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

caporegime A ''caporegime'' or ''capodecina'', usually shortened to ''capo'' or informally referred to as "captain", "skipper" or "lieutenant", is a leadership position in the Mafia (both the Sicilian Mafia and Italian-American Mafia). A ''capo'' is a "made m ...

'' and

hitman Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, moneta ...

for the

Colombo crime family The Colombo crime family (, ) is an Italian American Mafia crime family and 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 during ...

, as well as an informant for the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

. 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 ...

. He was sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

for three murders in 1993 and died the following year.

Biography

Gregory Scarpa was born in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, on May 8, 1928. His parents were Salvatore and Mary Scarpa, first-generation immigrants from the village of Lorenzaga of

Motta di Livenza Motta di Livenza ( or simply ) is a (municipality) in the province of Treviso, in the Italian region of Veneto. Motta di Livenza borders the following municipalities: Annone Veneto, Cessalto, Chiarano, Gorgo al Monticano, Meduna di Livenza, S ...

near

Treviso Treviso ( ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 87.322 inhabitants (as of December 2024). Some 3,000 live within the Venetian wall ...

, 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 22nd ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. As a child living in the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, Scarpa helped his father deliver coal throughout the city. His older brother, Salvatore Jr., 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., who would follow his father into the Colombo family and eventually rise to the rank of ''

'' (capo). Scarpa and Forrest separated in 1973. Scarpa maintained a thirty-year extramarital relationship with girlfriend Linda Schiro, which 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 corrupt solicitation, payment, or acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official duty, to act contrar ...

s. He had use of an apartment on

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

's Sutton Place and owned homes in Brooklyn and

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

, as well as

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, and

Singer Island Singer Island is a peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of Palm Beach County, Florida, in the South Florida metropolitan area. Most of it is in the city of Riviera Beach, Florida, Riviera Beach, but the town of Palm Beach Shores, Flor ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. His power, guile and brutality earned him the nickname " the Grim Reaper" and helped him escape

prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

for many years. Schiro later recalled that Scarpa would sometimes leave the numbers "666", the biblical

Number of the Beast The number of the beast (, ) is associated with the The Beast (Revelation), Beast of Revelation in chapter 13, verse 18 of the Book of Revelation. In most manuscripts of the New Testament and in English translations of the Bible, the number of ...

, on his victims'

pager A pager, also known as a beeper or bleeper, is a Wireless communication, wireless telecommunications device that receives and displays Alphanumericals, alphanumeric or voice messages. One-way pagers can only receive messages, while response p ...

s. A career criminal, Scarpa eventually became a capo in the Colombo family, as well as the proprietor of the Wimpy Boys Social Club. He was involved in

illegal gambling Gambling 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 or illegal interest rates, has strict terms of collection, and generally operates outside the law, often using the threat of violence or other illegal, aggressive, and extortionate ...

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...

hijacking Hijacking may refer to: Common usage Computing and technology * Bluejacking, the unsolicited transmission of data via Bluetooth * Brandjacking, the unauthorized use of a company's brand * Browser hijacking * Clickjacking (including ''likej ...

counterfeit A counterfeit is a fake or unauthorized replica of a genuine product, such as money, documents, designer items, or other valuable goods. Counterfeiting generally involves creating an imitation of a genuine item that closely resembles the original ...

ing,

assault In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or consent, unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may ...

, stock and bond thefts, narcotics and murder. Many of the highest-ranking members of the family in the present day were originally 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 use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person o ...

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

, beginning a 27 year relationship with the agency with a 5 year break from 1975-1980.

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 U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

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

James Chaney James Earl Chaney (May 30, 1943 – June 21, 1964) was an American civil rights activist. He was one of three Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) civil rights workers murdered in Philadelphia, Mississippi, by members of the Ku Klux Klan on June 2 ...

and

Michael Schwerner Michael Henry Schwerner (November 6, 1939 – June 21, 1964) was an American civil rights activist. He was one of three Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) field workers murdered in rural Neshoba County, Mississippi, by members of the Ku Klux K ...

. The FBI was convinced the three men had been murdered, but could not find their bodies. 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 KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian extremist, white supremacist, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction in the devastated South. Various historians hav ...

, 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 U.S. Army post whose south gate is located at the southern boundary of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, along U.S. Highway 49. It was originally established during World War I, and has served almost continuously since then as a trai ...

, a local

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

base. At Shelby, Scarpa severely beat Byrd and stuck a gun barrel down his throat. Byrd finally revealed the location of the three men's bodies. The FBI has never officially confirmed the Scarpa story. Though not necessarily contradicting the claim of his 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 U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

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 the K ...

, killed in a fire set by the Ku Klux Klan. After this second trip, Scarpa and the FBI had a sharp disagreement about his reward for these services. The agency then dropped Scarpa as a confidential informant in 1975. .

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 Bureau 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. He allegedly provided DeVecchio with cash, jewelry and other gifts along with information of questionable value on the Colombo family. 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 superiors. In 1985, federal prosecutors

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 offense is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use that concept often use that of an indi ...

Scarpa for running a major credit card scam. After he pleaded guilty, prosecutors asked the court to give him a sizable fine and 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 offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...

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 sloughin ...

surgery at Victory Memorial Hospital in Brooklyn in 1986, Scarpa received several

blood donation A 'blood donation'' occurs when a person voluntarily has blood drawn and used for transfusions and/or made into biopharmaceutical medications by a process called fractionation (separation of whole blood components). A donation may be of wh ...

s from family members and associates. He 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 labora ...

. Scarpa eventually received blood from mobster Paul Mele, a

bodybuilder Bodybuilding is the practice of progressive resistance exercise to build, control, and develop one's muscles via hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. It is primarily undertaken for aesthetic ...

who was using injectable

anabolic steroids Anabolic steroids, also known as anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS), are a class of drugs that are structurally related to testosterone, the main male sex hormone, and produce effects by binding to the androgen receptor (AR). 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 im ...

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 Circulatory system, circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used ...

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

negligence Negligence ( Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate care expected to be exercised in similar circumstances. Within the scope of tort law, negligence pertains to harm caused by the violation of a duty of care through a neg ...

. As Scarpa's illness progressed to

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

, he and his relatives told everyone that he was suffering from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

Assassination attempt and retaliation

In 1991, supporters of Colombo 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 Victor J. Orena (born August 4, 1934), also known as "Little Vic", is an American mobster who became the acting boss of the Colombo crime family of New York City. A challenge by Orena to boss Carmine Persico triggered one of the bloodiest Mafi ...

attempted to kill Scarpa. Earlier that year, a struggle between Orena and imprisoned Colombo boss

had erupted in violence. Persico's loyalists 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, 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 (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, monet ...

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. Several bystanders were injured, but Scarpa and his relatives escaped unharmed. During the seven-month conflict between Persico and Orena, Scarpa served as Persico's enforcer. 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 killed

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

mobster Thomas Amato and Orena loyalists Rosario Nastasa, 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 A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among the first settli ...

with $300,000 in cash payments to his family. In 1992, while appearing at a New York courtroom for his civil suit, 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 House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...

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 and New Jersey, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Ame ...

mobsters, Michael DeRosa and Ronald Moran, had threatened Joey Scarpa, Gregory Sr.'s son, over a drug deal. After 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. It is often seen as the opposite of obesity. Characteristics Emaciation manifests physically as thin limbs, pr ...

, and in poor health. On May 6 he pleaded guilty to three murders and

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

to murder several others. On December 15, Scarpa was sentenced to life in federal prison. This sentence was later reduced to ten years due to Scarpa's poor health. On June 4, 1994, Scarpa died in the Federal Medical Center in Rochester,

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, from AIDS-related complications.

Aftermath

Scarpa's status as an informant 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 c ...

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. B ...

, 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 informant, to Scarpa. Ultimately, nineteen 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 (law), ...

.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 on charges of complicity with Scarpa and other Colombo mobsters in four murders during the 1980s and '90s. The government case rested on the testimony of Schiro, who was soon discredited as a witness after Tom Robbins of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' 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 DeVecchio 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, Gregory Scarpa Jr., was sentenced to forty years in prison for racketeering, conspiracy to commit murder, and other charges.

In media

Books

The 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 2013 book ''Deal with the Devil: The FBI's Secret Thirty-Year Relationship with a Mafia Killer'' by

Peter Lance Peter Lance (born February 18, 1948) is an American journalist and author. He is a five-time winner of the News & Documentary Emmy Award, the recipient of a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, and other accolades detailed below. In April 2010, ...

, 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. The ...

, , 672 pages. The 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 Yorkbased publishing house founded in 1974 by Walter Zacharius (1923–2011)Grimes, William''New York Times'' (MARCH 7, 2011). and Roberta Bender Grossman (1946–1992). Kensington is known as "Am ...

, , 288 pages.

Television and film

The

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

series ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...

'' 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 bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. He achieved international fame for winning the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times fro ...

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, similar to corporate sibling HLN. It is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery's netw ...

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 Entertainment subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Communications (each owns 50%). The network features lifestyle pro ...

series ''

Mobsters A gangster (informally gangsta) 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 ...

'', 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 criminal. On August ...

''. Season 4, episode 7; run time: 42 minutes; first aired: September 2018. In the 1988 film ''

Mississippi Burning ''Mississippi Burning'' is a 1988 American crime thriller film directed by Alan Parker and written by Chris Gerolmo that is loosely based on the 1964 investigation into the deaths of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in Mississippi. It stars ...

'', 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 Harlem'' ...

) 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 People from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn FBI informants convicted of crimes 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