Deal with the Devil

by Peter Lance

  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 November 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.

  40. FBI 302 debriefing of El Sayyid Nosair, December 20, 2005. It can be accessed at http://www.scribd.com/doc/35687185/FBI-302-El-Sayyid-Nosair-12-20-05.

  41. Robert L. Jackson and Gebe Martinez, “Key Suspect Is Charged in N.Y. Bombing,” Los Angeles Times, March 26, 1993.

  42. Tabor, “Inquiry into Slaying of Sheikh’s Confidant.”

  43. FBI 302, debriefing of Jamal al-Fadl, a.k.a. Gamal Ahmed Mohamed Al-Fedel, on November 4 and 5, 1996, dictated November 11, 1996. It can be accessed at http://www.peterlance.com/FBI_302_11.10.96_Jamal_al-Fadl_Fitzgerald.pdf.

  44. Peter Lance, “First Blood: Was Meir Kahane’s Murder al-Qaida’s Earliest Attack on U.S. Soil?” Tablet, September 1, 2010.

  45. Detective Michael Hanratty, Detective Thomas Bidell, and Special Agent Frank Pellegrino, FBI 302 memo, debriefing of Nidal Ayyad, February 8, 2006, 3–4.

  46. E-mail from author to Jerry Schmetterer, January 31, 2011.

  47. E-mail from Jerry Schmetterer to author, February 1, 2011.

  48. George Santayana, The Life of Reason: Reason in Common Sense (Boston: MIT Press, 2011).

  49. Sara Lynch and Oren Dorell, “Deadly Embassy Attacks Were Days in the Making,” USA Today, September 12, 2012.

  50. FBI 302 memo detailing threat from Ramzi Yousef to FBI informant Greg Scarpa Jr., December 30, 1996; Presidential Daily Brief to President Clinton, 1998; Presidential Daily Brief to President Bush, August 6, 2001.

  51. “Radical Muslim ‘Demands’ Have Foundation and History,” Agence France Press, August 10, 1998.

  52. U.S. v. Ahmed Abdel Sattar et al., April 30, 2002.

  53. “Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US,” Presidential Daily Brief, August 6, 2001, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bin_Ladin_Determined_To_Strike_in_USa>.

  54. Neil A. Lewis, “Moussaoui Tells Court He’s Guilty of a Terror Plot,”New York Times, April 23, 2005.

  55. Richard Esposito, “Terror Fears as Blind Sheikh Faces ‘Medical Emergency,’” ABC News, December 14, 2006.

  56. Ibid.

  57. Author’s interview with Emad Salem, June 16, 2012.

  58. Robert Mackey, “Just Off Tahrir Square, Protesters Demand Release of Blind Sheikh Jailed in U.S.,” New York Times, June 29, 2012.

  59. Salem interview, June 16, 2012.

  60. David D. Kirkpatrick, “Egypt’s New Leader Takes Oath, Promising to Work for Release of Jailed Terrorist,” New York Times, June 29, 2012.

  61. Josh Margolin and Chuck Barrett, “O Eyes ‘Blind Sheik’ Release. GOPers Blast Idea to Appease Egypt,” New York Post, September 20, 2012; Awr Hawkins, “U.S. State Dept. Considers Release Blind Sheikh to Egypt,” Breitbart.com, September 18, 2012; Michael B. Mukasey, “Will Obama Free the Blind Sheikh?,” Wall Street Journal, September 24, 2012; Letter to Eric H. Holder and Hillary Rodham Clinton from Representatives Lamar Smith, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Mike Rogers, Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, Peter King, Hal Rogers, Frank Wolf, and Kay Granger, September 19, 2012.

  62. “Clinton Says Trial Proceedings for ‘Blind Sheikh’ Were Correct,” Egypt Independent, July 2, 2012.

  63. “Bachmann-Clinton Showdown over Blind Sheikh,” Frontpagemag.com, September 21, 2012.

  64. Nic Robertson and Paul Cruickshank, “Pro al-Qaeda Group Seen Behind Deadly Benghazi Attack,” CNN.com, September 13, 2012.

  65. Salem interview, June 16, 2012.

  66. Chelsea J. Carter, “Al Qaeda Leader Calls for Kidnapping of Westerners,” CNN.com, October 28, 2012.

  67. The list can be downloaded from http://www.peterlance.com/172_unindicted_co-conspirators_Day_of_Terror.pdf.

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

  69. Peter Lance, “Al Qaeda and the Mob: How the FBI Blew It on 9/11,” Huffington Post, November 17, 2006.

  70. Robert Hanley and Jonathan Miller, “4 Transcripts Are Released in Case Tied to 9/11 Hijackers,” New York Times, June 25, 2003.

  71. David K. Shipler, “Terrorist Plots, Hatched by the F.B.I.” New York Times, April 28, 2012.

  72. Trever Aaronson, The Terror Factory: Inside The FBI’s Manufactured War on Terrorism (Brooklyn, New York: Ig publishing, 2013), 15.

  73. Al Baker, “Unexploded Car Bomb Left Trove of Evidence,” New York Times, May 3, 2010.

  74. William K. Rashbaum and Al Baker, “Smoking Car to Arrest in 53 Hours,” New York Times, May 4, 2010.

  75. James Barron and Michael S. Schmidt, “From Suburban Father to a Terrorism Suspect,” New York Times, May 4, 2010.

  76. Sarah Titterton “Boston Marathon Bombs: Tamerlan Tsarnaev ‘interviewed by FBI in 2011,’” Telegraph.co.uk, April 20, 2013.

  77. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), statement before the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, Hearing: “A National Security Crisis: Foreign Language Capabilities in the Federal Government,” Senate Committee on Homeland Security, May 21, 2012.

  78. E-mail exchange between author and Betsy R. Glick, FBI, November 13, 2012.

  79. Eric Schmitt, “F.B.I. Agents’ Role Is Transformed by Terror Fight,” New York Times, August 18, 2009.

  80. William K. Rashbaum, “Nearly 125 Arrested in Sweeping Mob Roundup,” New York Times, January 20, 2001.

  81. “Indictments Unsealed Against 127 Accused Mobsters in Epic FBI Bust,” WNBC, January 20, 2011.

  82. Ibid.

  83. “Indictments Unsealed.”

  84. Rashbaum, “Nearly 125 Arrested in Sweeping Mob Roundup.”

  85. “Indictments Unsealed.”

  86. Bernd Debusmann Jr., “U.S. Arrests 119 in Biggest Mafia Bust,” Reuters, January 20, 2011.

  87. Ed Magnuson, “Hitting the Mafia,” Time, September 29, 1986.

  88. Ibid.

  89. Tim Stelloh, “Two Are Cleared in ’97 Killing of an Officer but Convicted of Plotting Mob Murders,” New York Times, May 9, 2012.

  90. Michael Wilson and William K. Rashbaum, “11 Years After Officer’s Slaying, Reputed Mob Figures Are Indicted,” New York Times, December 18, 2008.

  91. Alan Feuer, “Awaiting a Burial, This Time an Actual One,” New York Times, October 8, 2008.

  92. “Body Identified as Missing Mobster’s,” New York Times, October 7, 2008.

  93. Department of Justice, “Colombo Organized Crime Family Acting Boss, Underboss, and Ten Other Members and Associates Indicted,” press release, June 4, 2008.

  94. Tom Hays, “Thomas Gioeli, Reputed NYC Mob Boss, Cleared of Killing Officer,” Associated Press, May 9, 2012.

  95. Author’s interview with Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Shaffer, September 30, 2012.

  96. “COI
NTELPRO: The FBI’s Covert Action Programs Against American Citizens,” Final Report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, United States Senate, April 23, 1976, http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/churchfinalreportIIIa.htm.

  97. Ibid.

  98. Ibid.

  99. John M. Crewdson, “F.B.I.

  Reportedly Harassed Radicals After Spy Program,” New York Times, March 23, 1975.

  100. John M. Crewdson, “Saxbe Says Top Officials Knew Something of F.B.I. Drive on Various Groups,” New York Times, November 19, 1974.

  101. Seymour Hersh, “Huge C.I.A. Operation Reported in U.S. Against Antiwar Forces, Other Dissidents in Nixon Years,” New York Times, December 22, 1974.

  102. “The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Compliance with the Attorney General’s Investigative Guidelines ,” Special Report Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice, September 2005.

  103. “Attorney General’s Guidelines on FBI Use of Informants and Confidential Sources” (hereafter “Civiletti Informant Guidelines”) can be found at 1982 Final Report of the Senate Select Committee to Study Undercover Activities, 517–30.

  104. The Levi Guidelines can be found at “FBI Statutory Charter: Hearings Before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 95th Cong, Part I,” 20–26 (1978) (hereafter “1978 Senate Hearings on FBI Statutory Charter Part I”) and in “FBI Oversight: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights of the House Judiciary Committee on the Judiciary,” 95th Cong., 181–87 (1978).

  105. “Civiletti Informant Guidelines,” 1982 Final Report of the Senate Select Committee to Study Undercover Activities, 517–30.

  106. 1979–1980 House FBI Charter Bill Hearings 3–15 (Testimony of Benjamin R. Civiletti, Attorney General, and William Webster, FBI Director). The Senate’s bill was S. 1612, The Federal Bureau of Investigation Charter Act of 1979, 96th Cong. (1979), reprinted in FBI Charter Act of 1979, S. 1612: Hearings on S. 1612 Before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 96th Cong., Part II, 427 (1980). Section 537 of the bill authorized the FBI director to impose fines up to $5,000 on agents who willfully abused “sensitive investigative techniques,” which included misuse of informants or intrusive surveillance authorities. Id. at 469.