There is the fact that there was an expose right after he died that detailed about a decade or two’s cooperation

There’s also the fact that his name is blacked out in informer reports from the 1960s and 1970s. Why black out his name? When the names of others like Carlo, Paul, Joe N. Gallo etc’s names aren’t blacked out

Plus there was a high level informant that did indeed give information on family administration level meetings.

In addition there were two Bergin Club sources - Willie Boy was one. The other has never been outed.

This informer had to at the very least be a Captain. Or higher than a Captain considering he gave info on meetings with the Boss and Capos.

I know Neil is considered “Mr LCN” because he was a “badass” but would anyone have guessed Greg Scarpa Sr was an informant if he hadn’t been outed posthumously? Scarpa was just as big a “badass” as Neil and still gave info.

Geez, are we going to do this with every legendary gangster that passes away? Are you so consumed with jealousy, bitterness, and rage that you have to try to take someone's legend? Get lost loser.

IMO O'Neill was NO rat! Lol, it's actually almost comical that people would even think that way.

Not withstanding that nearly anything in this life is possible, a percentage of 99.9999% says he was not!

Scarpa- It was known that he had a close relationship with L.E. there were rumblings in the neighborhood about him being bad because he never got pinched.
There was an incident that I read about that someone called him a rat and he found out about and he called him into his club and killed him on the spot.

https://mafiahistory.us/rattrap/index.html

Thats the website that lists alot of informers from the 60's and 70's

No..why don;t get lost fuckhead & learn 2 respect other ppls opinion as well as ppl who were on this board longer than you..Jackie Aprile is a stand up dude & does not deserve 2 b spoken 2 in that fashion.

I agree. That's an interesting site with lots of good thought provoking info about various fellas across the country who mostly likely 'opened up' over the years.

Uh oh, the wannabe Paulie Walnuts coming to the wannabe Jackie Aprie's rescue, practice what you preach and learn to respect my opinion. End of discussion, I won't be feeding your troll ass from this point on, you will be starved and ignored.

Jackie if you are genuinely curious and not just trying to rain on everyone's parade, my apologies. But it is true, every few months or so someone's trying to discredit another long deceased mobster known more than anything for being stand-up. But who really knows, maybe most of these guys who managed to die in bed really were rats.

Not trying to discredit anyone, but it’s clear SOMEONE at a high fuckin level was a rat in the Gambinos in the 60s and 70s. Someone who was at administration level meetings. Add in the fact that Bergin had two informants, one of which has never been revealed. Add to this that Neil’s name is blacked out in informer reports, where other guys’ names aren’t. I’m inclined to believe that either Neil, Lombardozzi, or another Capo was feeding the Feds info in this period.

We can rule out it being a low level guy. Someone low level wouldn’t have been able to report in detail on meetings regarding for example the period of the lead up to Paul’s election in 76 or his promotion to Acting Boss in 67. Those two reports alone are highly detailed and suggest someone who was at those meetings.

Add also into this the expose from Dec 1985 that outed Neil as an informer of 20 years. It’s possible he gave the Feds stuff. Just because he was a tough guy doesn’t mean he couldn’t have also talked. He had a lot of reasons to be dissatisfied with LCN. His mentor Tommy Rava was clipped and he had to sit by and deal with it. He served two Bosses (Carlo and Paul) who disregarded traditional LCN rules. He was passed over. That’s enough to disillusion someone.

Pretty sure Neil was wrapped up in the commission case, and would have almost for sure gotten life, but passed on before he went to trial. For that reason I doubt he was an informer, but you never know.

Neil wasn’t from the Bergin,
In Capeci’s book on Gotti they pretty much mail the 2nd informant.

It’s been many years since I read the book.
But it was Bergin guy.

The only thing that cannot be explained is why would Neil’s name be redacted?

That’s the only part that doesn’t make any sense

Here it is William Battistia was the 2nd informant from the Bergin
He went missing…

https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/01/nyregion/second-person-in-gotti-s-case-is-now-missing.html

This pops up now every month on different sites, ad it's ridiculous. It seems when he died, the FBI had a reporter print an "Expose" that he was a rat. If he had been one, they would don't have done that. It was just a way to demean him, and to get people talking on wiretaps. As for his name being blacked out on a report, those reports black out names all the time, even when it is obvious who's name is being redacted.

. Well Said!

Full of grammatical errors but well said? I had a hard time making out that heap of shit he wrote, I could've done better in first grade.

O.K....1 grammar error after the word why...how dare u talk 2 a catholic spelling bee champion on a board that knows u r nothing but a someone looking 4 a Jizzmatick result...& ..yes.. I did say that word..F...Y...!

And leave J CRUSHER out of this u fucknut.

Liggio, what sick pleasure could you possibly get by throwing insults at another poster for no reason at all? He didn't insult you. He didn't start a beef with you. What IS your problem here? Is this how you get your cheap thrills?

Like the old saying goes, "If you don't have something nice to say to someone, then you're better off saying nothing at all."

I suggest you man up, act mature, or at least try and act mature or fake it if you have to, and take that sage advice ok!!

. Agreed!

The comment you're talking about wasn't directed at the original poster, it was directed at hoodlum who insulted me first.

Back on point.

If Neil talked, it doesn’t discredit him. Greg Scarpa was still a tough guy, still someone who I wouldn’t want to mess with, and he talked a lot

I respect Neil Dellacroce, but let’s be honest - a lot of guys talked to the Feds in the 1960s. Hell, Carlo basically set up Vito Genovese on a drug rap. Lucky worked with the US government on the ports. Anthony Anastasia informed. Bill Bonnano did. Joe Bonnano wrote a goddamn book detailing a ton. Being an old timer, being a tough guy, these things don’t mean someone didn’t talk.

Look at what’s his name, in Vegas. The guy Casino’s based off. Lefty Rosenthal. He was an informant for years, and we only just learned it a few years ago

I’m not a supporter of ratting for myself. I would not rat. But Neil Dellacroce could’ve - and he’d still be the same tough guy we know him as.

In my opinion, giving this or that once in a while is different from taking the witness stand, as well. Which he never did.

I agree with most of what you said, but it hasn't been proven that the other mob bosses set Vito Genovese up, but it does seem likely. I sort of have a different opinion on Joe Bonanno that's different from the norm. He was banished from the Mafia, and as such he really didn't have any obligations to not talk about that world. Plus I can imagine he sat around bored with nothing to do and decided to set the record straight about his life and the world he once inhabited, though he lied a lot, especially about drugs.

I have to disagree, if he talked it would badly discredit him, which is why they leaked the fake story out. Lucky working on ht sports was not ratting, I think the mob was fully aware. Lefty Rosenthal may have ratted. Anastasia's brother may have spoken after his brother's death. As for the Gambino framing Genovese story, I don't think anyone took that seriously. Rats are protected, especially back then, such as Greg Scarpa. Even when they were being forced to reveal he was a rat the FBI tried to cover for Scarpa. When mobster has a story leaked on him that he was a rat, it is out of prosecutors hate for the person for not ratting.

Agreed...Jace, when that asswipe Lynn Dellveccio (not sure if i;m spelling that right) gave (basically) Scarpa the ok 2 kill..or 4 that matter, confidential info as 2 where or whom would be, that pretty much sums up how low the law will go...lol...

No, Dellacroce was not an informant. If he was a lot of people would have been arrested, also Big Paul would not have been on the street as long as he had. Gambino, they were banking everything on deportation, and that did not happen. Redacted names can also mean there is an on going investigation and they do not want information leaked out. The high up that was giving up information was Carmine Lombardozzi. There are people out there trying to discredit that, and pointing fingers at others so their idol does not get diminished. All evidence points to Lombardozzi giving up information. The Dellacroce is an informant is a tool they use to tickle the wire, which was useful in that scenario as they were able to identify 6 or 7 other capos in the Gambino family at the current time, countless others in the other families across the nation, and I believe at least one or two people in the Genovese, not to mention getting the ranks more accurate, even to the administration level. Dellacroce was Gambinos ace is unity the Gambino family, and was given a lot of leeway in the family, where it would not make sense for Dellacroce to turn informant. If he was an informant at all, it would have to be during the Anastasia years and he was informing to Anastasia rivals and other groups in the Gambino family, not to LE.

Here’s a question

With Lombardozzi an informer (A longtime Capo), how is it the Feds didn’t really begin to intensify their scrutiny into Big Paul until 1983?

It was known to the Feds that he had been running things since February 1967. He was the day to day Boss from February 1967 onward, and then became the official Boss in December 1976. The Feds knew these things as they happened since we have reports from those times

Carmine as a Capo would’ve reported directly to Paul. Paul only answered to Carlo from 67-76 and who knows how many others in the Family reported directly to Carlo after he shied away from day to day operations. I have to imagine a small few - maybe Jimmy Brown, Gambino’s brother, Neil, and Paul perhaps - took direct orders from Carlo after 67. And perhaps a small few only met with him after that time. Supposedly Gotti met with Carlo in 73, but who knows if that is true?

How did they not have really damning stuff beyond the DeMeo crimes and the wiretaps before 1983? They didn’t have enough to put him on trial until that time.

Because Castellano stuck to white collar crimes, so no violence took place most of the time. Which means not much paperwork had to be filed by LE, so there was some slack. It is different now, but back then it really didn't matter unless a huge amount of money was found that was cheated from the tax collectors like the IRS, city government ext. Also the time in question, LE were concentrating on Jimmy Brown and the priest as the strongest contenders to take over the borgata. Carmine did not want to testify in court like many informants do. They just pass information to their handlers, weather it be history, old information, or current on one of many conditions with not testify in any court as the number one reason.

I agree Giacomo, that is the more likely scenario

I don’t think there was ever a chance Neil was ever informing BUT I do agree with Jackie that it’s possible to be an extremely feared mobster on the street and still give information as we saw with Scarpa

Gregory Scarpa played both the Mafia and the FBI like a violin, that dude was the Italian Whitey Bulger.