Deal with the Devil: The FBI's Secret Thirty-Year Relationship with a Mafia Killer
The use of criminals as paid informants is always a dicey proposition, and it becomes especially risky and morally ambiguous as law-enforcement officials move up the criminal food chain to try to nail organized-crime figures. Lance, a former correspondent for ABC News, illustrates this point in a meticulously researched and frightening account of the long-term relationship between the FBI and vicious Mafia thug Gregory Scarpa Sr., who liked to be called “the Killing Machine.” Helped by the often unwitting cover provided by his FBI handlers, Scarpa continued his criminal activities, including drug dealing, robbery, and multiple Mob hits. He was also a master manipulator of his Mafia colleagues, managing to avoid detection and helping to instigate factional violence among them. In return, Scarpa provided a steady stream of information to the FBI, including outlining the command structure of Mafia families. After these stunning revelations, readers must ask if the information was worth the carnage that Scarpa continued to inflict. --Jay Freeman