FBI ignored pre-Apalachin informer

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THunt
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FBI ignored pre-Apalachin informer

Post by THunt » Fri, Mar 17, 2023, 2:53 am

More than a year before the Mafia-denying FBI was embarrassed by the Apalachin convention, an informant attempted to bring the Bureau up to date on the interstate links in a nationwide Mafia network. Largely because the intelligence did not fit with Director Hoover's preconceptions, it was ignored.

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A decade later, as the Bureau scrambled to acquire all the Mafia information it could, FBI Special Agent Villano (shown above) sought out the same informant and found him very useful. When Villano wrote his book, Brick Agent, he referred to the informant with the alias "Rico Conte." Villano and the FBI have been careful to keep the identity of the underworld snitch a secret.

Comparing declassified FBI reports with Villano's descriptions of "Rico Conte's" activities, researcher Edmond Valin has identified the mysterious early informant as Lucchese Crime Family member Florio Isabella. Read about it in Valin's latest Rat Trap article:
https://mafiahistory.us/rattrap/infisabella.html
- Tom Hunt
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