Gregory Scarpa (May 8, 1928 – June 4, 1994) nicknamed the Grim Reaper and also the Mad Hatter, was an American

caporegime A caporegime or capodecina, usually shortened to capo or informally referred to as "captain" or "skipper", is a rank used in the Mafia (both the Sicilian Mafia and Italian-American Mafia) for a '' made member'' of an Italian crime family who he ...

and

hitman Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may ...

for the

Colombo crime family The Colombo crime family (, ) is an Italian American Mafia crime family and is the youngest of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City within the criminal organization known as the American Mafia. It was duri ...

, as well as an informant for the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

. During the 1970s and 80s, Scarpa was the chief enforcer and veteran hitman for Colombo boss

Carmine Persico Carmine John Persico Jr. (; August 8, 1933 – March 7, 2019), also known as "Junior", "The Snake" and "Immortal", was an American mobster and the longtime boss of the Colombo crime family in New York City from 1973 until his death in 2019. He h ...

. He is suspected by the FBI to have murdered at least 100 people over the course of his criminal career. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1993 for three murders, and died on June 4, 1994.

Biography

Scarpa was born to first-generation immigrants, Salvatore and Mary, from the small village of Lorenzaga of Motta di Livenza near

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and '' comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Ven ...

, Italy. He was raised in the working-class neighborhood of

Bensonhurst Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22n ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. As a child living in the Great Depression, Scarpa helped his father deliver coal throughout New York City. His older brother, Salvatore Scarpa, may have introduced Gregory to the

which he reportedly joined in the 1950s. In the 1950s, Scarpa married Connie Forrest; she and Scarpa had one daughter and three sons, including

Gregory Scarpa Jr. Gregory J. Scarpa Jr. (born April 8, 1951) is an American mobster and former caporegime in the Colombo crime family and government informant. He is the son of notorious hitman and fellow caporegime in the family Gregory Scarpa. During the 1990s, ...

, who would follow his father into the Colombo family, eventually becoming a capo. Scarpa and Forrest separated in 1973. Scarpa also maintained a 30-year relationship with girlfriend Linda Schiro that resulted in two children, Joseph and Linda. Scarpa was a stylish dresser who routinely carried $5,000 in pocket money for purchases and

bribe Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Corru ...

s. He had use of an apartment on Manhattan's Sutton Place and owned homes in Brooklyn and Staten Island, as well as

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

, and

Singer Island Singer Island is a peninsula on the Atlantic coast of Palm Beach County, Florida, in the South Florida metropolitan area. Most of it is in the city of Riviera Beach, but the town of Palm Beach Shores occupies its southern tip. Its latitude of ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. His power, guile and brutality earned him the nickname "

the Grim Reaper Death is frequently imagined as a personified force. In some mythologies, a character known as the Grim Reaper (usually depicted as a berobed skeleton wielding a scythe) causes the victim's death by coming to collect that person's soul. Other ...

" and helped him escape prosecution for many years. Schiro later said that Scarpa would sometimes leave the numbers "666", the biblical Number of the Beast, on his victims'

pager A pager (also known as a beeper or bleeper) is a wireless telecommunications device that receives and displays alphanumeric or voice messages. One-way pagers can only receive messages, while response pagers and two-way pagers can also acknow ...

s. A career criminal, Scarpa eventually became a ''

'' in the Colombo family, as well as the proprietor of the Wimpy Boys Social Club. Scarpa was involved in

illegal gambling Gaming law is the set of rules and regulations that apply to the gaming or gambling industry. Gaming law is not a branch of law in the traditional sense but rather is a collection of several areas of law that include criminal law, regulatory law, ...

loansharking A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high interest rates, has strict terms of collection upon failure, and generally operates outside the law. Description Because loan sharks operate mostly illegally, they cannot reasonably ...

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...

, hijacking, counterfeit credit cards, assault, stock and bond thefts, narcotics and murder. Many of the highest-ranking members of the Colombo family today were members of Scarpa's crew. In March 1962, Scarpa was arrested for

armed robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

. To avoid prosecution, Scarpa agreed to work as an undercover informant for the

, beginning a 30-year relationship with the agency.

Recovery of the bodies of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner

In the summer of 1964, according to Schiro and other sources, FBI field agents in

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

recruited Scarpa to help them find missing civil rights workers Andrew Goodman,

James Chaney James Earl Chaney (May 30, 1943 – June 21, 1964) was one of three Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) civil rights workers killed in Philadelphia, Mississippi, by members of the Ku Klux Klan on June 21, 1964. The others were Andrew Goodman an ...

, and Michael Schwerner. The FBI was convinced the three men had been murdered, but could not find their bodies. The agents thought that Scarpa, using illegal interrogation techniques not available to agents, might succeed at gaining this information from suspects. Once Scarpa arrived in Mississippi, local agents allegedly provided him with a gun and money to pay for information. Scarpa and an agent allegedly pistol-whipped and kidnapped Lawrence Byrd, a TV salesman and secret

Klansman The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Hispanic and Latino Americans, L ...

, from his store in

Laurel Laurel may refer to: Plants * Lauraceae, the laurel family * Laurel (plant), including a list of trees and plants known as laurel People * Laurel (given name), people with the given name * Laurel (surname), people with the surname * Laurel (mus ...

and took him to

Camp Shelby Camp Shelby is a military post whose North Gate is located at the southern boundary of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on United States Highway 49. It is the largest state-owned training site in the nation. During wartime, the camp's mission is to s ...

, a local Army base. At Shelby, Scarpa severely beat Byrd and stuck a gun barrel down his throat. Byrd finally revealed to Scarpa the location of the three men's bodies. The FBI has never officially confirmed the Scarpa story. Though not necessarily contradicting the claim of Scarpa's involvement in the matter, investigative journalist

Jerry Mitchell Jerry Mitchell is an American theatre director and choreographer. Early life and education Born in Paw Paw, Michigan, Mitchell later moved to St. Louis where he pursued his acting, dancing and directing career in theatre. Although he did not ...

and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

high school teacher Barry Bradford claimed that Mississippi highway patrolman Maynard King provided the grave locations to FBI agent Joseph Sullivan after obtaining the information from an anonymous third party. In January 1966, Scarpa allegedly helped the FBI a second time in Mississippi on the murder case of

Vernon Dahmer Vernon Ferdinand Dahmer Sr. (March 10, 1908 – January 10, 1966) was an American civil rights movement leader and president of the Forrest County chapter of the NAACP in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He was murdered by the White Knights of ...

, killed in a fire set by the Klan. After this second trip, Scarpa and the FBI had a sharp disagreement about his reward for these services. The FBI then dropped Scarpa as a confidential informant.

FBI informant

In 1980, FBI agent Lindley DeVecchio became Scarpa's contact and handler and restarted his relationship with the FBI. Scarpa had refused contact with the FBI for the previous five years, but DeVecchio persuaded him to cooperate again. Gregory Jr., Schiro, and federal prosecutors later claimed that Scarpa had numerous illegal dealings with DeVecchio. Scarpa allegedly provided DeVecchio with cash, jewelry and other gifts along with information of questionable value on the Colombos. In return, DeVecchio allegedly protected Scarpa from arrest and provided him with information about his rivals during the Third Colombo War. Over the years, the FBI reportedly paid Scarpa $158,000 for his services. According to mob associates, he would joke about "Girlfriend", a female friend in law enforcement who gave him information. For ten years, DeVecchio met alone with Scarpa, often at an apartment or hotel room provided by the FBI. DeVecchio was a frequent dinner guest at Scarpa's house and on one occasion received a hard-to-find Cabbage Patch doll from Scarpa as a gift. Some of DeVecchio's fellow agents were disturbed by his closeness to Scarpa, and were soon reporting it to their FBI superiors. In 1985, federal prosecutors indicted Scarpa for running a major

credit card A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...

scam. After he pleaded guilty, prosecutors asked the court to give him a sizable fine and a prison sentence. However, DeVecchio submitted a memo to the judge that listed all of Scarpa's contributions to the FBI. The judge finally sentenced Scarpa to five years

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...

with no prison time and a $10,000 fine. Colombo members were so surprised by Scarpa's light sentence that some started wondering if he was working for the government.

HIV infection

After having emergency

ulcer An ulcer is a discontinuity or break in a bodily membrane that impedes normal function of the affected organ. According to Robbins's pathology, "ulcer is the breach of the continuity of skin, epithelium or mucous membrane caused by sloughing o ...

surgery at Victory Memorial Hospital in Brooklyn in 1986, Scarpa received several blood donations from family members and associates. Scarpa had refused blood from the hospital

blood bank A blood bank is a center where blood gathered as a result of blood donation is stored and preserved for later use in blood transfusion. The term "blood bank" typically refers to a department of a hospital usually within a Clinical Pathology laborat ...

. Scarpa eventually got blood from mobster Paul Mele, a

bodybuilder Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses ...

who was using injectable anabolic steroids. Mele had contracted

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

from a dirty needle and transmitted it to Scarpa in the

blood transfusion Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood products into a person's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used whole blood, but mo ...

. Surgeons at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan eventually removed Scarpa's stomach. On August 30, 1992, he received a $300,000 settlement in civil court from his first surgeon and Victory Hospital for

negligence Negligence (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as a ...

. As Scarpa's illness progressed to AIDS, he and his relatives told everyone that he was suffering from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

Assassination attempt and retaliation

In 1991, supporters of Colombo rebel and acting

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...

Victor Orena attempted to kill Scarpa. Earlier in 1991, a struggle between Orena and imprisoned Colombo boss

resulted in violence. Persico's loyalists had unsuccessfully attempted to kill Orena at his Brooklyn home. In retaliation, Orena decided to murder Scarpa, one of Persico's strongest supporters. On November 18, 1991, Scarpa was driving his own car in Brooklyn, followed behind by his 22-year-old daughter Linda and 8-month-old grandson, when he was stopped by two cars.

Hitmen Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...

ran from their vehicles with guns drawn and converged on Scarpa's car, but Scarpa managed to drive away from the ambush, crashing into anything that got in his way. A few bystanders were injured, but Scarpa and his relatives escaped unharmed. During the seven-month conflict between Persico and Orena, Scarpa served as Persico's military commander. Although weakened by illness, he constantly cruised along Avenue U in Brooklyn, looking for Orena supporters in social clubs and bars. Incensed by the murder attempt on his family, Scarpa was especially watchful for Orena loyalist William Cutolo, who had organized it. Over the next few weeks, Scarpa and his associates (mistakenly) killed

Genovese family The Genovese crime family, () also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian-American Italian-American Mafia, Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as ...

mobster Thomas Amato and Orena loyalists

Rosario Nastasa Rosario () is the largest city in the central Argentine province of Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous city in the country, and is also the most po ...

, Vincent Fusaro, and James Malpiso. Scarpa allegedly shot Fusaro as he was hanging Christmas lights on his house."The G-man and the Hit Man"
by Fredric Danne ''New Yorker Magazine'' December 16, 1996

Prison and death

In 1992, Scarpa's AIDS lawsuit was settled with $300,000 in cash payments to his family. In 1992, while appearing at a New York civil courtroom for his medical lawsuit, Scarpa was arrested for violating state firearms laws. Soon after, he was indicted on federal racketeering charges involving three murders. On December 29, 1992, while under house arrest with an electronic monitoring device, Scarpa lost an eye in a shootout with other mobsters. Two

Lucchese family The Lucchese crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, in the United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as ...

mobsters, Michael DeRosa and Ronald Moran, had threatened Joey Scarpa, Gregory's son, over a drug deal. Climbing out of bed, the elder Scarpa drove with Joey to DeRosa's house and shot DeRosa. Moran fired back and hit Scarpa in the eye. Back at his house, Scarpa allegedly poured some Scotch Whisky into his wound, assured the authorities everything was fine, and later went to the hospital. Prosecutors revoked Scarpa's house arrest and sent him to jail. By 1993, Scarpa was blind in one eye,

emaciated Emaciation is defined as the state of extreme thinness from absence of body fat and muscle wasting usually resulting from malnutrition. Characteristics In humans, the physical appearance of emaciation includes thinned limbs, pronounced and protrud ...

and in poor health. On May 6, 1993, he pleaded guilty to three murders and conspiracy to murder several others. On December 15, 1993, Scarpa was sentenced to life in federal prison. This sentence was later reduced to 10 years due to Scarpa's poor health. On June 4, 1994, Gregory Scarpa Sr. died in the Federal Medical Center (FMC) for prisoners in

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, from AIDS-related complications.

Aftermath

Scarpa's status as an informer was only revealed in 1995, during a racketeering and murder trial of seven members of the Orena faction. At that time, former Colombo family ''

consigliere Consigliere ( , ; plural ) is a position within the leadership structure of the Sicilian, Calabrian, and Italian-American Mafia. The word was popularized in English by the novel '' The Godfather'' (1969) and its film adaptation. In the novel, a ...

Carmine Sessa Carmine Sessa, alias Carmine Marletta (born 1951) is an Italian-American mobster and former consigliere of the Brooklyn-based Colombo crime family and played a key role in the family from 1991 to 1993. He later became a government witness. Biog ...

, now a government witness, told prosecutors about DeVecchio's corrupt dealings with Scarpa. Eventually, prosecutors were forced to reveal that DeVecchio might have revealed confidential information, including information about former Colombo members who had turned informer, to Scarpa. Ultimately, 19 Orena supporters had murder charges thrown out or murder convictions reversed after their attorneys contended DeVecchio's collaboration with Scarpa tainted the evidence against them. The attorneys argued that DeVecchio gave Scarpa information he used to kill members of the Orena faction, thus making any killings committed by their clients acts of

self-defense Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force ...

.Raab, Selwyn. ''The Five Families: The Rise, Decline & Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empire''. New York: St. Martins Press, 2005. On March 30, 2006, DeVecchio, who was forced to retire from the FBI in 1996, was

indicted An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that of ...

on charges of complicity with Scarpa and other Colombo mobsters in four murders during the 1980s and 1990s. The government case rested on the testimony of Linda Schiro, who was soon discredited as a witness after Tom Robbins of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

'' revealed that she had granted an interview to Robbins and

Jerry Capeci Gerald Capeci () is an American journalist and author who specializes in coverage of the Five Mafia crime families of New York City. Capeci has been described by news organizations, such as CNN and BBC, as an expert on the American Mafia.

a decade earlier and denied the agent had ever been involved. Robbins said that while he and Capeci had promised to protect Schiro's identity and not attribute any of her revelations to her, the prospect of DeVecchio facing life in prison trumped any promises they had made to Schiro. On November 1, 2007, the judge dismissed all charges against DeVecchio at the request of prosecutors. Scarpa's other son, Greg Scarpa Jr., was sentenced to 40 years in prison for racketeering, conspiracy to commit murder and other charges.

In media

Books

The April 2009 book ''Mafia Son: The Scarpa Mob Family, the FBI, and a Story of Betrayal'' by Sandra Harmon, covers the author's access to the mob, law enforcement, and jailed Gregory Scarpa Jr. revealing the crimes and acts of betrayal. St. Martin's Press, , 288 pages. The July 2013 book ''Deal with the Devil: The FBI's Secret Thirty-Year Relationship with a Mafia Killer'' by Peter Lance, reports on 30 years of FBI files revealing Scarpa's secret betrayal to the Colombo crime family while being an FBI informant.

William Morrow and Company William Morrow and Company is an American publishing company founded by William Morrow in 1926. The company was acquired by Scott Foresman in 1967, sold to Hearst Corporation in 1981, and sold to News Corporation (now News Corp) in 1999. ...

, , 672 pages. The December 2015 book ''The Mafia Hit Man's Daughter'' by Linda Scarpa; Linda Rosencrance, reflects Scarpa's history from his daughter Linda Scarpa's perspective.

Pinnacle Books Kensington Publishing Corp. is an American, New York-based publishing house founded in 1974 by Walter Zacharius (1923–2011)Grimes, William"Walter Zacharius, Romance Publisher, Dies at 87,"''New York Times'' (MARCH 7, 2011). and Roberta Bender Gr ...

, , 288 pages.

Television and film

The

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

series '' 60 Minutes'' aired the episode "Armstrong/The FBI and the Grim Reaper", with a majority of the episode, "Armstrong", reporting on cyclist

Lance Armstrong Lance Edward Armstrong ('' né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. Regarded as a sports icon for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005 after recovering fr ...

and the use of performance-enhancing drugs. A brief portion of the episode, "The FBI and the Grim Reaper", examines FBI agent Lin DeVecchio's ties to informant Gregory Scarpa. Season 43, episode 34; run time (segment): 8 minutes; first aired: May 2011. The

Investigation Discovery Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, approximately 86 million Amer ...

channel released in the series '' I Married a Mobster'', episode "The Grim Reaper", reporting on Linda Schiro's, a Brooklyn teenager, love triangle involving Scarpa and another man (both men were married). Scarpa wins Linda's devotion and shows her struggles with losing a child, impacts from his Mafia ties and being left alone upon his downfall. Season 1, episode 3; run time: 21 minutes; first aired: July 2011. The

Biography Channel FYI (stylized as fyi,) is an American basic cable channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Communications (each owns 50%). The network features lifestyle pr ...

series ''

Mobsters A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization a ...

'', episode "The Grim Reaper: Greg Scarpa" depicts Scarpa's Mafia ties, father and husband lifestyles and his FBI informant profile. Season 4, episode 7; run time: 42 minutes; first aired: August 2012. Investigation Discovery released a second documentary of Scarpa's crimes in the episode "The Grim Reaper" from the series ''

Evil Lives Here ''Evil Lives Here'' is an American documentary television series on Investigation Discovery that debuted on January 17, 2016. This 60-minute true crime show spends each episode interviewing a family member of the highlighted murderer. On August ...

''. Season 4, episode 7; run time: 42 minutes; first aired: September 2018. In the 1988 film '' Mississippi Burning'', the character of Agent Monk (played by

Badja Djola Badja Medu Djola (born Bernard Bradley; April 9, 1948 – January 8, 2005) was an American actor from Brooklyn, New York who worked primarily within black film. He is best known for ''Mississippi Burning'', ''Penitentiary'', ''A Rage in Harl ...

) and his abduction of a Klansman were based on Scarpa and his alleged abduction and intimidation of a Klansman. The abductor of the Klan-connected Mayor Tilman was originally written as a Mafia hitman who forces a confession by putting a pistol in Tillman's mouth. Screenwriter

Chris Gerolmo Chris Gerolmo is a Golden Globe nominated screenwriter, director, and singer-songwriter best known for writing the screenplay for the multi-Academy Award nominated film ''Mississippi Burning'' and the less successful ''Miles from Home'' starrin ...

was inspired to create this character after reading about Scarpa's alleged recruitment by the FBI during their search for Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner.

References

External links

* FBI Records
''The Vault Files, Gregory Scarpa, Sr''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scarpa Sr., Gregory 1928 births 1994 deaths People from Motta di Livenza Colombo crime family American gangsters of Italian descent Federal Bureau of Investigation informants People from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn American people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in United States federal government detention AIDS-related deaths in Minnesota Mafia hitmen American people convicted of murder