Up next in 10
Gregory Scarpa Sr. (May 8, 1928 – June 4, 1994)
Sep 17, 2025
- --~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~- Like and subscribe will be greatly appreciated! 🙏 -~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~- Grow Your YouTube Channel Faster with vidIQ! Want to get more views, subscribers, and take your YouTube game to the next level? I personally use vidIQ to optimize my videos, find the best keywords, analyze trends, and crush the algorithm. Whether you’re just starting out or already growing fast, vidIQ gives you the tools, insights, and strategies you need to stand out. Start for free today and see the difference: 👉 https://vidiq.com/MCICM -~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~- 🌟 Earn Money by Inviting Friends! 🌟 Invite your friends to sign up through our link, and they get 50% off their first 3 months! You’ll earn 40% of any purchase they make (up to $50). The more friends you refer, the more you earn! 👉 Get started here: https://veed.cello.so/eMaElJLkbCH Don’t miss out—start earning today! 💰 #EarnMoney #ReferralProgram
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
37:11
Arena started to trust him a lot and helped him with his career in the mafia
37:17
too thus with one secret and one obvious Patron Cesar went from a soldier to a
37:24
consilier in a matter of years however it should be noted that scara's
37:31
loyalty was based more on fear than on Love on the one hand Caesar did have a
37:38
good relationship with Arena Vic even helped him distance himself from Scara
37:44
but Greg scared cheer too much for him to break the bond completely additionally rumors were
37:50
constantly circulating in the mafia that Scara was an informant no one could prove anything
37:58
but that scared Caesar too for Greg knew where the bodies of the people Caesar
38:04
had killed on his orders were hidden Scara realized that fear alone would not
38:12
be enough to make cesa go against Arena CA had gotten too close to him and it
38:20
would be foolish to dismiss the possibility that he might betray Greg
38:25
nevertheless Scara had already decided to get Vic out of his way and started
38:32
weaving his web again Angelina too the captains on whether they supported
38:37
persico's rule when Angelina did so Arena eliminated him it would later turn
38:44
out that Angelina was killed for a different reason generally on the orders of perso
38:50
himself however when sometime later cesa was appointed consilier and orena asked
38:57
him to make the same inquiry Cesar became nervous Scara on the other hand
39:04
added fuel to the fire by telling him that he had heard Cesar was being prepared to be assassinated when he went
39:11
to the ceremony for accepting new members which he as consilier was
39:17
obliged to attend eventually Cesar under pressure from Scara decided to kill
39:24
orena but the attempt was unsuccess uccessful after this the family split
39:30
into two factions one sided with Arena and the other with Persico who by this
39:37
time was convinced that Arena was indeed plotting a coup there were talks for a
39:43
while both between the factions and with other families but in November
39:49
1991 there was a complete assassination attempt on Scara signaling the start of
39:56
a fullscale war Greg himself was involved in four murders in this
40:02
confrontation despite looking more like a walking skeleton due to Advanced AIDS
40:08
he traveled around New York with a gun seeking out enemies and mercilessly
40:13
shooting and killing them however Arena was still alive and then Scara began to
40:22
realize his other plan if he couldn't kill Vic he decided to put him away
40:29
especially since the groundwork for this was already laid this plan centered around the
40:35
murder of Tommy oser for which Arena was eventually imprisoned oser was killed by
40:42
Scara because Tommy suspected that Greg was an informant and started discussing
40:47
it with other gangsters we know this from the testimony of Greg Scara Jr it's
40:54
also known that when the Columbo war broke out and it became clear that Scara
40:59
couldn't kill Arena directly he planted the guns from that crime on Vic this
41:06
move initiated Arena's apprehension in fact Vic was convicted based on
41:12
circumstantial evidence rumors hearsay and a weapon that was planted on him
41:18
devoid of fingerprints after his imprisonment the war stopped and so did scara's
41:25
multi-pronged scheme before I tell you about the fall of the Grim Reaper as Greg was called I want to
41:32
take a moment to discuss the murders he committed as this aspect is crucial in
41:39
understanding his character we've previously discussed the murders of Charlie and Joe Brewster as well as the
41:45
four killings during the Columbo's third war however Scara didn't stop there
41:52
there was also Dominic Sumer who complained to family Captain Anthony scappa about Scara Jr being
41:59
insubordinate during a heist Greg remembered this and patiently waited for
42:04
Suma to make a mistake so he could obtain permission from the family boss
42:09
to kill him when the opportunity arose Scara pulled the trigger
42:15
himself additionally there was his mistress Lily the John's lover who was
42:21
planning to talk to the IRS about Scara and their joint business interests
42:27
Greg personally shot her there was also a man in his social
42:33
club who owed money to his lone shark and another time he killed a regular
42:39
limousine driver for insulting Scara Jr Greg also killed another driver when he
42:46
found out he was trying to molest his daughter I've chosen these examples out
42:51
of about two dozen murders attributed to Scara to show you that Greg could kill
42:57
for just about anything from a power struggle to a simple insult the next two
43:04
examples are meant to demonstrate that for his own safety he could go to the extent of killing even those closest to
43:12
him the first example is the death of scara's older brother
43:17
Salvatore by the end of the 1980s their relationship wasn't the best Salvatore
43:24
seeing how his brother repeatedly evaded accusations the latest of which was an
43:29
almost assured case involving credit cards began to speak about suspecting
43:35
Greg of working for the government scarper killed him for
43:41
this the second example is Gus foras who was scara's nephew he was quite close to
43:47
Greg and worked on his crew however when farasi killed a Drug Enforcement
43:53
Administration agent Scara publicly distanced himself from him in an interview fearing that such a connection
44:00
could harm him as farasi was a major Target for law enforcement agencies
44:06
several New York mafia families were interested in his murder and Scara
44:12
either helped them find his nephew or killed him himself Greg was never
44:18
punished for any of these murders all thanks to his FBI Guardian Angel Lin
44:25
deto however dito was not omnipotent and his subordinates were beginning to
44:30
suspect more and more that their boss was not just supervising their most valuable informant but was playing a
44:37
double game agent Chris favo proved to be the most
44:43
incredulous he had long suspected deto but he was finally convinced when the lone shark Carmine imbali was arrested
44:52
imbali began to cooperate with the authorities and revealed that he had
44:57
heard Scara bragging at dinner about killing a man the prosecutor's office to
45:03
whom imali told this passed the information to Chris FAO who reported it
45:08
to dto within a couple of days imbali said there was a rumor on the streets
45:15
that Scara wanted to kill him favo easily traced the pattern here but
45:21
couldn't believe it yet the final straw for favo which tipped the scales to W
45:27
refusing to trust his boss was a conversation with deto after the murder
45:32
of Arena supporter Larry lampasi when favo informed deto of this
45:38
he replied yeah we're definitely going to win it wasn't hard to guess that deto
45:45
was specifically referring to the war in the Columbo family as an FBI agent and
45:51
the superior overseeing teams capturing members of the bonano and Columbo families he had no business empathizing
45:58
with anyone in an armed conflict this clearly indicated that deto was engaged
46:05
and taking scara's side favo began to act without consulting dito as much as
46:11
possible he installed listening devices in the Home and Car of scarpa's team
46:16
member Joseph ambrosino those recordings helped link Scara to two murders and one attempted
46:24
murder in March 1992 2 the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office obtained an
46:30
arrest warrant for Scara on charges of weapon possession after two officers
46:36
witnessed him dropping a gun from his car window deto was with Scara during
46:43
this period but did not arrest him or inform the prosecution of his
46:48
whereabouts meanwhile favo circumventing dto obtained an arrest warrant for Scara
46:56
for cons spiring to commit murder at the same time FAO received it and began
47:02
watching Greg completely unsuspectingly assured by dito that
47:08
everything was fine and he had nothing to worry about first scarper appeared in
47:14
court over an issue with poorly sanitized blood at a hospital that infected him with AIDS where he won
47:23
$350,000 he then attended the court proceedings for illegal possession of a
47:29
firearm it was here that favo arrested him as he left the courtroom by that
47:36
time scara's Health was terrible and he looked like a walking skeleton his
47:42
imprisonment only worsened his condition he lost more weight showed signs of
47:49
dementia and other mental impairments and it became increasingly difficult for him to move each day his
47:57
relatives managed to have Greg placed under house arrest due to his health however Scara wouldn't be himself if he
48:05
complied with the rules of his house arrest one day his son Joseph from Linda
48:11
told him about an altercation he had with two drug dealers Joseph was involved in drugs and the argument was
48:19
business related Greg refused to listen he grabbed a gun got into the car with
48:25
his son and his friend and went to find these guys upon finding them Scara
48:31
initiated a shootout in which he himself lost an eye and his son's friend died
48:38
after this incident he was returned to prison Scara didn't defend himself in
48:45
court on May 6th 1993 Greg Scara Jr pleaded guilty to
48:51
three counts of murder and conspiracy to commit more murders he faced a life
48:57
sentence without parole however considering his health the judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison in
49:05
his final years Greg scarper Senor was bedridden his body scarred and suffering
49:11
making even eating and drinking painful he passed away on June 4th
49:19
1994 after his death Linda Shiro received no support from the Columbo
49:24
family there were rumors that she had developed a romantic relationship but these remain
49:32
unconfirmed lindo's fate took an unexpected turn despite suspicions
49:38
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
49:51
any consequences for alleged connections with Greg scarper Greg scarper Jr
49:57
imprisoned since 1988 spent over three decades in adx Florence one of the
50:03
strictest US prisons released in 2020 his life had been marked by
50:09
violence and crime this concludes the story of Greg scarper senior a figure
50:15
whose life and actions were entwined with the dark underbelly of organized
50:21
crime if you enjoyed the story of the enigmatic Greg scarper don't forget to
50:27
like subscribe and hit the Bell icon for more gripping Tales From history's
50:33
underworld stay tuned for our next [Music]
50:40
episode thank you for watching