The latest example of the FBI's sometimes unholy alliance with its organized crime informants centers around notorious hit man, blabbermouth and recently accused drug dealer Sammy "The Bull" Gravano.
The bizarre chapter of the bureau's relationship with Gravano, who helped send a passel of his old mob cronies to the pen, including everybody's favorite underworld role model, John Gotti, has been unfolding in Phoenix and environs where Gravano was charged last month with, among other things, masterminding a drug ring.At the time the Phoenix police were investigating Gravano and his white supremacist henchman, Gravano was the featured speaker at a conference of national FBI supervisors in Scottsdale. It seems the Phoenix authorities, aware of Gravano's relationship with the bureau and U.S. prosecutors, neglected to tell the feds for over a year about their investigation.
Gravano broke the Mafia's silence code in trade for immunity from prosecution for numerous murders. He was placed in the witness protection program but found it too confining and left to write a tell-all book about his misdeeds. He also got involved in other moneymaking schemes of a highly dubious nature, including some seemingly legitimate businesses authorities believe he was using to launder money from the sale of Ecstasy, a highly potent drug often favored by teenagers.
The investigation resulted in Gravano's arrest in February on a 181 count indictment. At the same time federal authorities began building a gun case against him.
The bureau's rationale for Gravano's appearance was that there is much to learn from his life of crime. FBI spokesman Dave Miller told Michael Hedges of Scripps Howard News Service that at the time the bureau "signed up" Gravano, it had no idea that he was still involved in anything illegal so "there was no embarrassment about it. We had to take our shot to learn from this guy."
Miller's comments notwithstanding, FBI agents in charge of the Phoenix field office apparently have been taken to task by their furious Washington superiors for not paying attention to a potentially embarrassing situation. The entire episode reportedly has strained relations between the police and the bureau.
Gravano apparently was supposed to testify in another case in New York, and his arrest in Phoenix has disrupted those plans and caused friction between federal prosecutors in New York and state and federal officials in Arizona. Federal gun officials believe they have enough on Gravano to put him away for life solely on a violation of firearm statutes.
One would think that the FBI would be somewhat chagrined over this mess, particularly in light of evidence of highly questionable activities between agents and members of the Boston underworld. But nothing seems to embarrass the bureau, including a long list of miscues ranging from Waco to the botched Chinese spying investigation.
The civilized, solicitous treatment of Gravano, whose victims number in double digits and whose past criminal exploits probably belong in the Guinness Book of World Records, is not only disgusting, it is an insult to the families of those he has murdered, to say nothing of all decent people.
Ronald Kuby, an attorney for some of those victims, was so incensed when told of Gravano's appearance he charged that about the only thing the bureau hasn't done for the garrulous thug was make him an honorary agent.
It would be difficult to determine exactly Gravano's "educational" worth to the bureau. What is it they may have learned that wasn't in his book or revealed in dozens of radio, television and newspaper interviews he has given over the past five years? Once he started talking, you couldn't get this guy to shut up.
Informants are a necessary fact of life in police work, but all care should be taken not to be tainted by them, to keep them at arms length and to understand clearly who and what they are. Serious crimes should not be overlooked simply because someone is providing useful information.
The Gravano story is a long way from over. He expressed absolute amazement that he was arrested on a "two bit" drug charge after all the really bad things he had done have been excused. The bureau is going to have to decide whether the ends justify the means in these cases.