An informant (also called an informer or, as a

slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and usage (language), linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of p ...

term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides

privileged information Privileged may refer to: Film and television * ''Privileged'' (TV series), a 2008 US television series * ''Privileged'' (film), a 1982 Hollywood film Other uses * Immunologically privileged site, a body location where immune response to ...

about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informants are officially known as confidential human sources (CHS), or criminal informants (CI). It can also refer pejoratively to someone who supplies information without the consent of the involved parties."The Weakest Link: The Dire Consequences of a Weak Link in the Informant Handling and Covert Operations Chain-of-Command" by M Levine. ''Law Enforcement Executive Forum'', 2009 The term is commonly used in politics, industry, entertainment, and academia. In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, a confidential informant or "CI" is "any individual who provides useful and credible information to a law enforcement agency regarding felonious criminal activities and from whom the agency expects or intends to obtain additional useful and credible information regarding such activities in the future".

Criminal informants

Informants are extremely common in every-day police work, including homicide and narcotics investigations. Any citizen who provides crime related information to law enforcement by definition is an informant. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies may face criticism regarding their conduct towards informants. Informants may be shown leniency for their own crimes in exchange for information, or simply turn out to be dishonest in their information, resulting in the time and money spent acquiring them being wasted. Informants are often regarded as

traitors Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

by their former criminal associates. Whatever the nature of a group, it is likely to feel strong hostility toward any known informers, regard them as threats and inflict punishments ranging from social ostracism through physical abuse and/or death. Informers are therefore generally protected, either by being segregated while in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

or, if they are not incarcerated, relocated under a new identity.

Informant motivation

Informants, and especially criminal informants, can be motivated by many reasons. Many informants are not themselves aware of all of their reasons for providing information, but nonetheless do so. Many informants provide information while under stress, duress, emotion and other life factors that can affect the accuracy or veracity of information provided. Law enforcement officers, prosecutors, defense lawyers, judges and others should be aware of possible motivations so that they can properly approach, assess and verify informants' information. Generally, informants' motivations can be broken down into self-interest, self-preservation and conscience. A list of possible motivations includes: Self-Interest: * Financial rewardLyman, D., Micheal. ''Criminal Investigation: The Art and the Science''. 6th ed. Columbia College of Missouri. Pearson, 2010. p. 264 * Pre-trial release from custody * Withdrawal or dismissal of criminal charges * Reduction of sentence * Choice of location to serve sentence * Elimination of rivals or unwanted criminal associates. * Elimination of competitors engaged in criminal activities. * Diversion of suspicion from their own criminal activities. * Revenge Self-Preservation: * Fear of harm from others. * Threat of arrest or charges. * Threat of incarceration. * Desire for witness protection program. Conscience: * Desire to leave criminal past * Guilty conscience * Genuine desire to assist law enforcement and society.

Labor and social movements

Corporations and the detective agencies that sometimes represent them have historically hired labor spies to monitor or control labor organizations and their activities. Such individuals may be professionals or recruits from the workforce. They may be willing accomplices, or may be tricked into informing on their co-workers' unionization efforts. Paid informants have often been used by authorities within politically and socially oriented movements to weaken, destabilize and ultimately break them.

Politics

Informers alert authorities regarding government officials that are corrupt. Officials may be taking bribes or be participants in a money loop also called a kickback. Informers in some countries receive a percentage of all monies recovered by their government. The

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...

historian

Lactantius Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius (c. 250 – c. 325) was an early Christian author who became an advisor to Roman emperor, Constantine I, guiding his Christian religious policy in its initial stages of emergence, and a tutor to his son ...

described a judiciary case which involved the prosecution of a woman suspected to have advised another woman not to marry Maximinus II: "Neither indeed was there any accuser, until a certain Jew, one charged with other offences, was induced, through hope of pardon, to give false evidence against the innocent. The equitable and vigilant magistrate conducted him out of the city under a guard, lest the populace should have stoned him... The Jew was ordered to the torture till he should speak as he had been instructed... The innocent were condemned to die.... Nor was the promise of pardon made good to the feigned adulterer, for he was fixed to a gibbet, and then he disclosed the whole secret contrivance; and with his last breath he protested to all the beholders that the women died innocent." Criminal informant schemes have been used as cover for politically motivated intelligence offensives.

Jailhouse informants

Jailhouse informants, who report hearsay (admissions against penal interest) which they claim to have heard while the accused is in pretrial detention, usually in exchange for sentence reductions or other inducements, have been the focus of particular controversy. Some examples of their use are in connection with Stanley Williams,

Cameron Todd Willingham Cameron Todd Willingham (January 9, 1968 – February 17, 2004) was an American man who was convicted and executed for the murder of his three young children by arson at the family home in Corsicana, Texas, on December 23, 1991. Since Willingha ...

, Thomas Silverstein,

Marshall "Eddie" Conway Marshall "Eddie" Conway (born April 23, 1946) is a former leading member of the Baltimore chapter of the Black Panther Party who in 1971 was convicted of murder of a police officer a year earlier, in a trial with many irregularities. In 2014 he w ...

, and a suspect in the disappearance of Etan Patz. The

Innocence Project Innocence Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal organization that is committed to exonerating individuals who have been wrongly convicted, through the use of DNA testing and working to reform the criminal justice system to prevent future ...

has stated that 15% of all wrongful convictions later exonerated because of DNA results were accompanied by false testimony by jailhouse informants. 50% of murder convictions exonerated by DNA were accompanied by false testimony by jailhouse informants.

Terminology and slang

Slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and usage (language), linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of p ...

terms for informants include: *blabbermouth *cheese eater *canary – derives from the fact that canaries sing, and "singing" is underworld or street slang for providing information or talking to the police. *dog – Australian term. May also refer to police forces who specialize in surveillance, or police generally. *ear – someone who overhears something and tells the authorities. *fink – this may refer to the

Pinkertons Pinkerton is a private security guard and detective agency established around 1850 in the United States by Scottish-born cooper Allan Pinkerton and Chicago attorney Edward Rucker as the North-Western Police Agency, which later became Pinkert ...

who were used as plain-clothes

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads t ...

s and

strike-breakers A strikebreaker (sometimes called a scab, blackleg, or knobstick) is a person who works despite a strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who were not employed by the company before the trade union dispute but hired after or during the str ...

. *grass or supergrass – rhyming slang for "grasshopper", meaning "copper" or "shopper", having additional associations with the popular song '' Whispering Grass'' and the phrase "snake in the grass". *narc – a member of a specialist anti-narcotic

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term ...

agency or police intelligence force. *nark – this may have come from the

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

term ''nak'' for "nose" or the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

term ''narquois'', which means "cunning", "deceitful", and/or "criminal". *nose * pentito – Italian term meaning "one who repents". Originally and most frequently used in reference to

Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of ...

informants, it has also been used to refer to informants for Italian paramilitary and terrorist organizations (such as the Red Brigades and Front Line), and people who delivered confidential informations to the authorities during the " Maxi Trial" and " Mani pulite" nationwide judiciary investigations. *pursuivant ''(archaic)'' *rat"Role of the Rat in the Prison" by HA Wilmer. ''Fed. Probation'', 1965 – informing is commonly referred to as "ratting" in

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...

. *snitch"Reflections on the role of statutory immunity in the criminal justice system" by WJ Bauer – ''Journal of Criminal Law. & Criminology'', 1976 – informing is commonly referred to as "snitching", term originally used within the African-American community and more recently associated with hip hop music, hardcore rap, and

trap A trap is a mechanical device used to capture or restrain an animal for purposes such as hunting, pest control, or ecological research. Trap or TRAP may also refer to: Art and entertainment Films and television * ''Trap'' (2015 film), Fil ...

, alongside their derivative subgenres and subcultures. *snout *spotter *squealer * stikker – Danish term meaning "stabber", mainly used in relation to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. During and after the Nazi occupation of Denmark (1940–1945), the word has been used specifically to indicate the Danish whistleblowers, agents, and spies which informed the German secret police, the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one or ...

, in order to undermine the Danish resistance movement. *stool pigeon or stoolie"Elevating the Role of the Informer: The Value of Secret Information". MW Krasilovsky. ''ABAJ'', 1954 *tell tale or tell-tale *tattle-tale *tittle-tattle * tout – Northern Irish term for an informant, often one who informed on the activities of Irish paramilitary organizations during "

the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

". *trick * turncoat *weasel The term "stool pigeon" originates from the antiquated practice of tying a passenger pigeon to a stool. The bird would flap its wings in a futile attempt to escape. The sound of the wings flapping would attract other pigeons to the stool where a large number of birds could be easily killed or captured.

List of notable individuals

* Nicky Barnes, head of The Council, which he would later testify against * Whitey Bulger, Boston Irish mob boss * Nicholas Calabrese, the first

made man In the American and Sicilian Mafia, a made man is a fully initiated member of the Mafia. To become "made", an associate first must be Italian or of Italian descent and sponsored by another made man. An inductee will be required to take the o ...

to testify against the Chicago Outfit * James Carey, Irish terrorist *

Steve Flemmi ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

, Whitey Bulger's partner-in-crime * Flores twins Pedro and Margarito * Nicola Gobbo, former Australian barrister who provided information on her own clients * Sammy Gravano, former underboss of the Gambino crime family * Daniel Hernandez a.k.a. Tekashi 6ix9ine, American rapper, who testified against Nine Trey Gangsters * Henry Hill,

Lucchese crime family The Lucchese crime family (pronounced ) 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, in the United States, within the nationwide crimi ...

associate * Frank Lucas, New York City drug dealer turned informant *

Joseph Massino Joseph Charles Massino (born January 10, 1943) is an American former mobster. He was a member of the American Mafia, Mafia and Crime boss, boss of the Bonanno crime family from 1991 until 2004, when he became the first boss of one of the Five Fam ...

, the first boss of one of the Five Families in New York City to turn state's evidence *

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalita ...

, author of Orwell's list * Abe Reles, Murder, Inc. hit man * Freddie Scappaticci, member of the Provisional IRA * Joseph Valachi, soldier of the Genovese crime family * Salvatore Vitale, former underboss of the Bonanno crime family *

Richard Wershe Jr. Richard Wershe Jr. (born July 18, 1969), known as "White Boy Rick", is an American former drug trafficker and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informant. The youngest known informant in the history of the FBI, Wershe became a confidential in ...

(commonly known as "White Boy Rick"), the youngest FBI informant ever at age 14

By country

Russia and Soviet Union

A system of informants existed in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

and was later adopted by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. In

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

, such people were known as ''osvedomitel'' or ''donoschik'', and secretly cooperated with law enforcement agencies, such as the secret-police force Okhrana and later the Soviet militsiya or KGB. Officially, those informants were referred to as "secret coworker" (russian: секретный сотрудник, ''sekretny sotrudnik'') and often were referred by the Russian-derived

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsAndropov to the Central Committee. The Demonstration in Red Square Against the Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia. September 20, 1968

Germany

Poland

References

External links

Federal informants in Chicago gangs
{{Authority control Criminal law Criminal procedure Law enforcement terminology Organized crime members by role Spies by role