Ex-FBI Agent Indicted in Mob Killings

[UpInArms]

http://wokv.com/common/ap/2006/03/30/D8GM4UOG1.html

NEW YORK (AP) -- A retired FBI agent was indicted on murder charges Thursday for allegedly taking bribes from a mobster to supply him with inside information that led to four underworld slayings in Brooklyn.

R. Lindley DeVecchio, 65, was arrested in a case of "confidential leaks, payoffs and death" dating back two decades, District Attorney Charles Hynes said.

DeVecchio pleaded not guilty and was released on $1 million bail. He did not speak at his arraignment. One of the two alleged mob hitmen behind the slayings was jailed without bail. The other was in Florida, awaiting extradition.

<snip>

The pair met each week during the 1980s and '90s and discussed a bloody civil war within the Colombo family. In exchange for bribes, DeVecchio "counseled Scarpa to protect himself by eliminating imminent threats," Hynes said.

In 1984, DeVecchio allegedly warned Scarpa that the girlfriend of a high-ranking Colombo figure was cooperating with federal authorities. As a result, authorities say, she was shot and killed in a Brooklyn social club _ a pattern prosecutors said was repeated in three slayings of Scarpa rivals, the last one in 1992.

Scarpa gave DeVecchio weekly payments and also enhanced the agent's reputation within the FBI by helping him solve important cases, Hynes said.

...more...

some history:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/3/44753/54107

Fri Feb 03, 2006 at 02:47:53 AM PDT

Ok pop quiz time. Who said this about George W. Bush in December 2001?

'This is not a monarchy...We've got a dictatorial president and a Justice Department that does not want Congress involved. ... Your guy's acting like he's king.''

I'll give you a hint: it wasn't a liberal, a Democrat, a peace activist, an anti-war protester or Fidel Castro.
Soj's diary :: ::

Give up? It was actually Republican Congressman Dan Burton. And he wasn't alone. Republican Congressman LaTourette called Bush's actions a bunch of crap. Democratic Representative Henry Waxman said:

<snip>

In December 2001, the House Government Reform Committee was reviewing a number of old cases, some of which dealt with the FBI's actions in Boston over the past 40 years. From 1960-1995, the FBI had an extremely close relationship to a mob being operated in Boston called the Winter Hill Gang. The FBI had two "confidential informants" named James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi. The FBI protected these two men from prosecution even as they continued to operate their criminal enterprises, including killing rivals.

Perhaps the FBI's most egregious actions were letting Joseph Salvati spend 30 years in prison for a murder committed in 1965. Salvati was released when a judge ruled that the FBI hid testimony that would've cleared Salvati because the FBI wanted to protect their informants. The murder of a gangster named John B. Callahan went unsolved also because of alleged FBI actions to protect their informants. An FBI agent named James Connolly Jr. was accused of tipping off his informants like Flemmi before impending arrests.

...more...

[Johnyawl]

1. jaysus, it sounds like a plot line for the 'Sopranos'

[paulthompson]

2. Believe it or not...

This case is actually tied up with 9/11 and the crash of TWA Flight 800. Check out Peter Lance's book Cover Up for an explanation. The mob murderer Gregory Scarpa Sr. has a son named Gregory Scarpa Jr. who had a jail cell next to WTC bomber Ramzi Yousef and the two of them got to be friends and sharing secrets. It gets complicated from there, but very interesting.

[UpInArms]

3. thanks for that -

I had no idea that this somehow/someway/somewhere would be tangled in that - I only knew that *Co called for "executive privilege".

Should have flagged me, that.