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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.