Cooperation vs Getting Info

[Amershire_Ed]

At what point does a wiseguy that has a law enforcement connection go from simply getting information to cooperating? Where is the distinction? Arilotta has talked about how Bruno had the DA in his pocket for like 20 years, but then his name shows up on a 302 and he’s in line to be whacked for it. I know law enforcement connections aren’t as plentiful as they were 40-50 years ago, but it just seems like a **really** fine line to walk.

Let’s say you are a captain for a NY family, and you played youth baseball for 8 years with a kid that’s now a Fed or on some OC task force. If he sees you at Lowe’s and says, “hey, Jimmy, just to let you know—we are looking hard at some of your guys. If you could point us in another direction I might be able to help you out”. Is that ratting? Or is that trading info?

[Super]

That's a rat champ any way you look at it you don't say nothing to no one. Shhhhhh.

[Amershire_Ed]

That's a rat champ any way you look at it you don't say nothing to no one. Shhhhhh.

Lots of guys, that aren’t considered rats, said stuff to people. That’s why I asked the question.

[Snakes]

A "confidential informant" is anyone who provides information to the feds, including everyday citizens (neighbors, etc.) and local law enforcement officers who come across info. This could range from a very small amount of information to a large amount. Tony giving info to the feds about the Muslims in the last season would get him marked down as a C.I. in memos in a file somewhere. Typically, the only people with the identity of a C.I. is the agent who is in direct contact with them. A C.I. can stop giving information at any time. Identities of C.I.'s are almost never released although a bit of sleuthing can uncover who they are if enough information is at hand.

A "cooperating witness" is someone who has taken the next step and agreed to cooperate with the government by wearing a wire and has agreed to testify against others in the future. Many times, CW's are guys who have been tripped up by the feds and agree to cooperate although there are several instances of CW's who voluntarily approached the feds for various reasons.

[Stroccos]

At what point does a wiseguy that has a law enforcement connection go from simply getting information to cooperating? Where is the distinction? Arilotta has talked about how Bruno had the DA in his pocket for like 20 years, but then his name shows up on a 302 and he’s in line to be whacked for it. I know law enforcement connections aren’t as plentiful as they were 40-50 years ago, but it just seems like a **really** fine line to walk.

Let’s say you are a captain for a NY family, and you played youth baseball for 8 years with a kid that’s now a Fed or on some OC task force. If he sees you at Lowe’s and says, “hey, Jimmy, just to let you know—we are looking hard at some of your guys. If you could point us in another direction I might be able to help you out”. Is that ratting? Or is that trading info?

If you Own the police and having them take out the competition is not ratting , the cops are in a sense your partner , usually people would get warning to close up or pay you for the police protection

If you give information like that u said at Lowe , your dry snitching those people

[Amershire_Ed]

Thanks for the responses.

I was watching that United States vs James J Bulger doc and was really interested in the difference in the size of Whitey’s informant file and Greg Scarpa’s. Scarpa’s was like 60,000 pages with extremely detailed notes and all kinds of important signatures all over. Buglers was only like 600 pages and was mostly a bunch of vague info or info that was passed along by the other informants that he attributed to Whitey.

[GaspipeCasso]

Scarpa gave info for what 4 decades?

[furiofromnaples]

I think that in this times,if like Bulger you give infos on another crime group and not on your men I think that would be little acceptable.
If a wiseguy know who are the boss of a drug ring and gave infos to the Feds or the police so he can continue his bussiness where is the problem? The oath is for the italians not for the other criminals.

[Amershire_Ed]

Scarpa gave info for what 4 decades?

Scarpa went like decades at a time sometimes without giving info.

[GaspipeCasso]

Scarpa went like decades at a time sometimes without giving info.
[/quote]

Yeah I think knew he once went along time in between agents but it was only one break wasn't it?

[davidf1989]

Thanks for the responses.

I was watching that United States vs James J Bulger doc and was really interested in the difference in the size of Whitey’s informant file and Greg Scarpa’s. Scarpa’s was like 60,000 pages with extremely detailed notes and all kinds of important signatures all over. Buglers was only like 600 pages and was mostly a bunch of vague info or info that was passed along by the other informants that he attributed to Whitey.

I saw that documentary and maybe there were things in Bulger's File that came from informants such as Steve Flemmi or Mercurio who were much closer to the LCN compared with Bulger.

[TallGuy19]

Scarpa went like decades at a time sometimes without giving info.

Yeah I think knew he once went along time in between agents but it was only one break wasn't it?
[/quote]

He was closed as an informant in 1975 when his handler retired and was officially reopened in 1980 by Lin DeVecchio.