This Week In Gang LandA Secret 'Confidential Witness,' NOT Fat Dennis Delucia, Helped Feds Snare Colombo Family Leaders

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn sure seem to have gotten some very important help from a Colombo wiseguy in order to take down the crime family's Administration, along with three powerful capos and four other mobsters and associates in the biggest Mafia roundup in several years. But two weeks later, his identity remains a mystery.

That is despite persistent rumors and reports from several usually reliable sources who tabbed Colombo capo Dennis (Fat Dennis) Delucia, an 80-year-old wiseguy as the defector. In fact, though, the identity of the "confidential witness" who made tape recordings for prosecutors James McDonald and Devon Lash in which many defendants "discuss a variety of criminal activities" remains a well-guarded secret.

Sources say that on several occasions since the racketeering conspiracy indictment was filed two weeks ago, the Bronx-based geezer gangster told friends and associates he ran into at restaurants and other locations not to believe everything they read if he was identified as a turncoat. "His words should be heeded," one very reliable source told Gang Land yesterday.