Catching Whitey Bulger; Mob Hitman; An FBI Agent and the Mafia | 60 Minutes Full Episodes

Charlie and Carol Gasco were an elderly couple who moved to Santa Monica California sometime in early 1997 to begin a new phase of their life for the next 14 years they did almost nothing that was memorable and they would be of absolutely no interest if it weren't for the fact that Charlie Gasco turned out to be James Whitey Bulger the notorious Boston gangster and longtime fugitive who's just beginning to serve two lifetime sentences Carol Gasco was actually Catherine Gregg Whitey's longtime girlfriend and caregiver the story of how they managed to elude an international Manhunt for so long while hiding in plain sight is interesting and tonight you'll hear it from the gasco's neighbors and for the first time from the federal agents who finally unraveled the case with the help of a boob job and an alley cat if you're forced into retirement with a comfortable nest egg and a desire to be left completely alone there is no better place than Santa Monica California this low-key Seaside suburb of La is shared by transients and tourists hippies and hedonists celebrities and lots of senior citizens attracted to the climate and an abundance of inexpensive rent-controlled apartments just a few blocks from the ocean places like the princess Eugenia on 3rd Street which is where Charlie and Carol Gasco a childless couple from Chicago lived for 14 years without attracting much attention from long-time neighbors or landlords Josh bond is the building manager whatever they like they were like the nice retired old couple that lived in the apartment next to me good tenants excellent tenants never complained always paid rent on time in cash and cash Janice good wouldn't live down the hole they had nothing and they never went out they'd never had food delivered she never dressed nicely you thought they were poor yes without a doubt the one thing everyone remembers about the gas goes is that they loved animals and always made a fuss over the ones in the neighborhood Barbara Gluck remembers that Carol Gasco always fed a stray cat after its owner had died she would you know pet it and be sweet to it and then she would put a plate of food like out here and she liked the cat obviously she loved the cat and we all liked the cat but she was taking care of the cat and what about Charlie Gasco you know he always had a hat on and dark glasses I have to say it was mysterious to me why a lovely woman like that was hanging out with that guy that old grumpy man I never could figure that one out until I heard they had 800 000 something dollars in the wall [Laughter] no money wasn't the only thing found in the gasco's apartment on June 22nd 2011. when the FBI stopped by and ended what it called the most extensive Manhunt in the bureau's history weapons all over the apartment I mean weapons by his nightstand Weapons Under the windowsill shotguns mini rugers rifles loaded loaded ready to go what it started out as a routine day for special agent Scott gariola who was in charge of hunting fugitives in La would turn into one of the most interesting days of his career after getting a call to stake out a building in Santa Monica he notified his backup team with the LAPD I had four guys working that day and they said we got a tip on Whitey Bulger and I'll see you there in about an hour and invariably the tax will return who's Whitey Bulger really a few of them I'd remind them gently remind him who what he Bulger was and he was number one on the FBI's number one number one yeah biggie Big East Coast figure but in the West Coast so much imagine any cartel leader the cops in La were focused on gang bangers and cartel members not some retired Irish mobster who hadn't been spotted in 16 years but then few Mobsters have ever been as Infamous in the city as Whitey Bulger was in Boston and his reputation was for more than just being grumpy besides extortion and flooding the city with cocaine Bulger routinely performed or ordered executions some at close range some with a hail of bullets and at least one by strangulation after which it said he took a nap special agent Rich Tian who ran the FBI's Whitey Bulger fugitive task force it hurt it all Bulger was charged with 19 counts of murder he was charged with other crimes he was a Scourge to the society in South Boston his own Community he was also a Scourge to the FBI and a great source of embarrassment to Tian Special Agent Phil toursney and others on the FBI task force years earlier Whitey Bulger had infiltrated the Boston office of the FBI and bought off agents who protected him implied him with information including the tip that allowed Bulger to flee just days before he was to be indicted we really had to catch this guy to establish credibility after all the other issues and it was just a matter of bringing this guy back to Boston to make sure this guy didn't die or you know or get away with this thing tours day who's now retired in the agent Tommy McDonald joined the task force in 2009 the joke was Bulger was on the FBI's Least Wanted list there hadn't been a credible lead in more than a decade and their efforts in bulger's Old Neighborhood of South Boston were met with mistrust and ridicule some people they told us right out front you guys aren't looking for that guy people just made the Assumption we had them stashed somewhere I mean people really thought that kind of thing despite that mindset that we're not going to help you the FBI still got it done took 16 years took 16 years yeah this was not a typical Fugitive the FBI says Bulger had planned his getaway years in advance with money set aside and a fake identity for a Thomas Baxter during his first two years on the lamb Bulger was in touch with friends and family shuttling between New York Chicago and the resort town of Grand Isle Louisiana where he rented a home until his identity was compromised after that it seemed as if Bulger had disappeared from the face of the earth except for the alleged sightings all over the world how many of these tips do you think might have been true boy there was there was thousands and thousands of tips and I think I don't think any of them are true one of the obstacles was there were really no good photographs of Bulger or his longtime live-in girlfriend Catherine Gregg a former dental hygienist the FBI often noted that the couple shared a love of animals especially dogs and cats and asked veterinarians to be on the lookout there were reports that Greg once had breast implants and other plastic surgery in Boston so the task force reached out to Physicians eventually they got a call from a Dr Matthias Donald who had located her files in storage I was trying to leave the office a little early to catch one of my kids ball games and I said well listen I'm going to swing by in the morning and pick those up and they said to me do you want the photos too and I said you have photos and they say yeah we have photos I said we'll be there in 15 minutes the breast implant lead produced a treasure Trove of high-resolution Catherine Gregg photographs that would help Crack the Case the FBI decided to switch strategies going after the girlfriend in order to catch the gangster this is an announcement by the FBI the FBI created this public service announcement 60-year-old Grieg is the girlfriend of 81 year old Bulger it ran in 14 markets on daytime talk shows aimed at women call the tip line at 1-800 call FBI and it didn't take long the very next morning the Bolger task force got three messages from someone that used to live in Santa Monica and was 100 certain that Charlie and Carol Gasco Apartment 303 at the princess Eugenia Apartments were the people they were looking for the descriptions and the age difference matched and Deputy U.S Marshal Neil Sullivan who handled the lead said there was another piece of tantalizing information the tipster specifically described that they were caring for this cat in their their love for this cat so that was just one one piece of the puzzle on the tip that just added up to saying if this isn't them it's it's something we better check out immediately because it sure sounds like them a search of the FBI's computer database for the gas goes raised another red flag not for what it found but for what it didn't basically like they were Ghosts no driver's license exactly no driver's license no California ID like they didn't exist that's the apartment that corner on the third floor on the right hand side yep by early afternoon FBI agent Scott gariola had set up a number of surveillance posts and had already met with department manager Josh bond to talk about his tenants he closed the door threw down a folder and open it up and said are these the people that live in apartment 303. did you say anything when you saw the pictures my initial reaction was holy you're living next door to a gangster well I still didn't really know who he was but it didn't take him long to figure it out while the FBI was mulling its options Bond logged on to bulger's Wikipedia page I'm kind of scrolling down it's like oh wow this guy's serious it's like murderers and extortion and then I get to the bottom and there's just this thing it's like from one of his old people saying well the last time I saw him he said you know when he goes out he's he's gonna have guns and he's going to be ready to take people with him I was like oh maybe I shouldn't be involved in this yeah I mean we were sitting here laughing about but this is a pretty serious guy yeah yeah I've killed a lot of people they had them killed I didn't know that at the time Bond told the FBI he wasn't going to knock on the gasco's door because there was a note posted expressly asking people not to bother them Carol had told neighbors that Charlie was showing signs of dementia so we were we were back there so garyola devised a ruse involving the Gasco storage locker in the garage I had the name Gasco across it and apartment 303. he had the manager called to tell them that their locker had been broken into and that he needed someone to come down to see if anything Was Missing Carol Gasco said her husband would be right down we just rushed him Amy guns out FBI don't move gave the words hey FBI and get your hands up hands went up right away and then at that moment we told him get down on his knees and he gave us yeah he gave us a I ain't getting down on my effing knees didn't want to get his pants he didn't want to get his pants dirty you know wearing white and seeing the oil on the ground I guess he didn't want to get down in oil even at 81 this was a man used to being in control I asked him to identify himself and that didn't go over well he asked me to eff and identify myself which I did and I asked him and I said are you are you Whitey Bulger he said yes just about that moment someone catches my attention from a few feet away by the Elevator Shaft it was Janice Goodwin from the third floor coming to do her laundry and I said excuse me I think I can help you this man has dementia so if he's acting oddly you know that could be why immediately would flash through my mind is oh my God I just arrested an 81 year old man with Alzheimer's who thinks he's Whitey Bulger what is he going to tell me next he's Elvis so I said do me a favor I said this woman over here says you have a touch of Alzheimer's he said don't listen to her she's effing nuts he says uh I'm James Bulger a few minutes later he confirmed it signing a consent form allowing the FBI to search his apartment as he's signing he says that's the first time I've signed that name in a long time was there was a feeling of resignation I don't I don't think he had it I did ask him I said hey Whitey I said aren't you relieved that you don't have to look over your shoulder anymore and it's come to an end and he said are you nuts but in some ways Whitey Bulger and Catherine Gregg had already been prisoners in apartment 303 which appeared to be a mixture of the murderous and the mundane alongside the weapons and all the money they had stockpiled a lifetime supply of cleansers creams and detergents the FBI took special interest in a collection of 64-ounce bottles with white socks stretched over the top I said hey why do you what are these some kind of Molotov cocktail you're making he goes no I said I buy a tube socks from the 99 cent store and the two title my calves that's the way I stretch them out I said why are you shopping at the 99 Cent Store you have a half a million dollars under your bed he goes I had to make the money last it's been said that one of the reasons it took so long to catch Whitey Bulger is that people were looking for a gangster in Bulger whether he liked it or not had ceased to be one he said it was hard to keep up that mindset of a criminal and that's part of the reason he came down to that garage he said if he was on his game you know 15 20 30 years ago he probably would have sent something there but uh said it was hard to stay on that edge that criminal Edge after being on the lamb as a regular citizen for 15 years the master manipulator gave credit to Catherine Gregg for keeping him Crime Free hoping it would mitigate her sentence she's now serving eight years for harboring a fugitive on the long plane ride back to Boston Bulger told his captors that he became obsessed with not getting caught and would do anything to avoid it even if it meant obeying the law Whitey bulger's biggest fear they said was being discovered dead in his apartment and he had a plan to avoid it if he became ill and knew he was on his deathbed he'd go down to Arizona crawl down the bottom of one of these mines and die and decompose and hope hope that we would never find him and still be looking at looking for him forever in the early 90s John veezy was a man with an unusual occupation he killed people visi was a hit man in the Philadelphia Mafia and found himself smack in the middle of the bloodiest mob war in the city's history as is often the case with Hit Men visi's career was a short one when he learned his own crew might want to kill him he became a government witness a rat his testimony helped send two dozen Wise Guys to prison some for the rest of their lives and the Philly mom would never be the same today the one-time killer is a free man living under an assumed name somewhere in America we've agreed not to divulge exactly where he's married has a good job and says he's found God but back in his old South Philadelphia neighborhood not everyone believes John veasey's story of redemption they say he's still the same low-life Thug he was 20 years ago when the mob made him an offer he couldn't refuse in 1993 you were an ex-con a laborer and a guy walks up to you and offers you ten thousand dollars to do what were you interested I just said yeah where's the gun that casual yeah he said take some time think about it just take some time to get me the gun and let's get it done that's how it was for John veezy one bad choice after another he grew up in the mostly Italian neighborhood of South Philadelphia home to the city's underworld he was the youngest of five his mother sold crystal meth out of her family's Bakery by his mid-teens John was a junkie and the father of two by his late 20s he had been arrested more than 60 times he says he never aspired to join the mob but the promise of a big payday got his attention I mean you got ten thousand dollars and you never have no money they were offering money to take somebody's life but my question to that is real simple how many poor people are being offered ten thousand to kill somebody but that's not an economic issue that's a moral is moral if you have moral you had no morals correct none in the early 90s the Philadelphia mob was at War blood and body bags routine on one side was a group of older sicilian-born Wise Guys led by John stanfa on the other younger American Mobsters headed by Joey Merlino for 30 years George Anastasia covered the mob for the Philadelphia Inquirer he says a young StreetWise Thug Like veezy was the kind of muscle John Stanford needed staffa was getting an enforcer Stanford was getting a guy who wasn't afraid to go out there and bust heads he was getting a guy who would go out and collect money he would go out intimidate people and who would go out and kill people if he was ordered to do so John his first hit was in broad daylight the targets rival mob boss Jerry Merlino and his top Lieutenant Michael changolini VZ and a partner drove up on the pair hit the brakes and opened fire was your heart racing as you were coming down the street well I didn't really think like that I was going to work and part of my work that day with the kills him back Joey Merlino survived the attack but Michael changolini was killed one name off the boss's Hit List how many names on the list 25-35 baby if you see one of the guys on this list on the street you take them out yeah one month later VZ struck again the victim identified as Frank baldino was getting into his white Cadillac after having dinner at the popular Melrose Diner in South Philadelphia bullet casings all over Frank baldino was a bartender who just about everyone in the neighborhood knew and liked including John veezy but John Stanford thought baldino had become too friendly with the other side and wanted him dead put my gun right through the window and this is a guy you liked yeah if you shoot someone in the head six times who you like what was you to someone you didn't like I shot him six times a day because I was supposed to kill him I wanted to make sure he was dead but amid all the Carnage The Hitman says he was volunteering as a Boy Scout leader and there's a positive role model for Boy Scouts a Hitman I'll tell you what the kids didn't always hit man a lot of parents were mad but the kids had fun when I took him camping I could tell you that John do you get how crazy that sounds I could tell you I do but I never really thought about like that I mean I would drive by and I'd have the kids in my station wagon and then at night time I might be in a Cadillac hunting for people you're supposed to kill yeah VZ star was Rising he was summoned to this Philadelphia hotel to become a main member of the ma but the sacred ceremony was the last thing on his mind he wanted the ten thousand dollars he had been promised for his first hit I wanted the money I never got the money why didn't John Stanford pay you he said they were saving money for the war and I said what are we buying a Sherman thing I mean I'm bringing all this money all this monies come a hundred thousand fifty thousand somebody's getting paid those complaints did not sit well with stanfa a few months later the mob boss ordered another hit this time on VZ but John had an older brother Billy with friends in the mall when Billy learned John might be in trouble he pleaded with him to turn himself in to become a government informant a rat why do it I don't know I guess it was the right thing to do when Billy was talking to you and what was he telling you tell me it was the only opportunity the only wait if you want to watch me get executed Billy veezy drove John to the U.S attorney's Office FBI agent Paul Hayes now retired became John's government Handler Billy understood the mob that's why he wanted him to come in and cooperate because he knew how the Mob Could Turn on you and kill you in a moment and in fact I think he was right these he agreed to wear a wire and collect evidence but he wasn't wearing it on the night he went to this South Philadelphia apartment with two trusted mob Associates inside everything was covered in plastic it's not normal to walk in a room with plastic but I did I never thought anything what did you think was about to happen they told me they were painting he was shot four times with a small caliber pistol three times in the head once in the chest the guy shoots in the back of the head they are two men two to one how did you manage to get out you fight you do what you grew up doing he wrestled a knife from one attacker stabbed him and ran from the building the legend of John veezy was born this is a guy who can't be killed now you know you can't bring him down and it enhances that whole reputation as a tough guy John veezy should have been dead that night and he wasn't how do you explain that poor equipment they should have a better gun a bigger gun I don't know maybe it's Destiny maybe this is supposed to happen John Stanford and 23 members of his crew were indicted on charges including murder and racketeering visi's appearance at their trial as a government witness was eagerly anticipated but on the morning he was to testify he was approached by FBI agent Paul Hayes and I said John I have something to tell you uh your brother was murdered in a hit and John crumbled to the floor Billy had been ambushed in his car not far from his home five days later John took the stand giving jurors an unvarnished account of life in the mob it was a highly effective witness very good one of the best I've ever seen what was so good about because he was genuine this is what we did I shot this guy and that guy over there told me to do it the defense tried to diminish his testimony they said John we see that you're wearing glasses the government buy you those glasses and he said yes they did and he said did the government buy you those glasses to make you more believable and credible in front of this jury he says I don't know but ever since your client shot me in the back of the head my vision's been slightly off all the defendants were found guilty John Stanford was sentenced to five consecutive life terms VZ is part of his plea agreement was sentenced to 10 years in prison plenty of time for dark thoughts of Revenge he wanted to kill the people who killed your brother them family it didn't really matter you're going to shoot him were you well I had plans to like inject their wives with AIDS what yeah I was gonna bump into the shopping cart like have a little needle they wouldn't even feel it and that's just evil it is evil but you know what I was pretty evil and I ain't gonna try to say I wasn't this is John veezy today just another Suburban homeowner trying to stay ahead of the yard work I have a great wife a great family nice home good job ZZ shares his new life with Norma his wife of eight years they married after John's brief stint in the witness protection program can you even fathom the person that he was or the things he used to do no no because I don't know that person I know my husband I know who he is and I who I fell in love with the caring individual that's who I know but John didn't Rob ice cream trucks I mean he did some bad things but if God is willing to forgive why why wouldn't we I mean he's human as an ex-con finding work was difficult but with his wife's encouragement veezy talked his way into a job selling cars turns out he was a natural he's earned salesman of the Year Awards and a six-figure salary do you tell customers about your past now yeah you didn't ask what some people will be like man you're like one of the mob guys you know I mean I'm like believe it or not I am you know but I've changed I've autographed books for some of my customers I asked for the book The Hitman written by two Philadelphia journalists details vz's criminal past and efforts to turn his life around search for peace and on most Sundays you'll find John veezy here a church near his home I'm not over there yet but I got baptized uh I'm working on with my pastor I've been on every week now I actually drive the bus for him you are a church bus driver yeah good morning how are you doing young lady all right like I always say now I'm not who I want to be I'm Not Who I'm going to be but I'm definitely not the person I used to be I don't believe it you're not buying nickel I'm not buying it reporter George Anastasia isn't alone in his skepticism many in South Philadelphia don't believe these he is capable of changing he's found God because it's expedient to find God because he's at somewhere in Middle America and it works to find God there I don't think if he's back on the street corner of South Philly he's found God he's looking to avenge what happened to his brother he's looking to settle scores his brother's murder almost 20 years ago has remained an obsession we learned that on visits to Philadelphia these he has made threats against those he thinks were responsible Kathy changelini says she's been a target for years it's frightening it's aggravating it's intimidating why would John Beasley threaten you he believes that my husband has killed his brother her husband John changolini and others were tried in 2001 for the murder of Billy veezy and found not guilty but John vesi maintains shangolini did murder Billy as payback for his first hit when he killed changolini's brother Michael Kathy says VZ has posted menacing pictures on Facebook and left her voicemails that she saved like this one from 2011. if I get caught I will get you John how's your wife feel about that maybe I'll hit early Punk he's the punk he threatens me cause my husband a punk he's the punk he threatens women that's what he does John veezy lives under an alias and few in his new community are aware of his past but over the last five years his name has appeared in at least four police reports in 2008 an argument in a restaurant led to a fight I waited for him to take his drink and I'll size them up and I hit him with a straight good good punch and the glass went through his face vizi was arrested and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery his victim required 25 stitches and plastic surgery only reason is big for me because I'm a killer you think about how many of your friends at a ballroom fight growing up that's it and talking to you sometimes I wonder if you're still just a tough guy or if you're still part of you a bad guy now some of you all have to wonder I guess I mean uh I don't know I would say that if that's open for debate Linda Vecchio was a highly decorated FBI agent who helped put some of the mafia's most notorious leaders Behind Bars he's also one of the few FBI agents ever charged with murder it was his relationship with a violent mob informant known as the Grim Reaper that got him and the FBI in trouble he's telling the story for the first time in a new book and to us tonight it's rare to get an inside look at the shadowy world of informants and their handlers it's rarer still to hear an FBI agent describe a brutal Mafia killer as his friend but that is exactly what Linda Vecchio told us he says his informance information helped [ __ ] the mob to get it however de Vecchio has been accused of making a deal with the Devil I didn't make any Bargains with it I wasn't dancing with the devil I was dancing with a with a guy that was very close to the devil he was a tough guy but that was what they were paying me to do I got close to members of organized crime so we could eliminate them do you feel like you walked up to the line yeah yeah sure I got close to it I I freely admit that in the 1980s the mafia was a big problem in New York City and this was as close as law enforcement often got surveillance footage taken outside a mob hangout called The Wimpy boys Social Club in Bensonhurst Brooklyn an area then controlled by the Colombo family one of the most notorious Wise Guys was Greg Scarpa who had a reputation for brutality it was a made guy a button in the Colombo family a tough guy too very tough it was absolutely Fearless One of the toughest guys I've ever seen his toughness may have been legendary but with no one in the Colombo family knew was that the Grim Reaper was also a rat in the 1960s he had secretly provided the FBI with detailed information about fellow Mobsters but he'd had a falling out with the bureau and broke off relations in 1980 de Vecchio wanted Scarpa back so he decided to take a big chance he drove up to the gangster's home unannounced and blocked scarpa's car as he was pulling out of his driveway you know it was like for you and I said you know I'd like to speak with you I do need some help you know I want to get schooled in the life you know educate me about two weeks later he called and he said come alone and I did FBI agents aren't supposed to meet alone with informants but de Vecchio got special permission Scarpa was considered a top Echelon informant and great care was taken to keep their meetings secret when law enforcement officials announced one of the most important prosecutions ever against the mob in 1985 very few people knew that Greg scarpa's information had played a role it was called the commission case this is a great day for law enforcement and it not only catapulted a young prosecutor named Rudy Giuliani into the Limelight it also sent the heads of three of the five crime families away for Life de Vecchio got promoted and ended up leading two organized crime squads in New York Greg Scarpa got paid sixty six thousand dollars for the information he supplied over 12 years and when he was arrested for credit card fraud de Vecchio helped keep him out of jail his career and his life and his meal year that he worked in was so different than mine it was fascinating to me to learn about that I like the guy you know I make no bones about that I'm not ashamed of that doesn't mean I condone what he did it was a friendship it was a friendship he was but Greg scarpo wasn't just a run-of-the-mill mobster he was a stone cold killer he's believed to have murdered at least 12 people during the time he was an informant de Vecchio told us that on one occasion scorpa even let him know he'd killed another mobster there was a body found in Brooklyn one day I said who did the work who did the murder killed him yeah and he smiled what did that smile tell you a smile told me he did it he didn't tell me he did it but I knew him well enough that you know he gave me that knowing look like I did it you know I did it and I'm telling you I did it but I'm not telling you I did it in words when he smiled and you thought okay it means he killed that guy is that something you would investigate no no the guy was dead I mean his calluses that may sound the person was dead is not going to bring him back Ellen Coachella was a federal prosecutor who worked on cases with Linda Vecchio's Squad you are absolutely not supposed to keep an informant on the street that is killing people even if that person is giving you valuable information which may have other arrests as a result of it and the question I would put to your question is when is it valuable enough information that you let people continue to kill other people on the street in 1991 a war started between two rival factions of the Colombo family Greg Scarpa is believed to have killed more people than anybody else the whole time you're meeting with him during the war as an informant he's also going around killing people yes he is that's correct and did you know that at the time sure I knew that because I knew the guy he was but if you know the guy you're talking to to stop the war is actually the guy who's conducting the war he's not he wasn't the only one conducting the war everybody was shooting everybody I think that it became more valuable to him to have this informant on the street than it was to pursue other law enforcement goals so you think David was protecting Scarpa yes protecting him she says by giving Scarpa sensitive law enforcement information prosecutors first became suspicious when scarpa's son who was also involved in organized crime went on the Run just before he was going to be arrested those suspicions grew when some of scarpa's crew got busted and started talking to authorities there was at least two of them that told us they had a source in law enforcement and one of them basically was the guy who stayed at scarpa's right hand so he saw Scarpa go off and get phone calls and then come back and say Here's an address where I think we can find somebody to kill I just got it from my source after hearing what scarpa's associates had to say four FBI agents accused their boss Linda Vecchio of leaking information to his informant Greg Scarpa one of the agents specifically remembered davecchio asking for addresses that ended up in scarpa's hands and these were no ordinary addresses they were the suspected hideouts of mobsters Greg Scarpa was trying to kill did you ever give Scarpa any law enforcement information never never his son disappeared right on the eve of him about to be arrested by the DEA did you tip him off for that no I did not I went to him and asked him I said you know where he is he says I don't know where he is Lynn was he lying to me maybe but he looked me in the ass I don't know where he is Lynn the FBI launched an internal investigation of De Vecchio which went on for years but came up with nothing in 2006 however the Brooklyn district attorney charged avicio with murder accusing him of telling Scarpa who to kill and where to find them the Brooklyn District Attorney's case fell apart when a key witness was thoroughly discredited during the trial former FBI agents who supported de Vecchio applauded as the charges were dismissed but the judge who released avecchio criticized him and the FBI for making a quote deal with the devil letting Scarpa get away with his crimes for close to 15 years de Vecchio retired from the FBI in 1996 and now runs A Private Investigations business in Florida he feels he's been wrongly accused and unfairly maligned which is why he's written a book and is speaking to us we effectively broke the back of organized crime by using people such as Gregory Scarpa you basically gave this guy a pass because he was giving you good information if that's a perception that people have so be it I can't change their mind but is that the truth no I don't think it's the truth at all you kept him out on the streets a guy who you knew at the time was murdering people it's wonderful to sit in your Ivory Tower somewhere and say oh how can you do that well why don't you go out in the street and try working that sometime try making the case try talking to a wise guy try getting that information

Channel: 60 Minutes

Views: 960,318

Keywords: whitey bulger, cbs news, winter hill gang, 60 minutes, organized crime, Lin DeVecchio, John Veasey, mafia, mob, five families, columbo family, goodfellas, godfather, real mafia stories, philadelphia, new york city, crime

Id: ELjqOQWr-Vk

Length: 36min 59sec (2219 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 19 2023