Vinnie Teresa lied about something else

[Ed]

“All my life I’d been loyal to the mob. It never crossed my mind to be an informer, a pigeon for the cops. I’d rather die.” Vinnie Teresa, 1969.

New England Crime Family mobster Vinnie Teresa claimed in his memoir that he only decided to cooperate with the federal government because his Mafia associates had swindled all his money while he was in prison and left family in poverty. Now, Teresa was a notorious BS’er from way back and his books are full of exaggerations and lies, but I don’t think anyone’s ever taken a hard look at when Teresa truly began to cooperate.

But looking at FBI documents from the 1960s, it appears that Teresa was feeding confidential information to federal agents since at least 1962. I’m going to write in more detail about this later, but it seems to me that Boston-area informant “BS 812” and Teresa are one and the same.

Here’s how I got there.

“BS 812” was described as follows:

“A criminal source who was first contacted in January 1963 (sic), was discontinued in August, 1968, after having furnished extensive information regarding organized crime and gambling matters in a northeastern city. He was discontinued as an informant after it was learned that he was involved in major interstate transportation of stolen property violation. He was later arrested, convicted and sentenced to prison.”

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 0&tab=page


On the surface, this sounds a lot like Teresa. Teresa was arrested for selling stolen bonds around August 1968 and was later convicted.

There are a few more clues connecting “BS 812” and Teresa.

If you look at the old redacted FBI documents (as opposed to the newest FBI releases that leave informant symbol codes unredacted), informant symbol code “BS 812” was never redacted by government censors. That generally only used to occur when the informant’s identity was known to the public and the government wasn’t concerned about keeping his identity secret. When these FBI documents were released in the 1990s, Teresa’s cooperation was well known and there was no reason to be concerned about his safety.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 2BS_812%22

Another indication that points to Teresa is that “BS 812” was handled by FBI agent John Kehoe. According to Teresa’s memoir, Kehoe was same agent that met with him in prison and helped to persuade him to cooperate in 1969.

In another FBI document, “BS 812” discloses information about Gambino Crime Family Caporegime Joe Paterno from New Jersey. This is a little unusual for a New England mobster to know anything about a mid-level mobster from Newark. In his memoir, Teresa relates being called on the carpet by his mob superiors for beating up an associate of Paterno.

In another instance, “BS 812” talks about Teresa’s activities in Atlanta which wouldn’t be known to many individuals. There are a few other small links between the two individuals which I won’t get into here.

I’m not sure what happened to Teresa in 1962 that might have influenced him to become a CI but he was beefing with Jerry Angiulo around this time.

Maybe I’m late to the party and it’s already been publicly confirmed that “BS 812” and Teresa are one and the same, and that Teresa was talking before 1970, but I’m not aware of it. As others of said, Teresa wouldn’t be able to get his books published under today’s scrutiny.


(William Roemer also misled readers about when Richard Cain (CG 7177) first began to cooperate. Roemer, his FBI handler, implied that Cain didn’t begin to cooperate until sometime in the early 1970s. But that’s untrue. This FBI document shows that Cain was sharing confidential information as early 1967. (In fact, this was backed up by Richard Cain’s brother who wrote a book called the Tangled Web.) He was only dropped because he was arrested in connection to a bank robbery. Cain was activated again in the early 1970s when he partnered up with Sam Giancana in Mexico.)

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 1&tab=page

[Petespin]

Was Teresa made or an associate, I have seen conflicting information on that.

[JeremyTheJew]

Was Teresa made or an associate, I have seen conflicting information on that.

He claimed he turned down his button. There was another thread discussing him within the last few months.

[Antiliar]

Here's a page on Teresa that's a little more informative: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 2bs_812%22

This one also: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 3&tab=page

[B.]

You're killing it lately.

Didn't Valachi also lie about when he first began cooperating? I seem to remember something about him giving information to the DEA years before he officially flipped.

[Villain]

(William Roemer also misled readers about when Richard Cain (CG 7177) first began to cooperate. Roemer, his FBI handler, implied that Cain didn’t begin to cooperate until sometime in the early 1970s. But that’s untrue. This FBI document shows that Cain was sharing confidential information as early 1967. (In fact, this was backed up by Richard Cain’s brother who wrote a book called the Tangled Web.) He was only dropped because he was arrested in connection to a bank robbery. Cain was activated again in the early 1970s when he partnered up with Sam Giancana in Mexico.)

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 1&tab=page

Thats absolutely true since Cain snitched on a burglary gang which he was connected to and i think it was in the Zahn Drug robbery case but i have to recheck that.

Again, nice piece buddy

[Ed]

You're killing it lately.

Didn't Valachi also lie about when he first began cooperating? I seem to remember something about him giving information to the DEA years before he officially flipped.

I seem to remember something about that too. Maybe Antiliar knows.

I would love to review old DEA files...the juicy Intel they hold would probably blow our minds.

[TJ]

Great catch..Teresa or Natalie, or dr Seuss, who’s the biggest story teller

[B.]

You're killing it lately.

Didn't Valachi also lie about when he first began cooperating? I seem to remember something about him giving information to the DEA years before he officially flipped.

I seem to remember something about that too. Maybe Antiliar knows.

I would love to review old DEA files...the juicy Intel they hold would probably blow our minds.

I think a lot of guys made a distinction between informing on crimes and "exposing" the mafia organization. And of course LE was more interested in the former early on, so they wouldn't have pressed them much if at all about the organization since in their minds the organization and the crimes were identical; or they just didn't care at that point.

Your Blasi topic also reminded me of some comments Magaddino made about Joe Bonanno, where he accuses him of wining and dining with law enforcement and being loose lipped. With law enforcement and even police chiefs being more prone to corruption back then, you have to wonder if there were some off the record "two way street" relationships where information was casually exchanged from both sides. The Bonannos had a police chief in Jersey named Peter Policastro who was very close with Carmine Galante and others, to the point that he was suspected of being a Bonanno member.

There is of course Charlie Luciano's questionable relationship with the FBN as well. At least one of the suspected informants murdered by the Genovese family was on Luciano's word and if I remember right there was another one, too. Luciano was getting access to confidential info and combined with his WWII "cooperation", I have to believe there was more going on behind the scenes.

[johnny_scootch]

At least one of the suspected informants murdered by the Genovese family was on Luciano's word and if I remember right there was another one, too.

Dominick Petrilli?

[B.]

At least one of the suspected informants murdered by the Genovese family was on Luciano's word and if I remember right there was another one, too.

Dominick Petrilli?

Yeah, Petrilli and Eugenio Giannini were the two I was thinking of.

[HairyKnuckles]

It´s very likely that Joe Dogs Iannuzzi gave information to the feds on Tommy Agro atleast a year before he decided to flip. In documentaries he comes across as working for the FBI only after he suffered a severe beating.

I think many of the CW we know of, actually secretly gave up information way before they flipped.

[B.]

Seems best to include this here.

- In April 1979, the FBI received informant from a source who had been in touch with "an unusually reliable source" who had previously been close to Bonanno. This source said that when the contents of Bonanno's notes were made public (apparently this referred to the notes obtained from Bonanno's garbage, as mentioned in his book), a "council" would be held which would not be the same as a Commission meeting, which would be a "meeting of Sicilian dons" who would meet soon after the Bonanno issue became public.

- This "council" would include Santo Trafficante, Carlos Marcello, "Don Peppino Modica of Boston (if he is still alive", and at least two "Dons of the Sicilian Mafia including Nino Magaddino of Castellammare Del Golfo, Bonanno's close friend." The source said the Sicilian members of this council would "enter the country illegally and quietly" and "probably meet with one or more participants of the council at a preliminary meeting". The source also said that an 80-year-old "Don", who was known to be alive to the source two years previous and living in Ft. Lauderdale would also attend "if still living", as well as "at least one Sicilian from Canada" and that "the meet may even be held in Canada". Additionally "one or more older Sicilian dons from New York - New Jersey area" would attend "if any remain alive".

- This "council" would "decide on Bonanno's fate and almost certainly will order his assassination for what he has done for breaking the code of security of the mafia."

- The source says that it was "just such a council of Dons that saved Bonanno's life when he was kidnapped during the 1960s." The source also claimed that Bonanno was "first a member of the Sicilian mafia of Castellammare Del Golfo before becoming a US mafioso." The source said that "only Sicilian-born members of the Sicilian and later Americanized version of the mafia can, as a result, decide his fate." He says the American bosses and the Commission will "get the ruling from the council and carry out its order." He says the council "may take place in two parts with the Sicilian representatives meeting with one or two representatives of the final council. He or more than one will carry the word of the Sicilian mafia down to the states. The second council will come later and discuss the vote, assigning the family and the method by which the assassination is to be carried out."

- The source stated that the "hit men" would most likely be brought "from the New England or New York area, that is the Patriarca, Galante, or Genovese families" and believes they "may include Sicilian alien hit men and the set up will be someone very close to Bonanno who he trusts." The source believed the following men would meet in the aftermath: Ray Patriarca, Santo Trafficante, Carlos Marcello, Carmine Galante, "someone in the higher echelon of the Cotroni family", Anthony Accardo, "Don Modica", and "any known elder Sicilian-born Dons in Upper or Lower New York State, New Jersey, Michigan, or Florida."

- The FBI concludes this strange report by saying it again comes from a "usually reliable source" in response to the publicity brought about by Joe Bonanno's notes when they are made public.

- However, a newspaper article containing almost identical information later made it clear that this information came from Vinnie Teresa so I think we can discount it. He provided this same story to journalist Tom Renner. In his media version, Teresa named other figures and claimed to have driven the New England leaders to this meeting in Buffalo. I'm comfortable calling him Vinnie "Giacomo Vacari" Teresa at this point.