FBI Agent "Got People Killed," Judge Says

A federal judge voiced his belief that the former FBI agent who was Greg Scarpa Senior's handler had indeed passed on intel that resulted in murders.

Judge Korman

Judge Edward Korman’s words were recently uncovered in a 2012 transcript of a court case related to Gregory Scarpa Jr. The judge was referring to murders that were part of the early 1990s Colombo crime family war.

“It was my view and remains my view that Lin DeVecchio provided information to Scarpa that got people killed,” Korman said, according to the transcript. 

“I found it pretty outrageous and the bottom line was, of course, nothing happened to Lin DeVecchio. He was permitted to retire and in his retirement was actually doing background checks for the (FBI),” the judge said.



Scarpa Jr. was seeking a reduction of his racketeering sentence as a reward for helping the feds find explosives hidden in the home of Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols, as noted back in August, when Scarpa Junior had been moved to a reentry facility in Kansas City, Kansas. See judge's ruling on Scarpa's sentence reduction.

Korman suggested that the government opposed the motion because the FBI might still have a grudge against Scarpa for his willingness to testify against former agent Lindley DeVeccchio.

DeVecchio was accused of helping Scarpa’s father, also named Greg, who was a capo and also a mob rat, kill rivals during the Colombo family civil war.

The Brooklyn district attorney’s case against DeVecchio fell apart mid-trial when a key prosecution witness was seemingly contradicted based on recordings presented to the court, dramatically, just as Scarpa Junior was poised to testify. Jerry Capeci and Tom Robbins later published Mob Boss

Aside from Scarpa Junior's information regarding terrorists, his father did a lot of damage to the mob itself. 

Although Scarpa Senior's information was self-serving and not always accurate he did provide intelligence that later led to convictions of top-ranking mobsters, primarily in New York but also in Philadelphia. His information also helped take down the historic boss of the Pennsylvania's crime family, Russell Bufalino

Scarpa Senior helped facilitate the Commission Case, as well as the concrete club and windows cases; he identified where the true power was in one crime family, filled in the FBI about many Colombo family social clubs (except Wimpy Boys, no doubt), helped put bugs on ranking guys in three crime families--and even gave up members of his own crew. 

Scarpa stimulated both the Commission Case and the Concrete Club Case when, in 1983, he gave the FBI revealing intel regarding two mobsters involved in a multi-family extortion and bid rigging scheme that tucked a 2% surcharge into the mob's coffers for each Manhattan construction project that ran beyond $2 million. 

He ratted out Colombo soldier Ralph Scopo, then president of the powerful cement workers union, which was charged with being the racket's muscle in the event the mob tax was not paid. 

In September 1983, Scarpa described Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno as “one of the most powerful men in that family.” In fact, he even gave up the Genovese family's entire "hide the boss" strategy in 1984, only the Feds somehow didn't pay attention or didn't believe him. 



Scarpa told them Gigante was boss, but they still went after Fat Tony.




About three years before Salerno was convicted in the Commission case for being the boss of the Genovese family, Scarpa revealed that the real boss of that family was actually Vincent "The Chin" Gigante. 

Scarpa also provided enough fodder for the Feds to install bugs and wiretaps in Brooklyn and Manhattan that led to a series of prosecutions ofleaders of the Colombo, Luchese and Genovese crime families. 

In late 1983, Scarpa also revealed that mob associate Peter Savino was “involved in a bid-rigging scheme” involving the installation of storm windows in city housing units. This was an entire six years before the feds indicted Gigante and bosses of three other families in the “Windows Case,” which caused so much mayhem and bloodshed, at least for the Luchese family, which was under the new management of Vittorio "Vic" Amuso and Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso

Scarpa knew plenty beyond the boroughs of New York. 

He gave information about the 1980 murder of Philadelphia boss Angelo Bruno, which would later be confirmed by additional sources. He fueled the eventual conviction of Russell Bufalino, aka "McGee" and "The Old Man" (September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1994) and also the boss of the Northeastern Pennsylvania crime family from 1959 to 1989. 

Scarpa even gave up the guys in his own crew. He provided details about the social clubs where the Colombo gangsters hung out, including boss Carmine "The Snake" Persico and a man who needs no introduction: John "Sonny" Franzese, going so far as to draw a sketch of the interior of one club. 






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