Wow, Reverand Al is a complex guy - Underworld informant?

[flamingdem]

New York Magazine

Things Are Complicated for Reverend Al Sharpton

It is easy to forget that the Reverend Al Sharpton is a mere 59 years old. The man has been so vividly present in modern city history, in so many guises — James Brown protégé, Tawana Brawley provocateur, Bill de Blasio mayoral-campaign fulcrum, to name a few — that it sometimes feels as if Sharpton must be 159 years old.

Last Friday, between segments of his daily radio show and heading to One Police Plaza for a consultation about shop-and-frisk with Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, the Rev was talking to me about his friend the president. Barack Obama is coming to the city this Friday to address the annual convention of Sharpton’s National Action Network.

“This is the first civil rights group he’s addressing this year, and before we go into midterm election season,” the Rev said. “This is also going to be the first time he makes a major address in a city where de Blasio has made income inequality a big issue. A lot of things will be coming to a head — racial politics is not defined as it was 20 years ago. In that reshuffling, the president’s speech is going to have very serious ramifications.”

But now Sharpton’s imminent White House validation is competing for attention with a fascinating report in The Smoking Gun detailing his role as an FBI informant. The Rev’s impending grand triumph is sadly tarnished by the reminder of his wily gifts for self-preservation — right?
Not if you understand the core of the long-running Rev melodrama: Sharpton, for all his radical trappings, has always wanted to be a respected mainstream player. The hustling Harlem minister has long since gone Establishment. Most recently, the mayor leaned on Sharpton for help during the pre-K push, and Sharpton’s top lieutenant became First Lady Chirlane McCray’s chief of staff. GO TO LINK

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/04/things-are-complicated-for-reverend-al-sharpton.html?mid=facebook_nymag

[flamingdem]

1. Smoking Gun Article referred to: Al Sharpton's Secret Work As FBI Informant

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/investigation/al-sharpton-764312

-- snip

Genovese squad investigators--representing both the FBI and NYPD--recalled how Sharpton, now 59, deftly extracted information from wiseguys. In fact, one Gambino crime family figure became so comfortable with the protest leader that he spoke openly--during ten wired face-to-face meetings--about a wide range of mob business, from shylocking and extortions to death threats and the sanity of Vincent “Chin” Gigante, the Genovese boss who long feigned mental illness in a bid to deflect law enforcement scrutiny. As the mafioso expounded on these topics, Sharpton’s briefcase--a specially customized Hartmann model--recorded his every word.

Task force members, who were interviewed separately, spoke on the condition of anonymity when describing Sharpton’s work as an informant and the Genovese squad’s activities. Some of these investigators provided internal FBI documents to a reporter.

Records obtained by TSG show that information gathered by Sharpton was used by federal investigators to help secure court authorization to bug two Genovese family social clubs, including Gigante’s Greenwich Village headquarters, three autos used by crime family leaders, and more than a dozen phone lines. These listening devices and wiretaps were approved during the course of a major racketeering investigation targeting the Genovese family’s hierarchy.

A total of eight separate U.S. District Court judges--presiding in four federal jurisdictions--signed interception orders that were based on sworn FBI affidavits including information gathered by Sharpton. The phones bugged as a result of these court orders included two lines in Gigante’s Manhattan townhouse, the home phone of Genovese captain Dominick “Baldy Dom” Canterino, and the office lines of music industry power Morris Levy, a longtime Genovese family associate. The resulting surreptitious recordings were eventually used to help convict an assortment of Mafia members and associates.

--

While Sharpton’s acrimonious history with law enforcement--especially the NYPD--rankled some Genovese squad investigators, they nonetheless grudgingly acknowledged in interviews that the activist produced for those he would go on to frequently pillory. MORE AT LINK

[monmouth3]

2. Self Delete..

[rudolph the red]

3. He has managed to reform his life and his image, and I appluad him for that,

but he wasn't always a very good person.

[flamingdem]

5. I hope he writes an autobiography

now this is out in the open, whew

[rudolph the red]

7. I think that he already did

the current controversy stems from the fact that the official documents are contrary to his story. Basically, he claims that he went to the FBI because he was threatened. The docs at http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/investigation/al-sharpton-764312 indicate that he became an informant in order to avoid federal drug and tax charges. I hate to say it, but I'm inclined to believe the latter, I still have respect for the guy.

[Spazito]

9. He has written an autobiography, it is titled "Go and Tell Pharaoh"

and he recounted this story re FBI in his book, written in 1996.

[freshwest]

4. Another old speculation brought up by media to avoid the real issues. They won't cover NAN or Obama.

[flamingdem]

6. He looks good with this new information

so indirectly that helps NAN I suppose

[freshwest]

15. But I bet they won't report on NAN or PBO's words there. This is what they'l focus on. Thanks for

posting that Al believes that Obama will say something very relevant. I just don't see it getting any air time. This has the briefest bit of scandal attached to it, so they'll push this hard.

[Jamaal510]

10. Of course Megyn Kelly et al at FOX

have been all over this story, though, the past few days. A supposed straight, hard-hitting journalist like her only covers the important issues that matter, whether it's this or all 3 members of the New Black Panther Party at some polling place!

[freshwest]

14. Yes, this will be their replacement piece instead fo what Al expects to change views.

Fox either totally omits, edits the film clips or distorts any word Obama says or will say. And they're playing to the theme that Al is somehow involved in crime. SSDD. I haven't forgotten their full contempt for him, Jesse Jackson or other black leaders. It takes up airtime while the things that would help Americans will not be shown.

[badtoworse]

8. You forgot to mention Tawana Brawley

BTW, did he ever pay off Steven Pagones for the slander judgement?

[SummerSnow]

11. here it is..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Pagones

[badtoworse]

12. I know Pagones won. The question is whether Sharpton ever paid

I believe Mason and Maddox did pay.

[nomorenomore08]

13. K&R for an actual balanced view on the man. I have no strong opinion one way or the other

but his very name seems to make some (mostly white) people go apoplectic.

[840high]

16. I don't care for him because

he's not a peace maker.