The Murder, the Mobster and the FBI

we have the story of a Russian mobster turn FBI informant turn floridian playboy now accused of aiding in the murder of a rap star what sounds like a pulp novel plot is a startling piece of unraveling nonfiction complete with fast cars and violence and backroom deals and here to tell it ABC's chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross this is a story about a murder a murder of an Atlanta rapper called lil phat and what she know about sniper thought is the road I turn dude in assassination and about a high living former Russian mobster turned FBI informant 85000 man Isha paya accused in the murder of lil phat something he strongly denies there is no reason to be afraid of me I'm the nicest guy you'll ever meet and about the FBI agent in the Atlanta office who was ship iove's handler Dante Jackson now under investigation by the FBI itself after allegations he obstructed the murder case while receiving extravagant gifts from his informant it's nice to have an FBI agent that's looking over your shoulder I guess our ABC News Nightline investigation into all this began months ago in Fort Lauderdale a place where people come to have fun and where a party van cruising down a 1a seemed to fit right in which is why we chose to use yes there is as the perfect cover for an undercover camera surveillance team to get footage of supply of a 35 year old Soviet emigres who we were told was involved in a huge criminal operation and with a well documented record of ruthless violence as a Russian mafia boss in New York beat up people had terrorists mindset threatening extorting kidnapping muggings torturing people New York lawyer Ben Brafman came to no-show pay off well when he cross-examined him about his crimes how bad was he on a scale of one to ten probably a hundred pimping young women who were kept captive and threatening to kill their families in the Soviet Union if they in work as prostitutes you name the crime you know he did it for all his criminal convictions shapow F could be serving life in prison or at least deported to Russia but he is not instead we found him leading a life of luxury and fancy cars in South Florida one day in her red Ferrari the next day a silver Mercedes the next a top-of-the-line Range Rover all thanks to the FBI and federal prosecutors who again and again have protected him and kept him on the street as an informant and government witness is very smart he's managed to play the system for years and years I need these people out of here right now and as we found when we first approached him Manish abaya is not someone who likes to be challenged we're from ABC News where were you four women to get out of here you know the allegations against you sir I don't care about that well he hasn't changed much I don't answer to you I answer to a judge and a lawyer yeah the same arrogance same tough guy out of my property right now we want to ask but just a few weeks later we saw the other side of Jabalia as he invited us back for a spin around town in a black Maserati and some spin and what an honest fellow he has become my father made me thought that I would grow up to be a nice Jewish boy now you want he had hopes admits almost two million dollars worth of luxury cars including a half million dollar rolls-royce ship I have set out to try to talk his way out of his latest troubles and allegations that protected by the FBI he had returned to his violent criminal ways how can we rely anything you're saying how can you rely because I'm saying it because I stand behind what I say but you have lied a lot I have lied to the government yes me were you a thug is that fair to say no I wasn't a thug I was just not afraid it's two different things geppu you've came to the United States in 1989 as a 12 year old 16 years old I had my first mistake is Benna so you know I went to school just to show off not to you know not to study and by his own later admission in a National Geographic documentary teenage hoodlum quickly became a major organized crime terror in New York ultimately making millions of dollars just so I have my background straight what have you been convicted of I was convicted of you know running a rock you know being in a organized crime group back in the days arson arson kidnapping kidnapping extortion to be exact conspiracy to all that fire marshals are investigating a fire evicted as one of the men behind the arson that destroyed this huge supermarket this morning it went to three alarm but to avoid a long prison term or deportation shapow F quickly made a deal to cooperate with the government and the FBI and rat out his partners in crime you were convicted of crimes that could have put you in prison for life yes could have led to your deportation yes none of that happen yes of course none of that happened was I cooperated you took the FBI's way out I took my way out yes at the time the FBI and federal prosecutors said Japan was one of the most important witnesses ever against the Russian mob I don't see the wording now despite his tattoo the FBI informant says he does have one regret given your background did it bother you to be known as a snitch as a rat of course it still bothers me but you are till this day but it worked after his testimony he was set free to Atlanta and promised protection by the FBI that was 2002 who was the Atlanta man hiding these stolen cars just three years later pi f was back to his criminal ways caught in a luxury stolen car ring operating in Georgia South Carolina and Ohio chipiya was arrested convicted but served less than three years because he agreed to testify against others in the stolen car ring how many strikes do you think you deserve I deserved one strike well you got one strike and then you got a second strike okay so I got lucky that was 2005 fast forward to this year and again allegations it's the same old story with shipov back to his criminal ways selling stolen cars and worse with victim saying he was still being protected by the government he's just he's he's untouchable one of the many alleged victims we heard about Travis Jones and his wife Elizabeth say ship I have cheated them by selling them a stolen car not only was Jones briefly taken into custody for driving a stolen car but he's out the $10,000 cash he says he gave ship iya you can't drive it no but when Jones filed a police report in his hometown of Roswell Georgia he says he was told by local police that their hands were tied that the FBI was protecting ship iya they told me that he is involved with other agencies in that they're using him right now and that they he can't be arrested but he's being protected correct I want to talk to you about some of your car deals sir I don't know what you want to talk about comments and in fact when the ABC station in Atlanta wsb-tv did a story about supportive and the alleged stolen car ring earlier this year reporter Jim Strickland says he got an unusual call from the FBI in Atlanta just a half hour after this confrontation with Shibuya at his business jail sir I've been doing this 32 years it's never happened before it's got to tell you something what does it tell you it tells me that Manny was interwoven with the FBI in Atlanta deeply enough so that he can make one phone call and they're instantly calling me to find out exactly what the story is and it turns out that the story is that a criminal the FBI twice helped keep out of prison is now accused of felony murder something we learned only after this interview you were a serious criminal connected to Russian organized crime you testified for the FBI it puts you back on the street and you broke the law again that's the record okay so what's the point the point is you have criminal ways that don't seem to go away that's not true that's not true I'm just smarter than you and that's it I'm an average guy that things ahead and that's what it is and people can't stand that stupid people can't stand that smart people they work with me but as we saw and they're going in heavily armed federal agents and police swarmed into his Florida business ship hiya may not be quite as smart as he thinks he is when we come back if you saw his Maserati speed buy on the streets of South Florida you might think that Manny chill paya maybe a music producer of perhaps a well-heeled hedge fund magnate only the most cynical among us or maybe staunch movie fans would suspect he's an infamous criminal accused of conspiring to kill a rap star we now return to ABC's chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross in a case that is truly stranger than fiction as we rode around Fort Lauderdale when a black Maserati the man behind the wheel Manny's ship I was doing all he could to persuade be he was no longer a ruthless Russian mobster protected by the FBI no don't just go slander somebody just because of my past don't use my past as a wild card you know what I mean and back at his luxury car business Chicago denied he was dealing in stolen cars or doing anything illegal can you sit here now and say you're not involved in any ongoing collective most definitely nothing what's the wear nothing whatsoever most definitely but only a few weeks later and they're going in heavily armed police and federal agents raided ship is operation and took him into custody he is now indicted by a grand jury in Georgia along with four other men on charges of murder felony murder and street gang activity in possession of a firearm by a convicted felon the murder of zippy was Melvin Vernell popular Atlanta rapper using the name lil phat lil phat was murdered in June of last year outside the hospital where his fiance was about to give birth he was shot multiple times next to his car in the parking deck authorities contend that at the same time Shipp Ioffe was serving as an informant for the FBI he helped arrange the murder of the rapper by tracking the victims vehicle for the accused triggerman with the GPS device this defendant actually tracked the vehicle on over 11 occasions and provided that tracking information to the other two defendants who ultimately killed and shot the victim there at the hospital in court last week in Atlanta suppose lawyer George platini's said his client was not involved in the murder and that as an FBI informant he had kept his FBI agent and handler fully informed everything goes through the handler and so basically the handler delivered Manny to the FBI headquarters and he debriefed him and he told him everything that he knew about the tracking devices but then the prosecutor said in fact chip Ioffe had essentially calmed the FBI by lying about his involvement to his handler and he went into the FBI on July 30th of 2012 some six weeks after our victim was murdered and he lied to the FBI he lied to federal agents he did not cooperate with the state and the evidence will show that he has done nothing but lie about his involvement in this murder so it's simply not true that he is a cooperating witness with the FBI or the state when it comes to this matter and adding to the intrigue according to Georgia authorities and the lawyer is the role of the FBI agent who was chiffons handler chip eius lawyer says the agent asked for lavish gifts and cash from Shipp if' and then tried to block local detectives investigating Chicago in the murder case so the FBI agent was obstructing the investigation of a murder that's my opinion it is a manís as well according to the lawyer the FBI agent asked for the best tickets to see the Miami Heat basketball team play and also asks as the lawyer for expensive watches the use of luxury cars VIP entrance to exclusive nightclubs even $3,500 in cash he gave him cash yes he gave him hotel rooms yes jewelry yes watches yes fancy cars at least $100,000 cars at least for the use of the FBI agent yes and it was it under the assurance that they were for lawful law enforcement practices FBI officials say they are taking the allegations against its agent very seriously the Department of Justice Inspector General and the FBI's own Inspection Division are both investigating according to what officials told ABC News in this statement be assured that the FBI holds every one of our 36,000 employees to the highest standards and when an allegation of this conduct arises it is taken seriously and addressed the statement reads it would hardly be the first time an FBI agent at an informant have been accused of crossing the strict legal lines most prominently Boston mob boss Whitey Bulger accused of giving gifts to FBI agents for years as they look the other way when he allegedly killed rifles but that's part of the criminal justice system you know there are thousands of people in the witness protection program who were very serious criminals and now they have new identities and they have new jobs and many of them turn their lives around the bad part is on occasion it doesn't work I knew that mani Shilpa of would be out on the street after the cases were over he got it he was a player he was a street guy it's hard to take someone like that and say okay you've signed a cooperation agreement now go out there and work in an office you know filing paper that's you know just not in his blood Manny Shivaya says being an FBI informant had nothing to do with his life of luxury and fast cars that he would have been better off serving his time in prison I don't think I got a better end of the deal you know be in a situation reversed I would have took my chances I would probably got convicted but I would have probably served my time and not lived in life that I'm living now why do you call it that why do I call what why is your life so objectionable to you didn't one reason me and you were sitting here talking that's one reason

Channel: ABC News

Views: 2,083,932

Keywords: Murder, FBI, Mobsters, Investigation, Brian Ross, Nightline, ABC, ABCNews, News, US

Id: nAh297EyYpc

Length: 15min 7sec (907 seconds)

Published: Thu May 30 2013