Posted on 10/15/2007 9:46:07 AM PDT by Calpernia
Former FBI Agent R. Lindley DeVecchio fed a mobster-turned-informant confidential information that was used "to devastating effect,'' a prosecutor said Monday at his murder trial.
Former Colombo crime family capo Gregory Scarpa brutally killed four people, prosecutor Joseph Alexis said, "and the defendant helped him do it.''
But defense attorney Douglas Grover said prosecutors "are quick to provide broad strokes -- broad strokes that provide cover for witnesses who are telling lies.''
DeVecchio went on trial Monday in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn in what prosecutors have billed as "one of the worst cases of law enforcement corruption in the history of this country.''
He is free on $1 million bail. He has denied having a decade-long, illicit alliance with Scarpa. His supporters include a cadre of former agents who put up the money to cover DeVecchio's legal bills.
In recently unsealed court papers, prosecutors renewed a litany of sensational charges the judge will hear at the trial.
Among the key witnesses is Scarpa's longtime mistress, Linda Schiro, who only recently agreed to come clean after authorities offered police protection.
"Linda Schiro was the love of Greg Scarpa's life,'' Alexis said. "Linda Schiro knows all of Greg Scarpa's secrets.''
Grover described Schiro, a paid government witness, as "someone who's so desperate and so financially driven, she'll say anything.''
Authorities say DeVecchio began cultivating Scarpa as an informant in 1980. The mobster already had a colorful history with the FBI: He purportedly helped the bureau solve the 1964 murders of three civil-rights workers in Mississippi by strong-arming a Ku Klux Klan member.
As years passed and the internal struggle for control of the Colombos intensified, prosecutors claim the ethical boundaries of the mole and his FBI handler began to blur during their weekly meetings -- and the bodies began to pile up.
An indictment alleges that in 1984, after receiving a tip from DeVecchio that another mobster's ex-girlfriend might be an informant, Scarpa shot and killed her at Wimpy Boys Social Club. Three years later, Scarpa had his son whack a rival based on another tip that the victim was stealing money, prosecutors said.
In 1990, the FBI agent told Scarpa that an accomplice in a shooting was about to rat on the mobster's son, prosecutors said. The 18-year-old victim was found the next day on a street corner with a bullet in his head. Authorities say another rival mobster was gunned down in 1992 after DeVecchio provided tips about his daily routines _ confidential information honed from FBI surveillance.
More recently, prosecutors leveled fresh accusations that DeVecchio provided security for a crew of bandits during a bank burglary and alerted mobsters that Wimpy Boys was under surveillance.
The KKK guy Scarpa tortured to extract info for sharing with the FBI was Delmar Dennis.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.