by Peter Lance
Now it is done—twice the size of the book that I had contracted for, and much more of an audit of the FBI’s organized crime history than I ever envisioned. I had set out to write a simple “true crime” book on the DeVecchio trial and I’ve finished with a book that I trust will change much of the conventional wisdom about the FBI’s multidecade war with what Lin calls “the Mafia enemy.”
As it goes to press this book runs more than 210,000 words. It contains more than 2,000 endnote annotations, twenty pages of documentary appendices, and almost 130 illustrations. Getting a book of this magnitude published requires an editor and a production team of immense dedication. Fortunately for me, the man directing that effort is Cal Morgan.
This is my fourth book with Cal. We started together in the trenches with 1000 Years for Revenge when he was the top executive for ReganBooks, Judith Regan’s extraordinarily successful imprint for HarperCollins. Along the way Cal saw Cover Up and Triple Cross through to publication. He took great care during the re-vetting process of the latter to ensure that the trade paperback, which ran twenty-six additional pages, was a cut above the hardcover edition.
Because of his talent and tenacity he has now advanced within the company to the point where he is editorial director of Harper Perennial, oversees Harper Design, and was named publisher of his own imprint, It Books. To have a publishing executive with Cal’s immense skill as the editor of a book like Deal with the Devil is a gift for which I’m deeply appreciative.
There is another man of letters deserving of great thanks in my investigation of the Scarpa-DeVecchio story, and that’s Fredric Dannen, who published the seminal piece on their alleged “unholy alliance” in the New Yorker on December 16, 1996. Even to this day “The G-Man and the Hit Man” remains the gold standard when it comes to reporting on this story, and Fred was incredibly generous to me during my research phase, giving me access to hundreds of pages from his extraordinary Scarpa-DeVecchio files.
I want to thank my daughter Mallory Lance, who graduated from Barnard College at Columbia University in 2011. That summer, when I faced the challenge of organizing more than twenty thousand pages of disparate files into a coherent series of three-ring binders, she flew to Santa Barbara, where I work, and spent weeks with me putting together a system that allowed me to access any given FBI 209 or 302 in a matter of seconds. If Mallory had not devoted the time she did to helping me, this book would not have come together as it has. I am extremely proud of her, as I am of her brother Christopher and her sister Alison.
I’d also like to thank Cal Morgan’s two assistants, Brittany Hamblin and Kathleen Baumer, who have shown tireless dedication—Brittany particularly during the publication of the trade paperback of Triple Cross, and Kathleen now on this book.
I owe a great debt of gratitude to Beth Silfin, the vice president and deputy general counsel for HarperCollins, who has shown great courage and determination over many years in supporting me with these books that have been highly critical of the FBI.
When it comes to the latest reporting I’ve been able to do on Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, whose position as the spiritual emir of al-Qaeda continues to wreak havoc worldwide, I have to thank the amazing Emad Salem. After I had written about his role in convicting the Blind Sheikh in both 1000 Years for Revenge and Triple Cross, he reached out to me after years in the WITSEC program. When we finally met in New York and I visited him in the state where he lives with his family under an assumed name, I was struck by the fact that he is a man of deep Islamic conviction who is also one of the most tolerant people I’ve ever encountered. Emad has a great love for America, his newfound country, and would be a tremendous asset to the FBI if they hired him formally to advise on the radical jihadist mind-set.
He’s done a number of lectures for agents at Quantico in the past, but the Bureau has vastly underutilized this patriot and natural born undercover operative. Emad risked his life multiple times to enter what he called the “nest of vipers” surrounding Omar Abdel Rahman back in New York in the early 1990s, and he is willing to put his life on the line again if it means protecting this country. If the violence in the Middle East linked to the Blind Sheikh continues, the top executives in the Bureau should be speed-dialing him. I’m proud to say that Emad and I have become close friends and I am in his debt.
Further, a particular thank-you goes to Detective James Moss of Brooklyn South Homicide, who is now retired. “Jimmy,” as he calls himself, is a larger-than-life personification of all that we hope an NYPD murder cop will be: clever, resourceful, undaunted by bureaucracy, and dedicated to bringing those who take human life to justice. Without his belief in Emad Salem and his willingness to work with an investigative reporter, the bloody twenty-year-old Shalabi murder would have stayed a cold case.
I owe another debt to Don Katich, Director of News Operations for the Santa Barbara News-Press, the local paper here in my adopted hometown, who has supervised three separate investigative series I’ve written on local corruption. Don and City Editor Scott Steepleton are two of the gutsiest editors I’ve ever worked with, and they represent the best in local journalism at a time when newspapers are an endangered species.
In the course of reporting one of those series, relating to an allegedly corrupt police officer, I had the benefit of working with James Blanco, one of the foremost handwriting experts in the nation. He was entirely unselfish in offering months of his time in the pursuit of the truth and I have rarely worked with a more consummate professional.
Finally, I’d like to thank Darryl Genis, a tenacious lawyer in Santa Barbara who not only “had my back” for many months in 2011 as I investigated the Santa Barbara Police Department, but also helped me get one of the most important interviews for the book. I’ll always be grateful for his sharp legal mind and fearlessness as a litigator.
Peter Lance
Santa Barbara, California
April 23, 2013
www.peterlance.com
Appendix A:
The Principal Figures
Joseph Profaci
Joseph Colombo
Carmine Persico
Joseph Gallo
Greg Scarpa Sr., 1976
(Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office)
Greg Scarpa Sr., 1992
Lin DeVecchio, 1980s
(Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office)
Lin DeVecchio, 2006
(Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office)
Larry Mazza, 2006
Linda Schiro, 1990
Linda Schiro, 2007
(Peter Lance)
Little Linda, 2007
(Peter Lance)
Appendix B:
The Marriage Certificate of Gregory Scarpa and Lili Dajani
The 1975 marriage license of Gregory Scarpa and Lili Dajani; her new address in the apartment Scarpa owned on Sutton Place in Manhattan was typed at the top
(Fred Dannen)
Appendix C:
Gregory Scarpa Sr.’s Arrest Record
No.
Date
Charge
Disposition
1
September 1, 1950
Possession of a firearm
Case dismissed
2
December 5, 1950
Possession of a firearm
Case dismissed
3
October 7, 1959
Incitement of a breach of peace
Acquitted
4
March 7, 1960
Theft of an interstate shipment
Case dismissed April 3, 1961
5
April 28, 1960
Possession of stolen goods
Case dismissed March 28, 1963
6
January 7, 1961
Consorting with thieves & criminals
Unknown
7
January 20, 1962
Bookmaking
Unknown
8
September 18, 1962
> Possession of Policy Slips
Unknown
9
September 25, 1964
Vagrancy
Unknown
10
November 3, 1965
Pilfering coins from a pay phone
Dismissed
11
January 31, 1968
Second-degree assault
Case dismissed
12
February 23, 1968
Second-degree assault
Unknown
3
October 8, 1969
Attempted grand larceny; hijacking 870 cases of J&B
Case dismissed
14
November 4, 1971
Possession of stolen mail, $450,000 in securities
Case dismissed
15
June 7, 1974
Interstate transport and sale, $4 million in IBM stock certificates
Case dismissed
16
March 11, 1976
Gambling
Unknown
17
May 9, 1978
Attempted bribery of police officers
Guilty plea, served 30 days
18
November 5, 1985
Purchase of counterfeit credit cards
Plea bargain, $10,000 fine, five-year suspended sentence
19
August 31, 1992
Possession of a firearm
House arrest
20
August 1992
Homicide (three counts)
Guilty plea
December 1993
Sentenced to 10 years, $200,000 fine
June 8, 1994
Dies in prison of AIDS
Appendix D:
June 18, 1962, Airtel to J. Edgar Hoover Debriefing Gregory Scarpa Sr.
(Peter Lance)
Appendix E:
The “Girlfriend 302”
(Peter Lance)
Appendix F:
302 from Scarpa Jr.’s Sting of Ramzi Yousef
(Peter Lance)
Appendix G:
Ramzi Yousef’s “Kite” from the Scarpa Jr.–Yousef Sting
(Peter Lance)
Appendix H:
Judge Reichbach’s Decision and Order Dismissing the DeVecchio Case
(Peter Lance)
NOTES
EPIGRAPHS
1. FBI wiretap transcript, Wimpy Boys social club, tape 42, April 7, 1986; tape 52, April 18, 1986.
2. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, testimony of Larry Mazza, October 18, 2007; Alex Ginsberg, “Hit Man for Mob Lost Count of Corpses,” New York Post, October 19, 2007.
3. 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.
4. Ibid., 119.
5. U.S. v. Victor M. Orena et al., testimony of Special Agent Chris Favo, transcript, 5209–10.
6. Kings County District Attorney, press release, 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.
7. Alex Ginsberg, “Up Yours: G-Man Sticks It to DA with Toast at Mob-Slay Site,” New York Post, November 2, 2007.
8. Gustin Reichbach, decision and order of dismissal, People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, November 1, 2007, http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/reichbach.pdf.
INTRODUCTION
1. Selwyn Raab, “The Mobster Was a Mole for the FBI: Tangled Life of a Mafia Figure Who Died of AIDS Is Exposed,” New York Times, November 20, 1994.
2. Brad Hamilton, “My Life as a Colombo Hit Man,” New York Post, March 4, 2012.
3. Letter from Edward A. McDonald, attorney in charge, U.S. Department of Justice Organized Crime Strike Force, EDNY, to Hon. I. Leo Glasser, July 22, 1986.
4. Memo: Debriefing of Robert “Rabbit” Stasio, May 16, 1996.
5. John Kroger, Convictions (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2008), 133; U.S. v. Gregory Scarpa Jr., Second Circuit Court of Appeals, 897 F2d 63, February 23, 1990.
6. Memo from special agent in charge, FBI New York Office, to director, FBI, January 20, 1966.
7. Memo from special agent in charge, FBI New York Office, to director, FBI, November 21, 1961.
8. Anthony Villano with Gerald Astor, Brick Agent: Inside the Mafia for the FBI (New York: Quadrangle, 1977), 97.
9. Richard Stratton, “The Grim Reaper’s Girlfriend,”Penthouse, August 1, 1996.
10. U.S. v. Victor Orena, testimony of Joseph Ambrosino, transcript, 975–76.
11. Joseph Gambardello and Patricia Hurtado, “Black Eye for the FBI: 7 Acquitted in Mob Case,”Newsday, July 1, 1995.
12. Alex Ginsberg, “‘95 Words May Save ‘Mob’ Fed,” New York Post, February 12, 2007.
13. Brad Hamilton, “Mafia Daughter Says Dad Was Grim Reaper,” New York Post, May 27, 2012.
14. Gregory Scarpa v. Victory Memorial Hospital, deposition transcript, March 1, 1988, 5–7.
15. Gregory Scarpa Jr. v. U.S., 2255, petition, sworn affidavit of Connie Scarpa, May 15, 2002.
16. Author’s interview with Linda Schiro, November 3, 2007. N.B. Throughout the book, Scarpa Sr.’s relationship with Linda Schiro is described as “common law.” While strictly speaking, that legal definition does not exist in the state of New York, it is included because Scarpa Sr. repeatedly referred to Ms. Schiro as his “wife” and she referred to him as her “husband.”
17. “Hadassah Events Fete Miss Israel,” Long Beach Press Telegram, August 1, 1960.
18. Gregory Scarpa and Lili Dajani, marriage certificate, state of Nevada, February 2, 1975. See Appendix B.
19. Jerry Capeci, “Ex-FBI Agent Is Probed in Murder of a Doctor,” New York Sun, April 27, 2006.
20. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, October 19, 2007, transcript, 714–40.
21. Jerry Capeci, “10-Yr Prison Term for Mob Turncoat,” New York Daily News, August 10, 1998.
22. Greg B. Smith and Jerry Capeci, “Mob, Mole & Murder,” New York Daily News, October 31, 1994.
23. Jerry Capeci, “No Tipping the Capo to Legendary Mobster,” New York Daily News, June 14, 1994.
24. Alex Ginsberg, “Hit Man Lost Count on Corpses,” New York Post, October 19, 2007.
25. People v. R. Lindley DeVecchio, testimony of Larry Mazza, October 18, 2007, transcript, 714.
26. Author’s interview with Little Linda Schiro, December 3, 2011.
27. Hamilton, “Mafia Daughter Says.”
28. Ibid.
29. Lee A. Daniels, “Brooklyn Slaying Tied to Mob Feud,” New York Times, December 8, 1991.
30. George James, “Killing in Brooklyn Social Club Is Linked to Mob Power Struggle,” New York Times, December 6, 1991.
31. Author’s interview with Larry Mazza, January 8, 2013.
32. Lee A. Daniels, “Brooklyn Slaying May Be 6th in Mob Families’ 2-Month Feud,” New York Times, January 8, 1992.
33. Special Agent Howard Leadbetter II, FBI 302 memo on confession of William Meli, January 21, 1994, 1–2; Jerry Capeci, “Mob’s Man Saved by the Cell,” New York Daily News, June 14, 1995.
34. Raab, “The Mobster Was a Mole for the FBI.”
35. Capeci, “No Tipping the Capo to Legendary Mobster.”
36. Joseph Randazzo, a twenty-one-year-old associate of Scarpa’s son Joey, died after being struck by one of sixteen bullets fired in the exchange by Ronald “Messy Marvin” Moran. The former crack dealer, who became a government witness, pleaded guilty to the Randazzo murder in 1997. In Brooklyn federal court in December 1997, Moran testified about the Scarpa gun battle. “I had no bullets left in the gun,” he said. “I was trying to . . . run in the house and he [Scarpa] was just waving his gun around, shooting it.” Helen Peterson, “Feds Have New Canary,” New York Daily News, December 21, 1997.
37. Hamilton, “Mafia Daughter Says.”
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br /> 38. Bob Drury, “Mafia Mole,” Playboy, January 1997.
39. Ibid.
40. Memo from special agent in charge, FBI New York Office, to director, FBI, June 18, 1962, 2.
41. R. Lindley DeVecchio, FBI 209 memo for Top Echelon (TE) informant designated “NY3461,” January 24, 1992.
42. Memo from special agent in charge, FBI New York Office, to director, FBI. Subject: Gregory Scarpa Top Echelon Criminal Informant Program, New York Division, November 3, 1970, 4.
43. Memo from special agent in charge, FBI New York Office, to director, FBI. Subject: Gregory Scarpa Top Echelon Criminal Informant Program, New York Division, September 2, 1971.
44. Memo from special agent in charge, FBI New York Office, to director, FBI. Subject: Gregory Scarpa Top Echelon Criminal Informant Program, New York Division, June 29, 1971; memo from special agent in charge, FBI New York Office, to director, FBI. Subject: Gregory Scarpa Top Echelon Criminal Informant Program, New York Division, September 2, 1971.
45. Memo from special agent in charge, FBI New York Office, to director, FBI. Subject: Gregory Scarpa Top Echelon Criminal Informant Program New York Division, July 25, 1972.