7/21/13

Goodfellas? Bedfellas.

The one night he’d spent in the joint facing armed robbery charges was life-changing. When Gregory walked out of jail on the 21st of March, 1962, he was a new man. That wasn’t to say that he’d turned over a new leaf and would walk the straight and narrow.  As a matter a fact, if anything, he would henceforth ply his trade with even more élan. What changed that morning was his status, for a deal was made with the devil. Just which side in the transaction played the role of Satan and which side lost its soul has still proven to be ambiguous.

Over the next thirty years, Gregory Scarpa “informed” - he informed the FBI - of plans and crimes and conspiracies, of conversations and rumors and goings-on among the Five Families of organized crime.  Gregory Scarpa also committed assault, supervised  bookmaking operations, hijacked trucks, trafficked in cocaine, loan-sharked, stole mail, laundered money, ran credit card scams, extorted, kidnapped, and tortured. And he personally murdered no less than a dozen people. From that day in 1962 when he was first “turned” until the very end of his long reign of terror in 1992, only when his behavior could no longer be hidden, Scarpa had spent a total of 30 days in jail. He had been known by other wise guys as the Grim Reaper; as the man who’d leave 666 as his calling card with his victims. And he’d collected over $150,000 in informant fees from his “handlers” while he was being protected.
One is naturally led to ask the question, like concerned citizen and freelance investigator Angela Clemente has done in a 300 page report to the Justice Department: Which is worse, a mafia that operates outside of the law or a government that knows no law?

8 comments:

td Whittle said...

This is a very compelling piece, Christopher. At what point do we say, this is the government colluding with the mafia? So, they never stopped Scarpa from carrying out his crimes, up to and including torture and murder. Did his informing lead to a breaking up of any of these rings? It does not sound as if that is what happened.

cyurkanin said...

No, his "information" seems to have been only incidental or even coincidental to the break-up of the Five Families. Much of the FBI's cases seem to have been fabricated anyway if you believe Angela Clemente's investigations, and I do. One of Scarpa's first "assignments" though was the torture of a KKK member into confessing to the murder of a business owner and the severe burning of his child back in 66. The precedent had already been set by the time that the FBI was actually giving HIM information to make hits.

The mafia has unfortunately been replaced today the government.

I need to focus away from the recent posts I've been doing and get back to some older ones that make my blood boil so much... :P HA!

cyurkanin said...

"by" the government.

And thanks for stopping by again, td, I appreciate it :)

td Whittle said...

Hey there, Christopher. Double, double, toil and trouble ... as they say in the classics. Plenty to get your blood boiling, that's for sure. Still, I am glad you can use your wrath to create fresh and enlightening writing :) Cheers.

Jocelyn M said...

Scary stuff, and so disturbing...

cyurkanin said...

Indeed, Jocelyn. I think I'll go back a few thousand years for next week's post :) Things were much safer and predictable back then... well, maybe not lol

cyurkanin said...

Speak of the devils: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/04/fbi-informant-crimes-report/2613305/

cyurkanin said...

And even more revolting: http://gizmodo.com/why-the-fbi-ran-a-child-porn-site-for-two-whole-weeks-510247728