 and 19, 1997–August 04, 1998.

  33. It was played during an interview with Salem on Fox News, August 13, 2010, and can be accessed at http://peterlance.com/wordpress/?p=803.

  34. Joseph P. Fried, “Sheikh and 9 Followers Guilty of a Conspiracy of Terrorism,” New York Times, October 2, 1995; Mary B. W. Tabor, “Transcript of Tapes Reveals Sheik Talked of Merits of Bomb Targets,”New York Times, August 4, 1993.

  35. Tabor, “Slaying in Brooklyn Linked to Militants.”

  36. Mary B. W. Tabor, “Inquiry into Slaying of Sheikh’s Confidant Appears Open,” New York Times, November 23, 1993.

  37. Ralph Blumenthal, “Suspect in Blast Believed to Be in Pakistan,” New York Times, March 18, 1993.

  38. Author’s interview with confidential FBI source, July 31, 2010.

  39. The first two pages of Ayyad’s confession can be downloaded from http://www.peterlance.com/FBI_302_Nidal_Ayyad_Shalabi_murder_12_28_05.pdf.