Cosa Nostra News

Carmine J. Persico Jr., the legendary boss of the Colombo crime family who clung to power for decades from prison, including during a years-long mob war launched to oust him, was a top echelon FBI informant all along—if we are to believe a recent Daily News report that lifts the allegation from a decades old government document that was included in a recent compassionate release filing for Persico's chief rival during the Colombo war. Junior Persico died in prison in 2019. The document, from November 1971, mentions the FBI's Top Echelon Informant Program and lists four turncoat members of the Colombo crime family. One of the four is longtime Colombo boss Carmine Persico, according to  Daily News reporting by Larry McShane and Stephen Rex Brown . “The official boss of the Colombo family, on whose side (Greg) Scarpa (the Colombo capo/FBI informant) and (Roy Lindley) DeVecchio (Scarpa's FBI handler) were working, Carmine Persico, was himself, since decades earlier, in the gove...

Earlier this year, Linda Scarpa, daughter of Colombo mobster Greg Scarpa, appeared on Crime Watch Daily , a true-crime show about which we have written in the past , partly to promote her recent memoir. Cosa Nostra News contributor Nick Christophers described Linda Scarpa's book, The Mafia Hit Man's Daughter , as one of the "few books (that) have truly captured mob life" accurately. (See the story here .) Gregory Scarpa, known as "The Grim Reaper," was one of the most violent mobsters ever to strut through New York City's boroughs -- and the fact that he was a longtime high-echelon FBI informant only made him more dangerous. As noted in January of this year , a federal judge years ago had voiced his belief that Scarpa's former FBI agent handler Lindley DeVecchio was indeed guilty of passing on key intelligence to Scarpa, who then put it to use to murder mob rivals.

It is well known that Greg Scarpa Senior had been a turncoat since 1960 and that he provided law enforcement with all the dope he could muster on his enemies, rivals and even friends -- basically anyone but himself. Greg Scarpa did deep and lasting damage to most of the Five Families, as well as other crime families. We've written here, more than once, about his missions for the FBI, one of which involved him sallying south to help extinguish the Mississippi Burning problem . He went on other missions, too. Such complex duplicity requires a sharp mind and probably an intelligence level well above average.

Angela Clemente , a forensic analyst who spent the past 15 years researching the FBI's relationship with mob turncoats, told Cosa Nostra News that she's been able to prove that the FBI "positively" knew that two of its informants, Colombo capo Gregory "The Grim Reaper" Scarpa and soldier Frank "Frankie Blue Eyes" Sparaco, were committing murders while on the Feds' payroll. Angela Clemente Clemente knows this because the two ratted on each other. We spoke with Clemente after learning that she'd won her  second lawsuit  against the FBI. This time, the ruling regards the pace of access to classified documents regarding alleged systemic corruption between FBI agents and Scarpa, as well as other mob turncoats.

From  US News and World Report : Confidential informants give law enforcement and intelligence agencies insight into notoriously impenetrable organizations. But what is the cost of that access? In " Deal with the Devil: The FBI's Secret Thirty-Year Relationship with a Mafia Killer ," investigative reporter and former ABC correspondent Peter Lance exposes the questionable alliance between the bureau and Gregory Scarpa Sr., dubbed the "Grim Reaper." Using thousands of pages of previously secret law enforcement documents [Ed. note: Angela Clemente, forensic investigator, got these documents herself via the FOIA; I don't believe she is fairly credited for this act], Lance exposes the extent of Scarpa's crimes and the FBI's protection of him. Lance recently spoke to U.S. News about Scarpa's career, why the bureau protected both Scarpa and his FBI handler, and the consequences of that relationship. Excerpts:

From  Salon.com , an excerpt from "Deal with the Devil." Gregory Scarpa Sr. was a study in complication. A peacock dresser, he carried a wad of $5,000 in cash at all times. He wore a seven-carat pinky ring and a diamond-studded watch. He made millions from drug dealing, hijackings, loan sharking, high-end jewelry scores, bank heists, and stolen securities. He owned homes in Las Vegas, Brooklyn, Florida, and Staten Island, and a co-op apartment on Manhattan’s exclusive Sutton Place. He was the biggest trafficker in stolen credit cards in New York and ran an international auto theft ring. A single bank robbery by his notorious Bypass Gang on the July 4 weekend in 1974 netted $15 million in thirteen duffel bags full of cash and jewels. His sports betting operation made $2.5 million a year. His crew grossed $70,000 weekly in drug sales. And yet, fifteen years after becoming a “made” member of the Colombo crime family, while he was a senior capo, Scarpa was arrested for “pilf...

The Grim Reaper is back in the headlines, courtesy of Larry Mazza, who claims he had an affair with Scarpa's second wife, Linda Schiro, who inadvertently saved former FBI agent Lin DeVecchio when he was on trial. Greg Scarpa, feared Colombo enforcer , apparently had some pretty amazing secrets . Schiro was proven as unreliable on the witness stand by a team of reporters, Tom Robbins and Jerry Capeci. The two had been working on a book with Schiro earlier and had in their possession tape recordings of Schiro contradicting when she'd previously said about DeVecchio.