The Grim Reaper #90 Wiseguy Series

Podcast: Raider-Cop Nation

Date:June 5, 2019

Episode#90

Subject:The Grim Reaper, Wiseguy Series

Host: Alpha Mike

Mafia Quote: “I want to kill this degenerate bastard brother of yours. But I am not selfish, I do not want to deprive you of that honor.”  William Balsamo

Introduction: Alpha Mike, welcomes the audience to another episode, this time to, Gregory "The Grim Reaper" Scarpa

Main Topic: How, "The Grim Reaper" went up the ranks of the mob and worked with the FBI for 30 years. When all was said and done, "the Grim Reaper" took out over 100 bodies, the KKK and an FBI agent.

Background:

Scarpa was born to first-generation immigrants, Salvatore and Mary, from the town of Lorenzaga of Motta di Livenzanear Venice, Italy. He was raised in the working-class neighborhood of Bensonhurstin Brooklyn. As a child living in the Great Depression, Scarpa helped his father deliver coalthroughout New York City. His older brother, Salvatore Scarpa, may have introduced Gregory to the Colombo crime familywhich he reportedly joined in the 1950s.

In the 1950s, Scarpa married Connie Forrest; she and Scarpa had one daughter and three sons, including Gregory Scarpa Jr., who would follow his father into the Colombo family, eventually becoming a capo. Scarpa was inducted in the Profaci family in the 50's. 

In late 1963, the Mafia Commission forced Magliocco out of office and installed Joseph Colomboas family boss.At this point, the Profaci crime family became the Colombo crime family.

Scarpa was a stylish dresser who routinely carried $5,000 in pocket moneyfor purchases and bribes. He had use of an apartment on Manhattan's Sutton Placeand owned homes in Brooklyn and Staten Island, as well as Las Vegas, Nevada, and Singer Island, Florida. His power, guile and brutality earned him the nickname "the Grim Reaper" and helped him escape prosecution for many years. Schiro later said that Scarpa would sometimes leave the numbers "666", the biblical Number of the Beast, on his victims' pagers.

A career criminal, Scarpa eventually became a caporegimein the Colombo family, as well as the proprietor of the Wimpy Boys Social Club. Scarpa was involved in illegal gambling, loansharking, extortion, hijacking, counterfeitcredit cards, assault, stock and bond thefts, narcotics and murder. Many of the highest-ranking members of the Colombo family today were members of Scarpa's crew. In March 1962, Scarpa was arrested for armed robbery. To avoid prosecution, Scarpa agreed to work as an undercover informant for the FBI, beginning a 30-year relationship with the agency.

In the summer of 1964, according to Schiro and other sources, FBI field agents in Mississippirecruited Scarpa to help them find missing civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner. The FBI was convinced the three men had been murdered, but could not find their bodies. The agents thought that Scarpa, using illegal interrogation techniques not available to agents, might succeed at gaining this information from suspects.

Once Scarpa arrived in Mississippi, local agents allegedly provided him with a gun and money to pay for information. Scarpa and an agent allegedly pistol-whippedand kidnapped Lawrence Byrd, a TV salesman and secret Klansman, from his store in Laureland took him to Camp Shelby, a local Army base. At Shelby, Scarpa severely beat Byrd and stuck a gun barrel down his throat. Byrd finally revealed to Scarpa the location of the three men's bodies. The FBI has never officially confirmed the Scarpa story. In addition, the story contradicts evidence from investigative journalist Jerry Mitchelland Illinoishigh school teacher Barry Bradford, who claimed that Mississippi highway patrolmanMaynard King provided the grave locations to FBI agent Joseph Sullivanafter obtaining the information from an anonymous third party (wonder how that might be).

In January 1966, Scarpa allegedly helped the FBI a second time in Mississippi on the murder case of Vernon Dahmer, killed in a fire set by the Klan. After this second trip, Scarpa and the FBI had a sharp disagreement about his reward for these services. The FBI then dropped Scarpa as a confidential informant. 

Scarpa's status as an informer was only revealed in 1995, during a racketeering and murder trial of seven members of the Orena faction. At that time, former Colombo family consigliereCarmine Sessa, now a government witness, told prosecutors about DeVecchio's corrupt dealings with Scarpa. Eventually, prosecutors were forced to reveal that DeVecchio might have revealed confidential information, including information about former Colombo members who had turned informer, too Scarpa. Ultimately, 19 Orena supporters had murder charges thrown out or murder convictions reversed after their attorneys contended DeVecchio's collaboration with Scarpa tainted the evidence against them. The attorneys argued that DeVecchio gave Scarpa information he used to kill members of the Orena faction, thus making any killings committed by their clients acts of self-defense.

On March 30, 2006, DeVecchio, who was forced to retire from the FBI in 1996, was indictedon charges of complicity with Scarpa and other Colombo mobsters in four murders during the 1980s and 1990s.The government case rested on the testimony of Linda Schiro, who was soon discredited as a witness after Tom Robbins of The Village Voicerevealed that she had granted an interview to Robbins and Jerry Capecia decade earlier and denied the agent had ever been involved.On November 1, 2007, the judge dismissed all charges against DeVecchio at the request of prosecutors.

Scarpa's other son, Greg Scarpa Jr., was sentenced to 40 years in prison for racketeering, conspiracy to commit murder and other charges. Scarpa Jr. has been linked to 24 murders. He was active in the Colombo crime family throughout the 1970s to 1990s. He ran a large and profitable marijuana ring for the Colombo family in Brooklyn and Staten Island, and controlled the market in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, even extorting money from other drug dealers in the area. Judge Edward Kormancommuted his sentence by 10 years in January 2016 after he provided information to the FBI in regard to the whereabouts of explosives, which were found hidden at the home of Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols; however, his original sentence was reinstated in mid 2017.

(Family business of working with the FBI, stronger than ever). 

Reference:

Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act

Gregory Scarpa

Colombo family soldier Gregory Scarpa Jr may be in line for an early prison release

Joe Profaci

Vernon Dahmer (Civil Rights Case) 

Lindley DeVecchio former FBI agent

Did the Mafia Help FBI Solve Mississippi Burning Case?

Who is Lin DeVecchio ?

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