Informant activity in NYC in 1974/75

[Ed]

Two FBI reports give a snapshot of informant activity in New York City in 1974/75.

According to the FBI, the New York City office had six active LCN member informants in 1974.
https://archive.org/details/foia_Malone ... ormants%22

The report doesn’t give the affiliation of any of them, but it notes that agents need to develop more member-informants, “particularly in the ‘Bonanno’ and ‘Lucchese’ LCN ‘families.’” Given that there are five crime families in New York City, it probably means that none of the informants were active in the Bonanno and Lucchese Crime Families. (This report excludes any informants based outside of New York like Willie Dara in Florida, or someone in New Jersey.)

A second FBI report suggests the Colombo Crime Family had up to three member-informants operating in New York in 1975.
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 0&tab=page

But because the FBI is cagey about how they refer to informants in reports, it’s hard to know for sure if these are three different individuals or if the same informant was used more than once. (Note, the FBI talked to informants #1 and #4 on the same date.) If the Colombos had three informants, that would mean the Gambino and Genovese had three informants between them.

Given that there were probably a thousand criminally active LCN members in New York City in the mid-70s, and considering all the money and effort the FBI put into developing informants since Joseph Valachi, I would say that six member-informants was a substandard record.

[thekiduknow]

At the beginning of the file, dated 1971, it says that "7 informants are LCN members; 49 informants under development are LCN members". I wonder if that means that the 49 members were approached, or were in the early stages of actually becoming informants, and if so what happened to them.

[thekiduknow]

Great find/topic by the way!

[Snakes]

At the beginning of the file, dated 1971, it says that "7 informants are LCN members; 49 informants under development are LCN members". I wonder if that means that the 49 members were approached, or were in the early stages of actually becoming informants, and if so what happened to them.

These could be members who only provided sparse or vague information when approached by agents (this happened more than you'd think) and didn't incriminate themselves or any associates by their statements. "Under development" would also apply to those members who were in legal trouble (indictments, etc.) or who, for whatever reason, were on the outs with the family and could be cultivated as informants.

[Ed]

(I responded earlier but the reply disappeared)

Agree with Snakes. Guys were dry snitching all the time but didn't really "hurt" other guys. Agents opened "PC" investigations into mobsters regularly, but most never developed into dependable informers. Agents were compensated for developing member-informants so they probably occasionally inflated a mobsters real level of cooperation or even his membership status.

[dack2001]

I think that term meant that the Bureau identified that person as a potential informant and had assigned someone to approach them and attempt to develop them. It does not mean that they had given information but it also doesn't mean they hadn't. More that some circumstance had put them on Bureau radar as having potential to flip.

[Ed]

In 1966, the FBI had developed 16 member-informants in 11 of the nation's 24 LCN families.

https://archive.org/stream/JamesH.Gale/ ... 3/mode/2up

I assume the drop off in member-informants between 1966 and 1974 was because they died, were discontinued because of old age(criminal retirement), or stopped cooperating because it didn't suit their purposes anymore. Also, FBI agents transferred between offices and informants went cold.

[B.]

Definitely hoping we get a big drop of NARA files on the 1970s / 1980s someday in the same way we did the 1960s.

Some member informants / possible informants active in the 1970s:

- One of the Colombo member informants was likely Leonardo Dello. JD made a post on his blog before his hiatus about a 1950s Colombo ceremony and it strongly indicated the information came from Dello during the mid-1970s. JD said this informant basically picked up where Scarpa left off when Scarpa was temporarily deactivated.

- JD shared a report with me that Carmine Lombardozzi was reactivated as a Gambino informant in the mid-1970s after apparently being deactivated for some time. No clue what info he provided during this period -- I only saw the report where the FBI stated he was reactivated. Most importantly, his name was completely unredacted so we can definitively say Lombardozzi was an informant, not that there was much doubt.

- Frank "Fauney" D'Angelo was a Bonanno member cooperating by the early 1970s. He was the CI who claimed to have been inducted personally by Joe Bonanno at Natale Evola's house. I've shared some info from him before. Not sure how long he cooperated or exactly when he started -- I've seen some files that suggest he may have begun cooperating in the late 1960s but can't say for certain, only that he was fully cooperating by the early 1970s.

- Rocco Scafidi was still an active Philadelphia informant into the mid-1970s. I don't know if he had been informing continuously or if there were any breaks, but he was still at it.

- Anthony Lima was still cooperating in San Francisco throughout much of the 1970s, providing both historical info as well as what little there was to report on in the Bay Area. He was also trying to become boss again.

- Cavita has shared a report from 1973 that confirms Augie Maniaci was still informing in Milwaukee. He was killed only three years later, so might have cooperated until his death.

Earlier informants I wonder about:

- Harry Riccobene. He was a cagey informant (literally -- he was in prison), but curious if he cooperated after his release.

- Frank Bompensiero. He was an enthusiastic, high-quality informant who started around 1968. Did he keep it up until his death? What about Sal Piscopo?