When the mob was the prime target of feds in the 1970s 1980s the feds would do anything to put down the mob as the ecample of Rico Connoly and DeVecchio explain but today that the cartels,the bikers or the street gangs are the primly targets its more easy for the mib to try to get a feds on their pockets?
I read the Bongiovanni case in Buffalo and for sure there are other cases.

This is an interesting thread you started Furio. I'm curious to read the responses.

I don't know much about the Mob to be honest, but I just think accepting a bribe would be very risky these days, With the surveillance equipment they have, recording devices and even cameras so small they could be hidden anywhere, I just don't think you'll see a lot of bribery. Besides if law enforcement wants money from criminals they could just steal it from them. What is a criminal going to do about it, file a civil rights complaint?

After all of the fed's bullshit over the last four/five years, I find then just a corrupt as the criminals they say they're targeting. James Comey. Fucking disgrace to the legal system.

Bongiovanni grew up with those guys I'm sure there are more feds who have a similar history, but not all of them are corrupt.

The mobsters can use an intermediary and for sure a 100k bribe for know an informant name shouldnt be difficult to hide.

If you have money and connections you can make anything happen. Law enforcement are just humans too and I always bet on mans capacity to sin...drink,smoke,bang bitches that aren’t our wives etc etc...it’s in our nature....that being said if I was law enforcement I’d be afraid to take take money from wiseguys because of the heat and snitching concerns unless I was dealing w certain guys in the Genovese,Chicago,Detroit,Buffalo and Kansas City Families
Now w the drug cartels it’s a different story because your talking about 25 million dollar bribes for example not to mention international connections and the ability to wipe out someone’s entire family here and abroad...

The Cartels can easly kidnap your family and say to you "Do what we want or your family die" they are more powerful while for a mob family a federal agent that say the name of the snitches or when the other agencies are focused and who are focused,can save mobsters from prison.
I remember a Departed scene where Costello was making a deal with some chinese men and his man send a mex "No phones".Or when the police are coming so Costello can escape with a boat.

Sometimes I feel we're overestimating the power of the cartels in the USA a bit.

In Mexico for instance the cartels largely have the power to do as they please, but in the USA I really doubt they're just going to get their way by kidnapping or murdering feds and their families. If they really had that power, we would've known by now.

When DEA agent Kiki Camarena was killed by the Guadalajara Cartel in Mexico (not even in the USA) it meant the end of that cartel. The US put such an amount of pressure on Mexico that they had to crackdown on that cartel until they were no more. That was basically the only time an American LE agent got hit by a cartel and it concerned a DEA agent (forget about an FBI agent).

Mexican cartels aren't stupid and they're not going to target American LE leave alone feds. Their direct infiltrative power in the USA is limited and that's working just fine for them. They fight each other over in Mexico for the smuggling roots, but once the dope hits US soil, they leave it to street, prison and biker gangs to take care of all the rest, mid level wholesale and retail.

The DOJ (Department of Justice) is feared from cartels to terrorist. I don’t think anyone, really wants a problem with them.

Dutch drug bosses usually don't want to do business in the US because the Americans often induce someone to commit a crime which is prohibited in Holland . Like in the case of the black cobra also American prisons and sentences are brutal compared to Europe.

It’s much harder to flip a agent.

They don’t grow up in neighborhoods that are Italian or in a neighborhood that is like the major cities used to be .

The agents know the technology and they know everyone rats .

One of the only ways is if the agent has a vice or living a lie .

You just don’t find neighborhood guys becoming Feds because the neighborhood is gone and lets face it American kids dont go outside so they don’t mingle with others from different parts of town to get them known as a kid to make connections as a adult

What do you mean induce someone to commit a crime? Are you saying if a Dutch crime boss were to do business with an American crime boss/family/syndicate that the American criminals would force the Dutch to do something criminal first to prove loyalty or maybe I’m misunderstanding?

Or do you mean the Americans (as in American LE) would entrap the Dutch criminals, And entrapment is an illegal practice in Holland?

Thanks.

The latter entrapment provocation is here forbidden, but Dutch LE does it anyway working with the DEA in major drug cases.

As I said,the Armenians used a lawyer as intermediary and 10k a month is very cheap as a bribe.

I doubt outlaw bike clubs in the US are bribing feds. This ain't Canada.

A lot of feds made good careers off biker clubs in the last 25 years including starting private businesses to be police training schools about bikers, where the feds as individuals pocket all our tax dollars for these courses/seminars.

Why would they take some piddly bribe, it's not gonna compare to their salaries, benefits and pensions. Even in the crazy 60's and 70's I can only think of a couple random one offs, where bikers tried to kill a judge, and I'm not sure if they were even federal.

Furio, I can tell you that in the New York region, and I'd imagine anywhere else in the country, 99.9% of FBI agents are not taking a bribe nowadays. If you offer a bribe, you'll have the brackets on you in two seconds.

That goes for DEA, IRS agents, etc. The local NYC Police Department, Nassau and Suffolk PD, West-PD, etc., are NOT taking bribes either. But I'd say if the bribe is big enough maybe 5-10% would go for the bait.

But as far as FeeBees go, I guess if the bribe was tremendous, and we're talking $500,000 to $1-mill here. Most anyone would be tempted. Fed, local, or anybody else for that matter. After all, they are only human too!

But lets face it. How many guys do you know have a 1/2 mill, or 1 mill to give some cop??? Lol......and if they did have that type of cash. Are they gonna give that kind of wood up?? Lol

They'd rather go do the time, unless they were facing 20, 30 years. Or life.

Am I correct here or what?

Plus you gotta remember that lots of these cops and feds make decent money today. So to risk their ass, it would have to be a pretty big bribe indeed

So the fed that was paid by the armenians was only the 0,01 of the cases?

https://www.ranker.com/list/rogue-fbi-agents/cheryl-adams-richkoff

Rogue FBI Agents Who Went Hog Wild While Working For Uncle Sam

Cheryl Adams Richkoff

Updated July 10, 2017 15.9k views

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was created to help protect United States citizens from widespread criminal activity. Agents and FBI informants are highly trained and usually highly disciplined individuals. However, the agency - which was initially directed by the morally iffy J. Edgar Hoover - is run by ordinary flawed humans. Given the power and reach of this intelligence agency, who wouldn't be tempted to stray from the straight and narrow path? Most resist, but there are the few renegade FBI agents who went shockingly crooked. These rogue FBI agents did not uphold their oaths to defend the U.S., and in very surprising ways.

Photo: Petras Gagilas/Flickr/gagilas

• Boston G-Man Can't Resist The Mafia's Allure













Photo: FBI / Wikimedia Commons

The story of FBI agent John Connolly is a good example of the old adage "What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive," and it is only recently his crimes have come to light.

This native Bostonian began his FBI career in 1968 and was set to retire into a cushy private sector job in 1990. That same year his secret career life was publicly exposed. Connolly had a stellar reputation at the FBI, but the truth was he'd been dabbling in corruption since the mid '70s. Outwardly, he claimed to be fighting to end mafia crime, but as his assignments drew him closer into the criminal world he became a part of it, shielding several of the country's most notorious organized crime bosses including James "Whitey" Bulger.

For years, Connolly kept Whitey and his associate Stephen Flemmi on the streets crediting them as informants aiding in hiding their misdeeds. The charade ended in 1999 when Connolly was arrested. Three years later he was convicted of racketeering, lying to an FBI agent, and obstruction of justice. He was sentenced to ten years in prison. But it turned out his crimes went further.

In 2005, Connolly was charged with the the 1982 murder of John Callahan, the president of World Jai-Alai. Worried that Callahan would testify in a case and implicate Bulger and possibly himself, he arranged for a hit man to take Callahan out. Connolly was convicted of second-degree murder in 2008 and was given a forty-year prison sentence. Though he is involved in an appeal, he remains in a Florida prison.

• FBI Agent Colludes With Russians
Photo: Yevgeny Feldman / Wikimedia Commons

Russian espionage isn't just the stuff of James Bond movies. In 1997, former FBI agent Earl Pitts was sentenced to nearly three decades in prison for selling U.S. intelligence secrets to the Russians for payments in excess of $224,000. His relationship with the Russians lasted at least five years. He met with Russian agents in airports, libraries, and other public places until the Russians ratted him out to the FBI as a double agent.

He wasn't as sneaky as he imagined, however. Apparently, Pitts's wife started to catch on and did her own undercover work to spy on the spy. She relayed her intuitions to the FBI. When asked why he had done it, Pitts alluded to a long held grudge against the bureau saying he wanted to "pay them back." 

• Love Struck Agent Lies To Boss And Becomes ISIS Bride

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Photo: Kurdish Struggle / Flickr/KurdishStruggle

Nothing in Daniela Greene's background would have suggested she would wind up a double agent, a criminal, and wife to a terrorist. Raised in Germany, she later relocated with her parents to the United States where she eventually completed a master's degree in history and was hired as a contract linguist for the FBI in 2011. 

The FBI made use of her German language skills by assigning her to research a German terrorist known at that time to her only as "Individual A." Greene researched and discovered her subject to be Denis Cusbert, a German former rap artist who became obsessed with and eventually joined ISIS. He landed in Syria where, due to his music background, he became something of a terrorist celebrity, especially when he was featured in a video threatening then President Obama. Over time, Greene found ways to correspond with Cusbert and their relationship turned romantic. Days after Cusbert's video aired, Greene made plans to join him in Syria by feigning a trip to Munich to see her parents. She left Germany for Turkey and made her way into Syria where she married Cusbert within hours of arrival. 

It didn't take Greene long to realize she had taken the romance dangerously far. She emailed an acquaintance, "I was weak and didn't know how to handle anything anymore. I really made a mess of things this time." Within five weeks American authorities caught up to her. Greene was arrested and returned to the U.S. but was released after only 9 months in jail. Because of her cooperation with authorities, the FBI spun her involvement with Cusbert as that of an unsuspecting linguist duped by a conniving terrorist. 

• Furious Over Wife's Affair With A Woman, FBI Agent Attempts Murder
Photo: Christina Bonello/Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

Usually a derailed FBI agent evokes thoughts of double agents or corruption but sometimes an FBI agent just happens to be unhinged. Such was the case of Eugene Bennett. This agent was in the midst of a bitter custody battle with his wife, Marguerite Bennett, when he discovered she had conducted an affair with best-selling author, Patricia Cornwell. This was, apparently, the ultimate betrayal.

Using his training as an investigator and arms specialist he came up with a plan to murder his wife and collect life insurance. He went to the family's church, kidnapped the minister, and threatened him with death if he didn't get Marguerite to come to the church. As a former FBI agent, Marguerite was suspicious and arrived with a gun. She attempted to shoot her ex-husband but missed. 

Bennett was sentenced to 23 years in prison, getting a lighter sentence due to the defense's insistence their client suffered from mental disorders. Bennett claimed the FBI and his undercover work for the agency were to blame for his mental "damage." 

• Agent's Bribery Plans Are Discovered
Photo: Public Domain Pictures / Public Domain Pictures

Robert Lustyik was no ordinary G-man - he was a special agent for the FBI. Which makes his interest in obstruction of justice and rampant bribery even more sleazy. In 2014 and 2015, Lustyik pleaded guilty to conspiracy, fraud, and obstruction charges for two separate schemes.

The first was accepting a bribe from a businessman, Michael Taylor of American International Security Corp., who was under investigation for a kickback scheme. Lustyik listed him as a protected source and kept his business safe, collecting money in return. After being sentenced to 10 years for this crime in 2014, he was sentenced to another five in 2015 when a previous plan to sell classified information fell apart. Thwarted by his initial arrest for the bribery, Lustyik was unable to complete his scheme to sell info to a Bangladeshi politician on his rival.  This time he brought two co-conspirators down with him, each getting jail time and no one getting the fortune they had hoped to make.

• Deceased Boston Marathon Terrorist May Have Been Double Agent

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Photo: Aaron "Tango" Tang / Wikimedia Commons

The horrific images of the Boston Marathon bombing, a vicious terrorist act committed in April of 2013, will forever haunt the American public. The men responsible are equally haunting. Two brothers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, were identified as the bombers and at first glance they appeared to be two confused, brainwashed, young men. But some investigators believe the elder brother, Tamerlan, may have been a double agent, working for both the FBI and Russia. 

The theory is complex and  controversial, but some argue that the timeline the FBI provided to the public regarding what they knew of Tamerlan and when they knew it is vague and cloudy at best. What is known is that Russian authorities were in communication with the FBI about Tamerlan Tsarnaev at least two years before the bombing. Additionally, Tsarnaev had displayed erratic behavior unbecoming of a trained extremist. Skeptics would argue his behavior was that of someone trying to attract the attention of extremist recruiters in order to report them to the FBI. But if the FBI knew about Tsarnaev and his public behavior so early, why was nothing done sooner to stop his violent plan?

Tamerlan Tsarnaev died as he attempted to evade capture and his brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was convicted of using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction. He was sentenced to death and remains in prison.

• Rogue Agent Caught Framing
Photo: FBI / Wikimedia Commons

One rogue agent who found his past catching up with him is Agent H. Paul Rico. Rico kept the truth of who killed notorious gangster Edward Deegan to himself. Information that would have kept four innocent men out of jail. Rico was told by his sources that the Winter Hill gang was responsible for the murder but stayed mum during the arrests and trial. Two of the men died in prison before the truth came out during a 2003 U.S. House Judiciary Committee investigation. 

Rico remained arrogant and uncaring about the men who had suffered in prison, responding to the court with, "What do you want, tears?" Justice was served when Rico was charged with murder for helping Whitey Bulgar and Stephen Flemmi assassinate Roger Wheeler in 1981.

• G-Man With Addictive Personality Falls Into Gambling Spiral With Federal Funds

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Photo: Ppntori / Wikimedia Commons

When FBI Agent Jerry Sullivan fled from his Florida home to an Everglades resort favored by FBI agents in 1997, he knew the jig was up. Suspected, then convicted, for stealing more than $400,000 from the FBI, Sullivan was sentenced to five years in federal prison. His case wasn't just that of a theft, it showcased the downward spiral of an undercover agent with an addictive personality drawn into the gambling practices of the gangsters he was tasked with spending so much time with. 

His propensity to gambling and drinking led not only to the money thieving, but also lying in federal court to get a mafia member released from prison early in hopes for cash for his assistance. During the investigation Sullivan's offenses became so numerous the committee started calling the case "Operation Lost Count." Psychologists who evaluated Sullivan's mental state later concluded the former agent was an alcoholic, a pathological gambler, and possessed both OCD and borderline personality traits. All of which calls into question the FBI's ability to filter candidates for undercover work.

• Ex-Agent Plans Robbery Then Claims To Have Been Undercover

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Photo: LeoFra / Pixabay/LeoFra

One would think with all the testing and training done to become an FBI agent there wouldn't be so many stupid enough to abuse their positions and go rogue. But, alas, they do exist. Vo Duong “Ben” Tran worked for 10 years as a trusted FBI agent before he was discharged and he came up with a scheme to profit from his training. In 2008, Tran tried to stage a home invasion robbery at a house he suspected contained a quantity of illegal drugs that would be worth a lot. Little did he know two of the four men he hired to help him were undercover, one as an agent the other an informant.

Before the plan could even get underway the FBI raided the hotel where Tran and co. were making final preparations. Tran and his accomplice were arrested and charged with four felonies involved with the planned robbery. The strangest twist, though, is that Tran would later claim he was undercover himself. He says he was attempting to show the FBI their informant - who ratted him out - was unreliable and to prove to the FBI he had strategic and tactical skills worthy of getting him re-hired at the bureau. 

• The Watergate Scandal Gave Us The FBI's Most Notorious Rogue Agent

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Photo: edward stojakovic / Flickr/akasped

G. Gordon Liddy is probably the best-known rogue FBI agent in American history. He was one of the FBI agents and Republican operatives caught up in the infamous Watergate case. The case, which swept the nation in 1973, involved FBI agent-led efforts to dig up dirt on the Democratic party to sway Nixon's re-election. Liddy was front and center in the case as the man who came up with the plan to break into the Watergate Hotel where the Democratic National Committee was headquartered to try to find information.

All involved in the scandal were eventually found in an exhaustive investigation which also resulted in President Nixon's resignation. Liddy was convicted of conspiracy, burglary, and illegal wiretapping. He was sentenced to twenty years in prison. But Liddy certainly profited from his involvement by writing a best-selling novel that was made into a TV film. He also hosted his own radio show for more than 20 years and was given a reduced sentence from President Jimmy Carter. Liddy later stated that he truly felt the Democrats were bad for the country, and so he was willing to go rogue for the Republican cause.