Has the Mob ever tried to track down informants?

Im a long time browser first time poster and a big fan of the Sopranos and most Mafia movies. One thing I have always wondered about is if there has been any cases where the mafia has attempted to track down people in the witness protection program. Its seems that once there in the program they are safe and have nothing to worry about. Does the mob even use any resources to try and track them down? Save for the fluke chance of Tony Soprano running into an informant I have never heard of any instances. Thank you for any information you can provide.

If the Feds ever lost a witnesss, the general public would never find out about it. They could never admit it because it would ruin their credibility.

There was a Benny Hill skit in which he was interviewing a mob turncoat. The guy was going on about if his former friends ever saw his face he'd be whacked straight away. Then Benny Hill said "I think you're sitting in my chair". Benny Hill was sitting in the shadowed portion of the studio. The gangster suddenly looked distressed and someone in the audience stood up and shot him.

So do you think when turncoats are on TV with the lights dimmed and their voices disguised they are overdoing it to just play the role? Do you think Higher profile infiltrators like Joe Pistone have a legitamate threat against them? If something happend to Joe we would Probably here about it.

Joe Pistone isn't an informant. He's an agent. And as I've speculated in other threads, I doubt he was ever in any danger. The cost to the mob would be devastating if they ever took out an agent, and they know it.

Back in the old days the mob would track down informants. But that was before the creation of the Witness Protection Program as part of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970. Today, the risks far outweigh the rewards involving tracking a turncoat down. Especially if the damage is already done and he's in the program. The Gambinos did try to track down Gravano in Arizona after he left the program but were unsuccessful. The real danger today still lies in before a guy flips but is suspected of being a rat. That's when they can still get killed, before they do any damage.

I think if they had the political power that they had under people like Costello, Ricca, Lansky or Lucchese they would have found a way to prevent things like Witness Protection Program or RICO from coming into being.

But times change.

We'll probably never know, because, as PB said, if the government admitted that the program had been breached successfully, it'd fall apart in no time flat. And as IL posted, the damage is done when the informant testifies, not when he's in the program. Still, I don't underestimate the urge for vengeance in the Mob, even if it doesn't make much common sense.

I know that I called him an infiltrator, not an informant.

I heard about the Gambino's tracking down Gravano, and from my understanding they had found out where Gravano was but were apprehended before the hit went down by the FBI who were doing survalence on the Gambino's who were doing survalence on Gravano. Was it Junior Gotti who gave the order to track down Gravano?

It was Peter Gotti who gave the order to track down Gravano, and Gravano gave up his cover cause he wasnt in the program anywhere and had a business out in the open in Arizona and did an interview with Barbara Walters taunting his old LCN mates to try and get him.

Indeed. Here's George Anastasia descrbing an example of a similar case playing out in Federal court in Philadelphia now.

Mob Scene, Tennessee Hitman testifies against cousin
http://www.philly.com/philly/video/VideoArchive.html?vgenre=Mob%20Scene

Federal witness murdered

I think Gravano was out in the open, operating a swimming pool construction business in Arizona. Wouldn't have been too difficult to find him.

Thanks for all the replies guys. Where is Gravano now? I know he was arrested and changed for being the head of an ecstacy ring in Arazona but is he still in prison?

No big deal, Dapper Don, but that interview was with Jane Sawyer.

I remember it well. It was right around the time that "Underboss," by Peter Maas was released, back in '97. He was half promoting the book during that interview (so much for the "Son of Sam" law ).

The thing I remember most was Sawyer's shocked expression, mouth agape, at the admissions that Gravano made during the interview. It really was akin to watching a nebbish white journalist interview a Black Panther back in the '60s.

She did a horrible job.

Yes, he's still in prison.

Hes in the same prison as former Lucchese Underboss Anthony Casso. Casso says Gravano looks like a dying AIDS patient. He has contracted Grave's disease.

He'll probably be in prison for the rest of his life. He brokered the deal of the century with the Feds: admitted to 19 murders but when he agreed to testify against Gotti, they got him a sentence of 5 years--and he got credit for time served. Went into Witness Protection and had plastic surgery. Then he went out of the program and he dragged his wife and kids down with him in that X rap. What a f*****g idiot.

Amen to that!

Roy DeMeo clipped Patrick Penny (The guy who witnessed Roy and Nino shooting the 2 Eppolito's and of which Nino got jailed for).
But I dont know if Penny was in the witness protection programme or if he simply went off on his own!