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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:06
[Music]
0:18
welcome back to our Channel where we dive deep into the extraordinary lives
0:23
of some of the most intriguing and controversial figures in history today
0:29
we have a story story that might just be the most fascinating one yet meet
0:34
Gregory scarper a man who lived a double life as both a feared member of the
0:40
Columbo Mafia family and a secret informant for the FBI his connections ran so deep that the
0:48
agents supervising him became his allies aiding him in evading prison and
0:53
continuing his illicit activities get ready for a journey into
0:58
the unbelievable and complex world of Gregory
1:04
scarper Gregory scarper was selective in leaking information and distorting facts
1:11
using these tactics to eliminate those who hindered him and systematically increase his power some even believed
1:19
that Scara was the great Cardinal of the family pulling the strings and
1:25
controlling everything from behind the scenes he started War Wars killed and
1:31
ordered the deaths of dozens he turned his son into a killer officially allowed
1:38
his wife to have a lover and then turned him into a killer as well even near the
1:44
end of his life when he was reduced to a walking skeleton due to illness scara's
1:51
influence remained formidable despite being ravaged by advancing AIDS he still rode around the
1:59
city shooting his enemies how's that for a synopsis want a more detailed story then
2:06
meet Gregory Scara a man on the other side of the law not much is known about
2:12
scara's early life he was born in 1928 in Bensonhurst a workingclass
2:19
neighborhood in Brooklyn to a poor Italian-American family there are also
2:24
rumors that he was born in Italy and moved to the United States with his parents at an early age however I will
2:33
stick to the first version for this story from a book written with the
2:38
participation of his son we learn that in 1949 Gregory scarper married Connie
2:45
forest with whom he had a son Gregory Scara Jr who will also feature in our
2:51
narrative today by the early 1950s when his son was born Scara was already
2:57
involved in crime as eviden by his arrest for burglary it was also during
3:03
the 1950s that he appears to have become a member of the mafia family we now know
3:08
as the Columbo family its boss at the time was Joe prati who had a conflict
3:16
with the Gallow Brothers in the 1960s which I will delve into further I talked
3:22
about this in more detail in my video about the Gallow Brothers at that time
3:29
Scarpa was close to Calogero Lo Cicero better known as Charlie the S who was
3:35
then a consiliary realizing that the cancer stricken Joe pratti wouldn't last long
3:42
Charlie began making plans to take over the family however he was overtaken by
3:48
Joseph maglio who became boss after prachi's death and demoted Charlie to
3:54
Captain Charlie then started plotting against Magoo Scara
4:00
was even contracted to kill maglio but Charlie later called it off
4:05
for some reason in the end Charlie never gained power and Joe Columbo became the
4:13
boss Scara who had supported his mentor played a part in Charlie's downfall when
4:21
it became clear that his Ascension wouldn't happen more on that later at
4:27
this time Greg scarper senior was working as an informant in 1960 he was
4:33
arrested for armed robbery and FBI agents began recruiting him by the fall
4:39
of 1961 Scara had surrendered and agreed to
4:44
cooperate he became a confidential informant and received regular payments for his work Scara would receive more
4:52
than $150,000 from the authorities during his time as an informant which is over a
4:59
million dollar in today's equivalent from that moment on Greg kept the FBI
5:07
informed about everything happening inside the American Mafia especially
5:12
within the Columbo family a couple of years before Joe vachi appeared before the Senate and revealed the inner
5:19
workings of the mafia to the entire country he had already done so privately
5:24
in conversations with agents there is even a version that says all the information vachi shared was actually
5:31
given to him by FBI agents proponents of this version believe that a low ranking
5:37
Mafia member like vichi simply could not have known so much and that through him
5:44
Jay Edgar Hoover wanted to tell the country everything the FBI had learned
5:50
about kosa Nostra why would Hoover need to perform such maneuvers you might ask
5:57
the thing is much of the information was obtained through not entirely legal
6:02
means such as unauthorized wiretapping telling everything through
6:08
valachi was ideal for Hoover according to this version FBI
6:14
agents learned about the mafia's setup from Scara who was much closer to the
6:19
top as a captain and then provided this information to valachi to reveal to the
6:25
world Hoover's ultimate goal in this game was to increase funding for the FBI
6:31
agents supplied valachi with all the necessary data leading the country to learn about the true power of the kostra
6:40
through him and in turn the state gave Hoover more money to fight organized
6:46
crime whether this was true or not we won't delve into it leaving these
6:52
thoughts to you our viewers instead as always we will stick to the facts that
6:58
are indisputable and important for today's story scara's collaboration with
7:04
the FBI let's go back to that his collaboration can be roughly divided
7:11
into official and unofficial the former included all reports and data that came
7:17
from Scara through his supervising agent to FBI headquarters as payment scarer would
7:25
receive official regular payments and bonuses from the FBI for his Services the latter included secret
7:33
missions that Greg carried out for the FBI illegal Deeds he engaged in with his
7:39
supervising agent and the protection he received when facing prison
7:44
sentences let's be frank the first part is boring and not particularly
7:51
interesting to talk about we will return to it when discussing how Scara fought
7:56
for power by using official reports to divert suspicions or remove other
8:02
mafiosi from his path for now let's focus on the second part and start with
8:10
the secret missions according to Scara himself as conveyed through the stories
8:15
of those close to him who knew about his work for the FBI he had quite a few
8:21
Special Operations he claimed he helped the government frame members of the Israeli
8:27
mad assisted in some CIA Special Operations gathered information on
8:32
Howard Hughes and his Mafia connections and even tortured people however we only
8:39
know details about one of his secret missions for the government which did indeed involve torture were all the
8:46
others true I cannot confirm these incidents the mentioned torture case
8:52
involved the killing of three civil rights activists Michael schwarner James Cheney and Andrew Goodman
9:00
by the K Klux clan in Ohio during the summer of 1964 when they disappeared Without a
9:07
Trace public outrage ensued the FBI took over the investigation but despite their
9:14
efforts they couldn't find the boys Dead or Alive the bureau suspected the
9:20
involvement of the clan but couldn't prove anything that's when Greg Scara
9:26
was brought in Scara conducted one of the clan members and took him to a house
9:32
deep in the woods inside the house Scara started beating the man and demanded to know
9:40
what happened to the missing boys whenever the captive provided some information Scara would go outside and
9:47
pass it on to the FBI agents waiting outside they would verify the
9:52
information and if the man lied the torture continued the captive only gave up when
10:00
Scara began cutting off his genitals he confessed to all those involved in the
10:05
deaths of the three boys and revealed where the bodies were buried in the end
10:11
the FBI gained Fame and honor and Scara received several commendations and had
10:17
all his expenses covered the man who was kidnapped was not believed by anyone
10:23
when he claimed he was tortured by some Rogue sadist in the FBI service scara's
10:29
main mistress Linda shyro also accompanied him on this Mission Greg had
10:34
a total of three constant women his wife Connie Linda and the beauty queen from
10:40
Israel Lily johnni however Linda always remained the
10:45
primary one it must be said that she and Scara made a good couple Scara met her
10:51
shortly before the mission we talked about earlier when he was around 40 years old and she had just turned 18 in
11:00
their relationship was like something out of a romantic movie however Linda started feeling
11:06
restricted in her role as the mistress she wanted Greg to divorce his wife
11:13
Scara had no intention of doing that but he was willing to live together with Linda and start a family without getting
11:19
legally married this didn't satisfy Linda she was Catholic and wanted their
11:26
children to be baptized according to all the rules with both a father and a
11:32
mother when she couldn't convince Greg to divorce his wife she decided to marry
11:38
someone else her plan was as follows find a gullible guy charm him into
11:45
marrying her have children with Scara baptize them and then divorce the guy in
11:52
her view this would satisfy all religious considerations Scara had
11:57
reservations about this idea but he couldn't stop Linda from carrying out her plan she proceeded with her plan
12:05
regardless the man she chose was named Charlie Shiro and they got married in
12:11
March 1968 Linda lived with Charlie but spent
12:16
all her free time with Greg Scara would often be at the Shiro family home when
12:22
Charlie was at work Linda would disappear for days at a time without
12:28
explaining much to her husband for a while Charlie made excuses for the chaos
12:34
around him but this situation couldn't last forever he eventually found out
12:40
about the affair after the birth of their first child who was of course
12:45
Gregs despite knowing about Greg's reputation Charlie couldn't take any
12:50
action he simply waited for Linda to Tire of playing this game which eventually happened after the birth of
12:57
Greg's second child Linda decided it wasn't worth continuing the charade and
13:02
divorce Charlie if you think their personal lives became more traditional after that you'd be mistaken Greg found
13:11
himself another mistress Lily Johnny and Linda decided she deserved a lover on
13:17
the side as well preferably someone young and energetic to make their infidelity worth it whether this
13:24
constituted true infidelity in the traditional sense is hard to say Linda
13:31
told Greg about her plan to see other people on the side he didn't object they
13:37
both concluded that Linda had the right to explore this believing it could bring new emotions to their intimate lives
13:45
this time Linda chose a man named Larry Maza who delivered groceries to their
13:50
home it wasn't difficult for Linda to seduce him and soon they became lovers
13:57
Linda would tell him her husband wasn't home and they would indulge freely often
14:03
this was a lie with Scara in another room after matah left Greg and Linda
14:11
excited by what had transpired would become intimate themselves at some point
14:18
Linda thought it would be beneficial for Greg and Charlie to meet in person so that Scara could assist her lover with
14:24
work as he wasn't satisfied with his job as a courier under a pretext
14:30
manufactured for matza this meeting took place and Scara offered him a new
14:35
opportunity he sponsored Larry who then opened a betting station for an illegal
14:42
Lottery gradually Scara involved Maza more in his illegal activities
14:47
eventually making him one of the Hitmen on his team the issue of matza's relationship with Linda was openly
14:54
discussed with him as it deeply troubled Maza he even feared appeared that the
14:59
meeting where Scara addressed it would be his last but he was fortunate this
15:05
unconventional love triangle lasted for about 15 years in addition to matah
15:12
Scara also introduced his Elder son Gregory Scara Jr whom I'll refer to as
15:19
Junior into the criminal World from a young age Junior witnessed the world his
15:25
father belonged to as Scara and his associates often gathered at the home to discuss matters or divide the
15:32
spoils while Junior didn't fully understand everything he sensed
15:38
something ominous in scara's world when Junior was a teenager Scara revealed his
15:44
true identity to him during a walk explaining that he was involved in the mafia and also worked for the government
15:53
portraying it as a service to the country Scara likened himself to
15:58
something akin to James Bond which left a lasting impression on the young
16:03
teenager it was during this time that Scara began to introduce violence into
16:09
his son's life for instance when Junior was 15 he got into a fight in a bar with
16:15
an older man Scara found out about it took his son and together they went to
16:23
the bar Scara brutally assaulted the man and then made his son kick the
16:29
unconscious body about a year later Junior participated in a boxing
16:35
competition where he lost a tough fight by decision scarper then forced him to
16:42
locate and beat up his opponent outside the ring Junior couldn't find the guy but
16:50
this incident vividly illustrates the kind of upbringing Scara provided Greg
16:57
couldn't bear the thought of anyone being stronger than his son or
17:02
disrespecting him so he compelled Junior to adopt the same attitude as Junior
17:08
came of age Scara began involving him in his illegal activities gradually
17:13
introducing discussions about killings Scara gave him detailed instructions on
17:19
how to execute killings effectively dispose of bodies and avoid getting
17:25
caught although Junior wasn't comfortable with these conversations his loyalty to his father kept him from
17:34
objecting soon this loyalty led him to be responsible for dozens of his own
17:40
killings with Greg Scara senior orchestrating most of them as mentioned
17:46
earlier Junior was aware that Scara worked for the FBI his first handler was
17:52
an agent named Anthony Villano scarper informed his team that
17:58
he had a contact attack in law enforcement but didn't specify who or where exactly naturally everyone assumed
18:06
it was a local police officer whom they occasionally needed to pay off in
18:11
reality it was an FBI agent and there is substantial evidence that Scara
18:17
regularly provided him with money to mention they sometimes collaborated for
18:23
instance scarpa's men might steal 100 cases of whiskey
18:29
Scara would take his cut of 20 cases and then inform volano of the remaining
18:35
stash with this tip off volano could approach those accountable for covering the losses often insurance companies he
18:44
would negotiate informing them he knew the whereabouts of a batch of whiskey valued at
18:50
$60,000 but would only disclose the location for $110,000 to minimize costs companies
18:58
typically complied furthermore the FBI would investigate the theft and scarper
19:04
would receive a government bonus for the valuable intelligence from one theft Greg gained
19:11
a share of the stolen goods money from the insurance company and a government bonus despite sharing with Villano it
19:19
was a remarkably effective plan as reliable as Swiss Watchers there's also
19:25
unconfirmed information that Villano and later his successor Lindo were
19:31
implicated in thefts this speculation suggests that during activities like
19:36
Bank break-ins the FBI agent would be stationed in a car monitoring details on
19:43
special radio waves known to authorities if the agent caught wind
19:48
that police had detected suspicious activity at the bank he promptly alerted scara's
19:53
Associates however direct involvement of FBI agents in scar Affairs if it
20:00
occurred wasn't widespread they covered for him and received payments but not all agents
20:07
were implicated scarper also managed separate
20:13
operations firstly the claims about FBI agent involvement lack verification and
20:20
secondly even if true it wasn't Universal scara's theft team operated
20:27
consistently targe Banks and jewelry stores the crew even had their own
20:34
Innovations one member devised a lockpick that easily cracked open phone
20:39
booth coin compartments scarper himself sometimes practic these techniques his theft
20:47
operation was highly exclusive among roughly 50 members in the so called
20:53
wimpy boys team named after scara's Social Club approximately 10 could be
20:59
considered professional thieves another 10 to 15 served as hired Hitmen juggling
21:07
other jobs and sources of income though their primary task was often
21:12
elimination even more exclusive was the group specializing in luxury car theft
21:18
scarers Associates made these cars untraceable and profitable to resell
21:25
similarly skilled were those targeting trucks carrying various goods from
21:30
clothes to electronics and food they could earn between $5,000 to $10,000 per
21:37
truck depending on its contents others were involved in illegal lotteries
21:42
bookmaking and loone sharking all paying a percentage to Scara for instance he
21:49
provided $80,000 to loan sharks for Street lending collecting $100 per week
21:54
for every $10,000 lent out the loan shark themselves could earn $300 to $400
22:02
on the same amount making it a lucrative Enterprise especially given scara's
22:07
reputation and the certainty of collections continuing the list one
22:12
cannot Overlook the presence of drug traffickers who operated within scara's team with even Junior involved in this
22:19
illicit trade among the most notorious groups in Greg's organization were the
22:25
muscles strong men specialized in intimidation if a dettor failed to repay a loan or a
22:32
businessman refused extortion demands these individuals were dispatched known
22:39
for their expertise in Breaking Limbs and instilling fear as evidenced scarper
22:46
and his team were involved in nearly every Avenue of illicit profit including
22:52
fraud Greg took particular pleasure in credit card fraud acquiring duplicate
22:58
card s that his associates used for purchases the goods bought were resold for cash or used for everyday expenses
23:06
such as groceries or dining out this fraudulent activity generated hundreds
23:11
of thousands of dollars annually for instance in 1985 an agent of the United
23:18
States Secret Service covertly sold 300 credit cards to scara's
23:25
operation Greg could have made over a million if he had used all 300 credit cards
23:32
bought from a secret service agent for $999,000 instead Greg faced fraud
23:40
charges that carried a potential sentence of 7 years in prison and a
23:46
$250,000 fine however the FBI intervened and discovered that Scara had not paid
23:53
the $999,000 but only considered the purchase the the judge also considered
23:59
scara's role as an informant and authorities decided to spare him by the
24:05
time of this incident scara's FBI Handler had changed from volano to dto
24:12
volano stopped working with Scara in the mid1 1970s due to an internal investigation that resulted in his
24:19
transfer from New York and subsequent retirement scarper meanwhile had ceased
24:26
his collaboration with the FBI in 1975 however in 1980 he was convinced to
24:34
return by agent Lind dito whom Greg quickly persuaded to collaborate with
24:40
him much like volano Scara provided deto with information about individuals who
24:48
obstructed his rise to power or posed a threat within the American Mafia dito in
24:55
turn shielded Scara from legal rep cussions and according to some accounts
25:00
indirectly aided in several of scara's murders typically deto would provide
25:07
Intelligence on targets locations or alert scarper when someone planned to
25:12
cooperate with authorities for instance this was evident in the case of scara's close
25:20
associate Joe Brewster when dito learned that Brewster intended to speak to the police A Move
25:26
That Could endanger both Scara and dto Scara ordered Brewster's
25:32
assassination Scara and dto quickly found common ground and shared a goal
25:38
where violence and abuse of authority were acceptable means their objective
25:43
was clear to enhance scara's influence within the mafia thereby advancing
25:49
dito's career as well ultimately they aimed to install Scara or his proxy as
25:56
the boss of the Columbo family placing an informant at the highest Echelon of the American Mafia
26:03
potentially facilitating the downfall of numerous criminal Enterprises the entire organization
26:10
operated like a house of cards to substantiate these claims let's
26:17
consider a few concrete examples of this duplicity we'll start with how scarper
26:23
got rid of Charlie as mentioned at the very beginning when Charlie wielded
26:28
significant influence in the Columbo family Scara spoke favorably of him in
26:34
reports to the FBI even while providing information about his
26:39
crimes however as Charlie began losing power and hitting rock bottom scara's
26:46
rhetoric changed he started almost insulting Charlie in his reports to the
26:51
agents this shift was part of a very calculated game recognizing Charlie's
26:58
weakness Greg began plotting a cunning conspiracy against him pay attention now
27:05
scarper slowly started feeding the FBI information about Charlie's deteriorating relationships with his
27:13
sons Then Greg either struck a deal with Charlie's grandson Richard or simply
27:19
robbed him while Richard was at work transporting company stocks worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from
27:26
one place to another Scara told the FBI that he had nothing to do with it with
27:32
it but knew where some of the stocks were kept the agents found them there
27:38
Scara also implied that Charlie might have been behind the robbery because one
27:43
of Charley's men contacted Greg with an offer to buy the stocks Richard was
27:49
summoned to answer questions before a grand jury sometime later Richard was
27:55
found dead immediately after his death the chief assistant district attorney in
28:01
Brooklyn Elliot Golden named Richard a star witness thus confirming the motive
28:08
for his murder and fears that he had started cooperating with the
28:14
authorities the primary suspicion in the murder fell on Charlie later it became
28:20
known that Scara was aware of the illegal dealings between Golden and Joe Columbo although there's no direct
28:27
evidence of this one could speculate that he may have pressured golden to
28:33
make a statement about the star witness thereby justifying the motive for
28:38
Richard's Murder by Charlie when the entire web was woven Charlie himself was
28:45
killed and all suspicions fell on his son Frank who supposedly Avenged Richard's death thus Scara removed the
28:54
final piece from the board first scar removed the Old Man Who Knew Too Much
29:00
about him but had now hit rock bottom making his actions
29:05
unpredictable now let's turn to Joe Columbo if the setup with Charlie was
29:11
more for personal safety the situation with Columbo was more about a power
29:16
struggle Scara acted more discreetly here employing a strategy akin to water
29:23
slowly eroding concrete eventually punching a hole through it in simple
29:28
terms he seized every opportunity to undermine
29:33
Columbo in 1967 Scara informed the FBI of the location of Columbo's son's
29:40
wedding allowing undercover agents to capture several new faces a year later
29:47
Scara reported Columbo's son for planning to melt down silver coins and
29:52
sell them as precious metal at a higher value than their nominal worth when
29:58
Columbo's son was arrested Joe staged a multi-day protest and Scara helped him
30:04
with that while simultaneously keeping the FBI informed of Columbo's plans
30:10
Scara was also one of the most active members of the Italian American Civil
30:16
Rights League supposedly working for the organization's interests the
30:22
Italian-American civil rights League established by Columbo to protect the rights of italian-americans
30:28
further cemented scara's relationship with the boss after that information
30:34
began to flow to the FBI about Columbo's earnings and the corrupt connections he
30:39
had at his disposal now we approach a very interesting version of why and by
30:46
whom Joe Columbo was killed this occurred at a rally organized by Columbo
30:52
in the summer of 1971 he was shot by a black man named Jerome son which led to Columbo falling
31:00
into a lengthy coma and later dying I've already discussed two main versions of
31:06
this incident in my videos one blames Joe Gallow while the other blames Carlo
31:13
Gambino it is generally believed that it was indeed Gambino more details about this can be
31:20
found in my video about Carlo Gambino and the Gallow Brothers Scara initially
31:26
pushed the FBI I's version that it was Joe Gallow at first he said that all was
31:33
well between Columbo and Gallow but shortly before the assassination he radically changed his opinion and
31:40
started to say that a war might break out soon he mentioned that Columbo
31:45
feared an attack citing as evidence a car with African-Americans circulating in his neighborhood Scara told the
31:53
agents that Columbo believed these individuals were friends of Gallow whom
31:59
he had befriended in prison moreover after the assassination scarper was able
32:06
to tell the FBI a surprising amount about the shooter even though neither the police nor other informants knew
32:14
much about Johnson all of this raises the idea that Columbo might have been
32:19
killed by Scara who then shifted all the blame onto Joe Gallow however these are
32:27
only specul ations as the evidence in this regard is too
32:32
indirect what we do know for certain is that after Columbo's death Scara
32:37
immediately shifted his Focus to Carmine perso who would later become the new
32:43
boss of the family the first thing Scara did was accuse perso of killing Joe
32:50
Gallow but that was just the beginning multiple bosses being imprisoned due to
32:56
a conspiracy known as as the concrete Club the essence of this scheme was that
33:02
Mobsters from different families conspired to take over the construction industry in New York extorting money
33:09
from construction firms Scara also provided the FBI with an address where
33:16
members of the Columbo family Soldier Ralph scopo underboss jaro langella and
33:22
Captain Dominic Monto Morano were discussing matters related to the concrete Club
33:28
FBI agents installed listening devices there these recordings among others led
33:34
to the arrest of the Mobsters as well as the family boss Carmine perso who ended
33:40
up in prison for 100 years in the late 1980s with a couple of informants and
33:46
the help of others Scara quickly eliminated three higher ranking members of the family however he had no
33:54
intention of stopping even though by that time he was fatally ill the illness
34:01
began with persistent back pain the cause of which was unknown but Greg
34:06
fought it by regularly taking painkillers this in turn led to
34:13
gastrointestinal diseases culminating in internal bleeding in
34:18
1986 doctors performed an operation and saved scara's life but he also needed a
34:25
blood transfusion for familiar acquaintances and Associates of Greg became donors
34:31
among them a 29-year-old bodybuilder named Paul May shortly after the blood
34:38
transfusion May passed away it turned out that he had
34:43
contracted AIDS from intramuscular injections of anabolic steroids using
34:48
the same needle as several other bodybuilders his weakened immune system
34:54
couldn't fight off pneumonia Scara then got tested and the results were Bleak he was also infected
35:03
he fought the disease as best he could but it inexorably took its toll
35:08
nevertheless this did not stop him from continuing to scheme and kill people by
35:13
the early 1990s Scara found himself in the leading role in the bloodiest Mafia
35:20
war of that decade named the third Columbo War the most common version of
35:26
its beginning suggests that the acting boss Vic orena decided to rebel against
35:32
Carmine perso who was the true boss and was incarcerated however there is another
35:39
version where Scara is depicted as The Mastermind behind the conflict
35:46
deliberately instigating tensions and manipulating both sides to further his
35:51
own agender Scara was the puppet master who initiated this war a Arena was the
35:58
antithesis of Scara he made his money mostly from nonviolent crimes and was
36:04
against the drug trade he was also loyal to the perso faction of the family for
36:10
most of his Mafia career and Carmine trusted him so much that he made him his acting boss when he went to prison in
36:18
the late 1980s for the mafia commission trial scarper didn't like this
36:24
Arrangement so he started to get closer to Arena on the one hand while on the other hand making it seem like Vic
36:31
believed in him so much that he wanted to betray perso and take full power into
36:38
his own hands Scara carried out his plan with the help of a guy named Hugh casso
36:46
who had been working with his team as a partner for a long time Scarpa first
36:52
lobbied for casso's admission into the family where he was placed on Vic Oren's
36:57
team as casso grew closer to Arena Scara had his eyes and ears in the camp of his
37:04
main opponent in the power struggle casso played his role so skillfully that
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Arena started to trust him a lot and helped him with his career in the mafia
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too thus with one secret and one obvious Patron Cesar went from a soldier to a
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consilier in a matter of years however it should be noted that scara's
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loyalty was based more on fear than on Love on the one hand Caesar did have a
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good relationship with Arena Vic even helped him distance himself from Scara
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but Greg scared cheer too much for him to break the bond completely additionally rumors were
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constantly circulating in the mafia that Scara was an informant no one could prove anything
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but that scared Caesar too for Greg knew where the bodies of the people Caesar
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had killed on his orders were hidden Scara realized that fear alone would not
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be enough to make cesa go against Arena CA had gotten too close to him and it
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would be foolish to dismiss the possibility that he might betray Greg
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nevertheless Scara had already decided to get Vic out of his way and started
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weaving his web again Angelina too the captains on whether they supported
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persico's rule when Angelina did so Arena eliminated him it would later turn
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out that Angelina was killed for a different reason generally on the orders of perso
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himself however when sometime later cesa was appointed consilier and orena asked
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him to make the same inquiry Cesar became nervous Scara on the other hand
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added fuel to the fire by telling him that he had heard Cesar was being prepared to be assassinated when he went
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to the ceremony for accepting new members which he as consilier was
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obliged to attend eventually Cesar under pressure from Scara decided to kill
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orena but the attempt was unsuccess uccessful after this the family split
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into two factions one sided with Arena and the other with Persico who by this
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time was convinced that Arena was indeed plotting a coup there were talks for a
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while both between the factions and with other families but in November
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1991 there was a complete assassination attempt on Scara signaling the start of
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a fullscale war Greg himself was involved in four murders in this
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confrontation despite looking more like a walking skeleton due to Advanced AIDS
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he traveled around New York with a gun seeking out enemies and mercilessly
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shooting and killing them however Arena was still alive and then Scara began to
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realize his other plan if he couldn't kill Vic he decided to put him away
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especially since the groundwork for this was already laid this plan centered around the
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murder of Tommy oser for which Arena was eventually imprisoned oser was killed by
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Scara because Tommy suspected that Greg was an informant and started discussing
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it with other gangsters we know this from the testimony of Greg Scara Jr it's
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also known that when the Columbo war broke out and it became clear that Scara
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couldn't kill Arena directly he planted the guns from that crime on Vic this
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move initiated Arena's apprehension in fact Vic was convicted based on
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circumstantial evidence rumors hearsay and a weapon that was planted on him
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devoid of fingerprints after his imprisonment the war stopped and so did scara's
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multi-pronged scheme before I tell you about the fall of the Grim Reaper as Greg was called I want to
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take a moment to discuss the murders he committed as this aspect is crucial in
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understanding his character we've previously discussed the murders of Charlie and Joe Brewster as well as the
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four killings during the Columbo's third war however Scara didn't stop there
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there was also Dominic Sumer who complained to family Captain Anthony scappa about Scara Jr being
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insubordinate during a heist Greg remembered this and patiently waited for
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Suma to make a mistake so he could obtain permission from the family boss
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to kill him when the opportunity arose Scara pulled the trigger
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himself additionally there was his mistress Lily the John's lover who was
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planning to talk to the IRS about Scara and their joint business interests
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Greg personally shot her there was also a man in his social
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club who owed money to his lone shark and another time he killed a regular
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limousine driver for insulting Scara Jr Greg also killed another driver when he
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found out he was trying to molest his daughter I've chosen these examples out
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of about two dozen murders attributed to Scara to show you that Greg could kill
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for just about anything from a power struggle to a simple insult the next two
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examples are meant to demonstrate that for his own safety he could go to the extent of killing even those closest to
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him the first example is the death of scara's older brother
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Salvatore by the end of the 1980s their relationship wasn't the best Salvatore
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seeing how his brother repeatedly evaded accusations the latest of which was an
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almost assured case involving credit cards began to speak about suspecting
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Greg of working for the government scarper killed him for
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this the second example is Gus foras who was scara's nephew he was quite close to
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Greg and worked on his crew however when farasi killed a Drug Enforcement
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Administration agent Scara publicly distanced himself from him in an interview fearing that such a connection
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could harm him as farasi was a major Target for law enforcement agencies
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several New York mafia families were interested in his murder and Scara
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either helped them find his nephew or killed him himself Greg was never
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punished for any of these murders all thanks to his FBI Guardian Angel Lin
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deto however dito was not omnipotent and his subordinates were beginning to
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suspect more and more that their boss was not just supervising their most valuable informant but was playing a
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double game agent Chris favo proved to be the most
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incredulous he had long suspected deto but he was finally convinced when the lone shark Carmine imbali was arrested
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imbali began to cooperate with the authorities and revealed that he had
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heard Scara bragging at dinner about killing a man the prosecutor's office to
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whom imali told this passed the information to Chris FAO who reported it
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to dto within a couple of days imbali said there was a rumor on the streets
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that Scara wanted to kill him favo easily traced the pattern here but
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couldn't believe it yet the final straw for favo which tipped the scales to W
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refusing to trust his boss was a conversation with deto after the murder
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of Arena supporter Larry lampasi when favo informed deto of this
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he replied yeah we're definitely going to win it wasn't hard to guess that deto
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was specifically referring to the war in the Columbo family as an FBI agent and
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the superior overseeing teams capturing members of the bonano and Columbo families he had no business empathizing
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with anyone in an armed conflict this clearly indicated that deto was engaged
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and taking scara's side favo began to act without consulting dito as much as
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possible he installed listening devices in the Home and Car of scarpa's team
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member Joseph ambrosino those recordings helped link Scara to two murders and one attempted
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murder in March 1992 2 the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office obtained an
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arrest warrant for Scara on charges of weapon possession after two officers
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witnessed him dropping a gun from his car window deto was with Scara during
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this period but did not arrest him or inform the prosecution of his
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whereabouts meanwhile favo circumventing dto obtained an arrest warrant for Scara
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for cons spiring to commit murder at the same time FAO received it and began
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watching Greg completely unsuspectingly assured by dito that
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everything was fine and he had nothing to worry about first scarper appeared in
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court over an issue with poorly sanitized blood at a hospital that infected him with AIDS where he won
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$350,000 he then attended the court proceedings for illegal possession of a
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firearm it was here that favo arrested him as he left the courtroom by that
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time scara's Health was terrible and he looked like a walking skeleton his
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imprisonment only worsened his condition he lost more weight showed signs of
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dementia and other mental impairments and it became increasingly difficult for him to move each day his
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relatives managed to have Greg placed under house arrest due to his health however Scara wouldn't be himself if he
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complied with the rules of his house arrest one day his son Joseph from Linda
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told him about an altercation he had with two drug dealers Joseph was involved in drugs and the argument was
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business related Greg refused to listen he grabbed a gun got into the car with
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his son and his friend and went to find these guys upon finding them Scara
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initiated a shootout in which he himself lost an eye and his son's friend died
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after this incident he was returned to prison Scara didn't defend himself in
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court on May 6th 1993 Greg Scara Jr pleaded guilty to
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three counts of murder and conspiracy to commit more murders he faced a life
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sentence without parole however considering his health the judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison in
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his final years Greg scarper Senor was bedridden his body scarred and suffering
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making even eating and drinking painful he passed away on June 4th
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1994 after his death Linda Shiro received no support from the Columbo
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family there were rumors that she had developed a romantic relationship but these remain
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unconfirmed lindo's fate took an unexpected turn despite suspicions
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reported by favo an FBI internal investigation found no grounds for
49:45
further action dito quietly retired after 30 years with the bureau escaping
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any consequences for alleged connections with Greg scarper Greg scarper Jr
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imprisoned since 1988 spent over three decades in adx Florence one of the
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strictest US prisons released in 2020 his life had been marked by
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violence and crime this concludes the story of Greg scarper senior a figure
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whose life and actions were entwined with the dark underbelly of organized
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crime if you enjoyed the story of the enigmatic Greg scarper don't forget to
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