"FORMER FAVE FBI STOOL PIGEON INDICTED. March 30, 2006. A former FBI agent whose reputation was considered unimpeachable by colleagues was indicted Thursday on four murder charges for allegedly providing inside information, who then ordered the kidnappings." The TV news story only reveals the tip of this scandal iceberg. For three decades, FBI agent Lindley DeVecchio had been gaining secret fame within the agency for his seemingly impeccable work as an undercover informant. His adroit use of his high-level contacts had led to more than 70 successful Mafia prosecutions and helped propel a young U.S. attorney named Rudolph Giuliani into the spotlight. After "Mr. Organized Crime" was exposed as an apparent accomplice to homicide, he was indicted. And then the cover-up began….
Deal with the Devil: The FBI's Secret Thirty-Year Relationship with a Mafia Killer
Narrated by Peter Lance
Peter LanceUnabridged — 19 hours, 54 minutes
Deal with the Devil: The FBI's Secret Thirty-Year Relationship with a Mafia Killer
Narrated by Peter Lance
Peter LanceUnabridged — 19 hours, 54 minutes
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Overview
From an award-winning investigative reporter: the shocking story of the mob killer who terrorized the streets of New York City for decades . . . while working for the FBI
In Deal with the Devil, five-time Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter Peter Lance draws on three decades of once-secret FBI files and exclusive new interviews to disclose the epic saga of Colombo family capo Gregory Scarpa Sr., who spent more than thirty years as a paid Top Echelon FBI informant while wreaking havoc as a drug dealer, loan shark, bank robber, hijacker, high-end securities thief-and killer.
A Mafia capo who "stopped counting" after fifty murders-earning nicknames including "the Grim Reaper" and "the Killing Machine"-Greg Scarpa was enlisted by the FBI as early as 1960. His detailed debriefings on Mafia practices and activities went straight to J. Edgar Hoover and revealed the structure of Cosa Nostra long before the celebrated Valachi hearings. In forty-two years of murder and racketeering, Scarpa served only thirty days in jail, thanks to his secret relationship with the Feds. But Scarpa's most deadly reign of terror came in the period from 1980 to 1992, when more than half his homicides occurred-even as Scarpa was serving as a paid informant under Supervisory Special Agent R. Lindley DeVecchio, who ran two organized crime squads in the FBI's New York Office.
The celebrated case agent on the 1985-1986 Mafia Commission prosecution, DeVecchio had persuaded Scarpa to return to the fold as an informant, under laws that explicitly forbid organized crime insiders from committing murder or other crimes while receiving compensation from the Bureau. And yet, drawing on secret memos that went to every FBI director from Hoover to Louis Freeh, Lance documents that Scarpa not only continued his violent rampage during these years, but actually launched a new war for control of the Colombo crime family-a conflict that left fourteen dead and dozens injured.
Before he died of AIDS, contracted through a tainted blood transfusion, Scarpa committed or ordered twenty-six murders-including the violent rubout of his own brother Sal in 1987 and the drive-by slaying of his nephew Gus Farace, which triggered a five-hundred-agent manhunt-all while serving as an informant for Lin DeVecchio. When DeVecchio himself was indicted on four counts of murder in 2007, Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes called the case "the most stunning example of official corruption . . . I have ever seen." Yet the murder charges against DeVecchio were dismissed a short time later-even as a New York State Supreme Court judge described the FBI's association with Scarpa as a "deal with the devil."
After the case's abrupt dismissal, Lance started peeling back the layers on what defense attorneys called Scarpa's "unholy alliance" with the FBI. Through exclusive interviews with Scarpa's son Greg Jr. and former Lucchese boss Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, among others, as well as more than 1,150 pages of confidential briefing memos, many revealed here for the first time, Lance traces links between the Scarpa case, the infamous Mafia Cops case, and more.
Written with the same astounding capacity for penetrating criminal networks that marked Lance's previous books, Deal with the Devil is a page-turning work of investigative journalism that reads like a Scorsese film.
Editorial Reviews
When do the crimes of a Mafia informant outweigh the benefits of his cooperation with law enforcement? Lance’s thrilling account of the murderous career of Greg Scarpa Sr. engages with that complex question and makes a convincing case that the cost of utilizing the “Grim Reaper” was far too high. Among the numerous revelations that Lance’s dogged research turns up is that Scarpa actually provided the FBI with its first insider look at the Cosa Nostra, years before Joe Valachi did the same. The mobster’s relationship with the Bureau began in 1960, during the reign of J. Edgar Hoover, and his contributions ranged from outing notorious wiseguys to strategically providing misinformation and helping solve a civil rights murder case that required dubious investigative tactics. But his handlers had to intervene time and again to spare Scarpa from the consequences of his crimes—despite evidence of his role in at least 25 murders, he spent only 30 days in prison. Lance, a five-time Emmy Award–winning ABC News correspondent, also examines the equally dramatic case of one of Scarpa’s FBI handlers, Lin DeVecchio, who was accused of aiding his informant in multiple murders. This scrupulously investigated tale (Lance pored over more than 1,150 pages of previously secret FBI files) will have true crime fans on the edge of their seats. Photos & appendices. (July)
Deal with the Devil is a blistering account of a cunning and brutal Mafia capo. . . Packed with revelations, it offers the most penetrating look into the inner workings of the Mafia since The Valachi Papers.” — Nicholas Gage
“[A] thrilling account. . . This scrupulously investigated tale. . . will have true crime fans on the edge of their seats — Publishers Weekly, starred review
“A meticulously researched and frightening account of the long term relationship between the FBI and vicious Mafia thug Gregory Scarpa Sr. . . Stunning revelations.”” — Booklist
“An exhaustive examination into the life and crimes of Mafia capo Gregory Scarpa Sr. and his questionable decades long relationship with the FBI. . . extensively researched. . .Aficionados of Mafia history and those concerned with FBI corruption will find this thorough investigation satisfying.” — Kirkus Reviews
“The perfect mix of thorough research and gripping storytelling.” — NPR
“An impressive piece of work. . . This is a book that has true potential to change history.” — Crimespree Magazine
The perfect mix of thorough research and gripping storytelling.
Deal with the Devil is a blistering account of a cunning and brutal Mafia capo. . . Packed with revelations, it offers the most penetrating look into the inner workings of the Mafia since The Valachi Papers.
An impressive piece of work. . . This is a book that has true potential to change history.
A meticulously researched and frightening account of the long term relationship between the FBI and vicious Mafia thug Gregory Scarpa Sr. . . Stunning revelations.”
A meticulously researched and frightening account of the long term relationship between the FBI and vicious Mafia thug Gregory Scarpa Sr. . . Stunning revelations.”
ABC news correspondent Lance (Triple Cross: How bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets, and the FBI, 2009) delivers an exhaustive examination into the life and crimes of Mafia capo Gregory Scarpa Sr. and his questionable decadeslong relationship with the FBI. The author reveals that Scarpa, a notoriously violent killer, received tens of thousands of dollars from the FBI for feeding them information that would help indict several of his rival gangsters. Yet despite his claims that he had killed more than 50 people, Scarpa never spent more than 30 days in jail. In addition, writes Lance, Scarpa was known to J. Edgar Hoover and was recruited to assist the Feds when their methods failed--most notably, in the "interrogation" of a Mississippi Ku Klux Klan member who was involved in the murder of three civil rights workers in 1964. But Lance is most interested in the relationship that developed between Scarpa and his handler, Agent Lindley DeVecchio. He asserts that over many years, DeVecchio supplied classified information to Scarpa, which in turn led to the deaths of several of Scarpa's adversaries. DeVecchio was eventually indicted on multiple counts of murder, although the case was dropped before the trial concluded. Lance delves into the details of the trial through newly released court records to prove DeVecchio's involvement in Scarpa's nefarious activities. The book is extensively researched, using personal interviews, letters, court documents and declassified FBI files. At more than 600 pages, it could use some editing, however, especially toward the end, when Lance attempts to connect the story of Scarpa and DeVecchio to larger issues of international terrorism. It's often difficult--if not downright overwhelming--to keep track of the many players in this story, but aficionados of Mafia history and those concerned with FBI corruption will find this thorough investigation satisfying.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940169847116 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins |
| Publication date: | 07/02/2013 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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