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Greg Scarpa: The Mafia's Grim Reaper Who Played the FBI! 💀🔥 Unbelievable Double Life Revealed!
Mar 22, 2025
Welcome back to our channel, where we dive deep into the extraordinary lives of the most intriguing and controversial figures in history. Today, we unravel the mind-blowing story of Gregory Scarpa, a feared Colombo Mafia Family member who shockingly served as a secret FBI informant. 😱💼
Discover how Scarpa, known as the "Grim Reaper," manipulated both the Mafia and the FBI, eliminating rivals and evading prison. His life was a twisted tale of power, betrayal, and violence. From orchestrating hits to FBI missions, Scarpa’s story is one you won't believe.
In this video, we'll explore:
- Scarpa's ruthless rise in the Colombo Mafia Family 💣
- His secret collaboration with the FBI and shocking missions 🤯
- The violent legacy he passed down to his son and associates 🪓
- The scandalous relationships that fueled his life 💔
📚 Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
02:45 Early Life in Brooklyn
07:20 Joining the Colombo Mafia
10:35 Becoming an FBI Informant
16:10 Secret Missions and Torture
21:45 Family and Personal Life
26:00 Junior’s Involvement
30:45 Scarpa’s Criminal Enterprise
35:00 The Unbelievable Double Life
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
welcome back to our Channel where we dive deep into the extraordinary lives of some of the most intriguing and
0:07
controversial figures in history today we have a story that might just be the
0:12
most fascinating one yet meet Gregory Scarpa a man who lived a double life as
0:17
both a feared member of the Columbo Mafia family and a secret informant for the FBI his connections ran so deep that
0:25
the agents supervising him became his allies aiding him in evading prison and
0:30
continuing his illicit activities get ready for a journey into the unbelievable and complex world of
0:37
Gregory Scarpa Gregory Scarpa was selective in leaking information and
0:42
distorting facts using these tactics to eliminate those who hindered him and
0:47
systematically increase his power some even believe that Scarpa was the great Cardinal of the family pulling the
0:54
strings and controlling everything from behind the scenes he started Wars killed
1:00
and ordered the deaths of dozens he turned his son into a killer officially
1:05
allowed his wife to have a lover and then turned him into a killer as well even near the end of his life when he
1:12
was reduced to a walking skeleton due to illness scarpa's influence remained
1:18
formidable despite being ravaged by advancing AIDS he still rode around the
1:23
city shooting his enemies how's that for a synopsis want a more detailed story
1:29
then meet Gregory Scarpa a man on the other side of the law not much is known about scarpa's
1:36
early life he was born in 1928 in Bensonhurst a workingclass neighborhood
1:41
in Brooklyn to a poor Italian-American family there are also rumors that he was
1:47
born in Italy and moved to the United States with his parents at an early age
1:52
however I will stick to the first version for this story from a book written with the participation of his
1:59
son we learned that in 1949 Gregory Scarpa married Connie
2:04
forest with whom he had a son Gregory Scarpa Jr who will also feature in our
2:09
narrative today by the early 1950s when his son was born Scarpa was already
2:15
involved in crime as evidenced by his arrest for burglary it was also during the 1950s that he appears to have become
2:22
a member of the mafia family we now know as the Columbo family its boss at the
2:28
time was Joe profasi who had a conflict with the Galla Brothers in the 1960s
2:33
which I will delve into further I talked about this in more detail in my video about the Gallow
2:39
Brothers at that time Scarpa was close to calero loiko better known as Charlie
2:45
the Sig who was then a conier realizing that the cancer stricken Joe praki
2:51
wouldn't last long Charlie began making plans to take over the family however he
2:57
was overtaken by Joseph meoko who became boss after prophecy's death and demoted
3:02
Charlie to Captain Charlie then started plotting against Mago Scarpa was even
3:08
contracted to kill maglio but Charlie later called it off for some reason in
3:14
the end Charlie never gained power and Joe Columbo became the boss Scarpa who
3:20
had supported his mentor played a part in Charlie's downfall when it became clear that his Ascension wouldn't happen
3:27
more on that later at this time Greg Scarpa sir was working
3:33
as an informant in 1960 he was arrested for armed robbery and FBI agents began
3:40
recruiting him by the fall of 1961 Scarpa had surrendered and agreed to
3:45
cooperate he became a confidential informant and received regular payments for his work Scarpa would receive more
3:53
than $150,000 from the authorities during his time as an informant which is over a
3:59
million in today's equivalent from that moment on Greg kept the FBI informed
4:04
about everything happening inside the American Mafia especially within the Colombo family a couple of years before
4:11
Joe vachi appeared before the Senate and revealed the inner workings of the mafia to the entire country he had already
4:18
done so privately in conversations with agents there is even a version that says
4:24
all the information vache shared was actually given to him by FBI agents
4:29
propos opponents of this version believe that a low-ranking mafia member like vachi simply could not have known so
4:36
much and that through him Jay Edgar Hoover wanted to tell the country
4:42
everything the FBI had learned about kosa norra why would Hoover need to
4:47
perform such maneuvers you might ask the thing is much of the information was
4:52
obtained through not entirely legal means such as unauthorized
4:57
wiretapping telling everything through Bachi was ideal for Hoover according to
5:02
this version FBI agents learned about the mafia's setup from Scarpa who was much closer to the top as a captain and
5:10
then provided this information to vache to reveal to the world Hoover's ultimate
5:15
goal in this game was to increase funding for the FBI agents supplied
5:21
vachi with all the necessary data leading the country to learn about the true power of the Kos Nostra through him
5:28
and in turn the state gave Hoover more money to fight organized crime whether
5:33
this was true or not we won't delve into it leaving these thoughts to you our
5:39
viewers instead as always we will stick to the facts that are indisputable and
5:45
important for today's story scarpa's collaboration with the FBI let's go back
5:51
to that his collaboration can be roughly divided into official and unofficial the
5:57
former included all reports and dat data that came from Scarpa through his supervising agent to FBI headquarters as
6:05
payment Scarpa would receive official regular payments and bonuses from the FBI for his
6:11
Services the latter included secret missions that Greg carried out for the FBI illegal Deeds he engaged in with his
6:19
supervising agent and the protection he received when facing prison sentences
6:25
let's be frank the first part is boring and not particularly interesting to talk about we will return to it when
6:32
discussing how Scarpa fought for power by using official reports to divert suspicions or remove other mafiosi from
6:39
his path for now let's focus on the second part and start with the secret
6:45
missions according to Scarpa himself as conveyed through the stories of those close to him who knew about his work for
6:52
the FBI he had quite a few Special Operations he claimed he helped the
6:57
government frame members of the Israeli mad assisted in some Kay Special
7:02
Operations gathered information on Howard Hughes and his Mafia connections and even tortured people however we only
7:10
know details about one of his secret missions for the government which did indeed involve torture were all the
7:17
others true I cannot confirm these incidents the mentioned torture case
7:23
involved the killing of three civil rights activists Michael schwarner James Cheney and Andrew Goodman by the Q cluck
7:31
clan in Ohio during the summer of 1964 when they disappeared Without a
7:37
Trace public outrage ensued the FBI took over the investigation but despite their
7:43
efforts they couldn't find the boys Dead or Alive the bureau suspected the
7:49
involvement of the clan but couldn't prove anything that's when Greg Scarpa
7:54
was brought in Scarpa abducted one of the clan members and took him to a house
7:59
deep in the woods inside the house Scarpa started beating the man and demanded to know what happened to the
8:06
missing boys whenever the captive provided some information Scarpa would go outside and pass it on to the FBI
8:13
agents waiting outside they would verify the information and if the man lied the
8:19
torture continued the captive only gave up when Scarpa began cutting off his
8:24
genitals he confessed to all those involved in the deaths of the three boys and revealed field where the bodies were
8:31
buried in the end the FBI gained Fame and honor and Scara received several
8:36
commendations and had all his expenses covered the man who was kidnapped was
8:42
not believed by anyone when he claimed he was tortured by some Rogue SST in the
8:47
FBI service scarpa's main mistress Linda Shiro also accompanied him on this
8:54
Mission Greg had a total of three constant women his wife Conor Linda and
9:00
the beauty queen from Israel Lily Janie however Linda always remained the
9:06
primary one it must be said that she and Scarpa made a good couple Scarpa met her
9:12
shortly before the mission we talked about earlier when he was around 40 years old and she had just turned 18
9:19
initially their relationship was like something out of a romantic movie however Linda started feeling
9:26
restricted in her role as the mistress she wanted Greg to divorce his wife
9:31
Scarpa had no intention of doing that but he was willing to live together with Linda and start a family without getting
9:39
legally married this didn't satisfy Linda she was Catholic and wanted their children
9:45
to be baptized according to all the rules with both a father and a mother
9:51
when she couldn't convince Greg to divorce his wife she decided to marry someone else her plan was as follows
9:58
find a gullible guy charm him into marrying her have children with Scarpa baptize them and then divorce the guy in
10:06
her view this would satisfy all religious considerations Scarpa had reservations
10:12
about this idea but he couldn't stop Linda from carrying out her plan she proceeded with her plan regardless the
10:20
man she chose was named Charlie Shiro and they got married in March
10:25
1968 Linda lived with Charlie but spent all her free time with Greg Scarpa would
10:31
often be at the shirro family home when Charlie was at work Linda would disappear for days at a time without
10:38
explaining much to her husband for a while Charlie made excuses for the chaos
10:44
around him but this situation couldn't last forever he eventually found out about the affair after the birth of
10:51
their first child who was of course Gregs despite knowing about Greg's
10:56
reputation Charlie couldn't take any action he simply waited for Linda to
11:02
Tire of playing this game which eventually happened after the birth of Greg's second child Linda decided it
11:09
wasn't worth continuing the charade and divorced Charlie if you think their personal lives became more traditional
11:16
after that you'd be mistaken Greg found himself another mistress Lily Dian and Linda decided she
11:24
deserved a lover on the side as well preferably someone Young and energetic
11:30
to make their infidelity worth it whether this constituted true infidelity in the traditional sense is hard to say
11:37
Linda told Greg about her plan to see other people on the side he didn't object they both concluded that Linda
11:44
had the right to explore this believing it could bring new emotions to their intimate
11:49
lives this time Linda chose a man named Larry Maza who delivered groceries to
11:55
their home it wasn't difficult for Linda to seduce him and soon they became lovers Linda would tell him her husband
12:02
wasn't home and they would indulge freely often this was a lie with Scarpa
12:08
in another room after mza left Greg and Linda excited by what had transpired
12:14
would become intimate themselves at some point Linda thought it would be beneficial for Greg and
12:20
Charlie to meet in person so that Scarpa could assist her lover with work as he
12:25
wasn't satisfied with his job as a courier under a pretext manufactured for matah this meeting took place and Scarpa
12:34
offered him a new opportunity he sponsored Larry who then opened a betting station for an illegal Lottery
12:41
gradually Scarpa involved matah more in his illegal activities eventually making
12:47
him one of the Hitmen on his team the issue of mat's relationship
12:52
with Linda was openly discussed with him as it deeply troubled Mesa he even feared that the meeting where Scarpa
12:58
addressed it would be his last but he was fortunate this unconventional love
13:04
triangle lasted for about 15 years in addition to Maza Scarpa also introduced
13:10
his Elder son Gregory Scarpa Jr whom I'll refer to as Junior into the
13:16
criminal World from a young age Junior witnessed the world his father belonged
13:21
to as Scarpa and his associates often gathered at their home to discuss matters or divide the spoils while
13:28
junior did didn't fully understand everything he sensed something ominous in scara's world when Junior was a
13:35
teenager scarper revealed his true identity to him during a walk explaining
13:40
that he was involved in the mafia and also worked for the government portraying it as a service to the
13:46
country Scarpa likened himself to something akin to James Bond which left
13:51
a lasting impression on the young teenager it was during this time that Scarpa began to introduce violence into
13:59
his son's life for instance when Junior was 15 he got into a fight in a bar with
14:04
an older man Scarpa found out about it took his son and together they went to
14:10
the bar Scarpa brutally assaulted the man and then made his son kick the
14:15
unconscious body about a year later Junior participated in a boxing
14:21
competition where he lost a tough fight by decision Scarpa then forced him to
14:26
locate and beat up his opponent outside the the ring Junior couldn't find the guy but this incident vividly
14:33
illustrates the kind of upbringing Scarpa provided Greg couldn't bear the thought
14:38
of anyone being stronger than his son or disrespecting him so he compelled Junior
14:43
to adopt the same attitude as Junior came of age Scarpa began involving him
14:49
in his illegal activities gradually introducing discussion about killings
14:55
Scarpa gave him detailed instructions on how to execute killings effect itively dispose of bodies and avoid getting
15:02
caught although Junior wasn't comfortable with these conversations his loyalty to his father kept him from
15:08
objecting soon this loyalty led him to be responsible for dozen of his own
15:13
killings with Greg Scarpa SAR orchestrating most of them as mentioned
15:19
earlier Junior was aware that Scarpa worked for the FBI his first handler was
15:24
an agent named Anthony Villano Scarpa informed his team that he had a contact
15:30
in law enforcement but didn't specify who or where exactly naturally everyone
15:36
assumed it was a local police officer whom they occasionally needed to pay off in reality it was an FBI agent and there
15:44
is substantial evidence that scarper regularly provided him with money to
15:49
mention they sometimes collaborated for instance scarpa's men might steal 100
15:55
cases of whiskey Scarpa would take his cut of 20 cases and then inform volano
16:00
of the remaining stash with this tip off volano could approach those accountable
16:05
for covering the losses often insurance companies he would negotiate informing
16:11
them he knew the whereabouts of a batch of whiskey valued at $60,000 but would only disclose the
16:17
location for $110,000 to minimize costs companies
16:22
typically complied furthermore the FBI would investigate the theft and Scarpa would
16:28
receive a government bonus for the valuable intelligence from one theft Greg gained a share of the stolen goods
16:36
money from the insurance company and a government bonus despite sharing with Fano it was a remarkably effective plan
16:43
as reliable as Swiss watches there's also unconfirmed information that Villano and later his successor Lindo
16:51
were implicated in nfts this speculation suggests that
16:56
during activities like Bank break-ins the FBI agent would be stationed in a
17:01
car monitoring details on special radio waves known to authorities if the agent
17:07
caught wind that police had detected suspicious activity at the bank he promptly alerted scarpa's Associates
17:14
however direct involvement of FBI agents in scarpa's Affairs if it occurred wasn't widespread they covered for him
17:22
and received payments but not all agents were implicated Scarpa also managed separate
17:28
operations firstly the claims about FBI agent involvement lack verification and
17:34
secondly even if true it wasn't Universal scarpa's theft team operated
17:40
consistently targeting Banks and jewelry stores the crew even had their own
17:46
Innovations one member devised a lockpick that easily cracked open phone booth coin compartments scarpe himself
17:54
sometimes practiced these techniques his theft operation was highly exclusive among roughly 50
18:01
members in the so-called wimpy boys team named after scarpa's Social Club approximately 10 could be considered
18:09
professional thieves another 10 to 15 served as hired Hitman juggling other
18:15
jobs and sources of income though their primary task was often elimination even more exclusive was the
18:22
group specializing in luxury car theft scarpa's Associates made these cars untraceable and profit able to resell
18:30
similarly skilled were those targeting trucks carrying various goods from clothes to electronics and food they
18:37
could earn between $5,000 to $10,000 per truck depending on its
18:43
contents others were involved in illegal lotteries bookmaking and Loan sharking
18:49
all paying a percentage to Scarpa for instance he provided $80,000 to lone
18:55
sharks for Street lending collecting $100 per week for every $110,000 LED out
19:02
the loone Sharks themselves could earn $300 to $400 on the same amount making
19:09
it a lucrative Enterprise especially given scarpa's reputation and the certainty of
19:15
collections continuing the list one cannot Overlook the presence of drug traffickers who operated within scarpa's
19:22
team with even Junior involved in this illicit trade among the most notorious
19:27
groups in Gregs organization were the muscle strongman specialized in intimidation if a debtor failed to repay
19:34
a loan or a businessman refused extortion demands these individuals were dispatched known for their expertise in
19:42
Breaking Limbs and instilling fear as evidenced Scarpa and his team were
19:48
involved in nearly every Avenue of illicit profit including fraud Greg took
19:54
particular pleasure in credit card fraud acquiring duplicate cards fraud
19:59
acquiring duplicate cards that his associates used for purchases the goods bought were resold for cash or used for
20:07
everyday expenses such as groceries or dining out this fraudulent activity
20:12
generated hundreds of thousands of dollar annually for instance in 1985 an
20:18
agent of the United States Secret Service covertly sold 300 credit cards
20:24
to scarpa's operation Greg could have made over a million
20:29
if he had used all 300 credit cards bought from a secret service agent for
20:35
$999,000 instead Greg faced fraud charges that carried a potential sentence of 7 years in prison and a
20:44
$250,000 fine however the FBI intervened and discovered that Scarpa had not paid
20:50
the $999,000 but only considered the purchase the judge also considered
20:56
scarpa's role as an informant and author authorities decided to spare him Greg
21:01
received only a 5-year suspended sentence and a $10,000 Fine By the time
21:07
of this incident scarpa's FBI Handler had changed from Villano to dto Villano
21:13
stopped working with Scarpa in the mid 1970s due to an internal investigation that resulted in his transfer from New
21:19
York and subsequent retirement Scarpa meanwhile had ceased his collaboration
21:25
with the FBI in 1975 however in in 1980 he was convinced to return by agent Lindo whom Greg
21:33
quickly persuaded to collaborate with him much like vatate with him much like
21:38
volano Scarpa provided doto with information about individuals who obstructed his rise to power or posed a
21:45
threat within the American Mafia dito in turn shielded Scarpa from legal
21:51
repercussions and according to some accounts indirectly aided in several of
21:56
scarpa's murders typically dto would provide Intelligence on targets
22:01
locations or alert Scarpa when someone planned to cooperate with authorities for instance this was evident in the
22:08
case of scarpa's close associate Joe Brewster when dito learned that Brewster intended to speak to the police A Move
22:15
That Could endanger both Scarpa and dito Scarpa ordered Brewster's
22:22
assassination Scarpa and doto quickly found common ground and shared a goal
22:27
where violence and abuse use of authority were acceptable means their objective was clear to enhance scarpa's
22:34
influence within the mafia thereby advancing dito's career as well
22:39
ultimately they aimed to install Scarpa or his proxy as the boss of the Columbo family placing an informant at the
22:46
highest Echelon of the American Mafia potentially facilitating the downfall of
22:51
numerous criminal Enterprises the entire organization operated like a house of cards to
22:59
substantiate these claims let's consider a few concrete examples of this duplicity we'll start with how Scarpa
23:06
got rid of Charlie as mentioned at the very beginning when Charlie wielded significant influence in the Columbo
23:13
family Scarpa spoke favorably of him in reports to the FBI even while providing
23:19
information about his crimes however as Charlie began losing power and hitting
23:25
rock bottom scarpa's rhetoric changed he started almost insulting Charlie in his
23:31
reports to the agents this shift was part of a very calculated game recognizing Charlie's
23:38
weakness Greg began plotting a cunning conspiracy against him pay attention now
23:44
carpa slowly started feeding the FBI information about Charlie's deteriorating relationships with his
23:51
sons Then Greg either struck a deal with Charlie's grandson Richard or simply
23:57
robbed him while Richard was at work transporting company stocks worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from
24:04
one place to another Scarpa told the FBI that he had nothing to do with it with
24:09
it but knew where some of the stocks were kept the agents found them there Scarpa also implied that Charlie might
24:17
have been behind the robbery because one of Charlie's men contacted Greg with an offer to buy the stocks Richard was
24:24
summoned to answer questions before a grand jury sometime later Richard was
24:29
found dead immediately after his death the chief assistant district attorney in
24:34
Brooklyn Elliot Golden named Richard a star witness thus confirming the motive
24:40
for his murder and fears that he had started cooperating with the authorities the primary suspicion in the
24:47
murder fell on Charlie later it became known that Scarpa was aware of the
24:52
illegal dealings between Golden and Joe Columbo although there's no direct
24:57
evidence of this one could speculate that he may have pressured golden to make a statement about the star witness
25:03
thereby justifying the motive for Richard's Murder by Charlie when the entire web was woven Charlie himself was
25:11
killed and all suspicions fell on his son Frank who supposedly Avenged
25:16
Richard's death thus Scarpa removed the final piece from the
25:22
board first scarper removed the Old Man Who Knew Too Much about him but had now
25:28
hit rock bottom making his actions unpredictable now let's turn to Joe
25:33
Columbo if the setup with Charlie was more for personal safety the situation
25:38
with Columbo was more about a power struggle Scarpa acted more discreetly here employing a strategy akin to water
25:46
slowly eroding concrete eventually punching a hole through it in simpler terms he seized every opportunity to
25:54
undermine Columbo in 1967 Scarpa informed the FBI of the
26:00
location of Columbo's son's wedding allowing undercover agents to capture several new faces a year later scarper
26:08
reported Columbo's son for planning to melt down silver coins and sell them as precious metal at a higher value than
26:15
their nominal worth when Columbo's son was arrested Joe staged a multi-day
26:20
protest and Scarpa helped him with that while simultaneously keeping the FBI informed of Columbo's plans garpa was
26:29
also one of the most active members of the Italian-American civil rights League supposedly working for the
26:35
organization's interests the Italian-American civil rights League established by Columbo to
26:41
protect the rights of Italian Americans further cemented scarpa's relationship with the boss after that information
26:48
began to flow to the FBI about Columbo's earnings and the corrupt connections he
26:53
had at his disposal now we approach a very interesting version of why and by whom
27:00
Joe Columbo was killed this occurred at a rally organized by Columbo in the
27:05
summer of 1971 he was shot by a black man named Jerome Johnson which led to Columbo
27:13
falling into a lengthy coma and later dying I've already discussed two main
27:18
versions of this incident in my videos one blames Joe Gallo while the other blames Carlo Gambino it is generally
27:26
believed that it was indeed Gambino more details about this can be found in my
27:31
video about Carlo Gambino and the Gallow Brothers Scarpa initially pushed the
27:38
FBI's version that it was Joe Gallow at first he said that all was well between Columbo and Gallow but shortly before
27:45
the assassination he radically changed his opinion and started to say that a war might break out soon he mentioned
27:53
that Columbo feared an attack citing as evidence a car with AFC American
27:59
circulating in his neighborhood Scarpa told the agents that Columbo believed
28:04
these individuals were friends of Joe Gallow whom he had befriended in prison
28:09
moreover after the assassination Scarpa was able to tell the FBI a surprising
28:14
amount about the shooter even though neither the police nor other informants knew much about
28:20
Johnson all of this raises the idea that Columbo might have been killed by Scarpa
28:26
who then shifted all the blame on to Joe Gallow however these are only
28:31
speculations as the evidence in this regard is too indirect what we do know
28:37
for certain is that after Columbo's death Scarpa immediately shifted his Focus to Carmine perso who would later
28:44
become the new boss of the family the first thing Scarpa did was accuse perso of killing Joe Gallow but that was just
28:51
the beginning multiple bosses being imprisoned due to a conspiracy known as
28:56
the concrete Club the essence of this scheme was that Mobsters from different families
29:02
conspired to take over the construction industry in New York extorting money from construction firms Scarpa also
29:10
provided the FBI with an address where members of the Columbo family Soldier Ralph scopo under boss jaro Lela and
29:18
Captain Dominic Mont Morano were discussing matters related to the concrete Club FBI agents installed
29:25
listening devices there these recordings among others led to the arrest of the
29:30
Mobsters as well as the family boss Carmine perso who ended up in prison for
29:36
100 years in the late 1980s with a couple of informants and the help of others Scarpa quickly
29:43
eliminated three higher ranking members of the family however he had no
29:48
intention of stopping even though by that time he was fatally ill the illness
29:53
began with persistent back pain the cause of which was unknown but Greg fought it by regularly taking
30:00
painkillers this in turn led to gastrointestinal diseases culminating in
30:06
internal bleeding in 1986 doctors performed an operation and saved
30:11
scarpa's life but he also needed a blood transfusion familiar acquaintances and
30:17
Associates of Greg became donors among them a 29-year-old bodybuilder named
30:22
Paul May shortly after the blood transfusion May passed away it turned
30:28
out that he had contracted AIDS from intramuscular injections of anabolic steroids using the same needle as
30:35
several other bodybuilders his weakened immune system couldn't fight off pneumonia Scarpa then got tested and the
30:43
results were Bleak he was also infected he fought the disease as best he could
30:48
but it inexorably took its toll nevertheless this did not stop him from continuing to scheme and kill people by
30:56
the early 1990s Scarpa found himself in the leading role in bloodiest Mafia war of that decade
31:03
named the third Columbo War the most common version of its beginning suggests
31:10
that the acting boss Vic Oren decided to rebel against Carmine proo who was the
31:16
true boss and was incarcerated however there is another version where Scarpa is depicted as The
31:23
Mastermind behind the conflict deliberately instigating tension and
31:28
manipulating both sides to further his own agenda Scarpa was the puppet master
31:34
who initiated this war Arena was the antithesis of Scarpa he made his money
31:41
mostly from nonviolent crimes and was against the drug trade he was also loyal
31:46
to the perso faction of the family for most of his Mafia career and Carmine trusted him so much that he made him his
31:53
acting boss when he went to prison in the late 1980s for the mafia a commission trial Scarpa didn't like this
32:00
Arrangement so he started to get closer to Arena on the one hand while on the other hand making it seem like Vic
32:07
believed in him so much that he wanted to betray pero and take full power into
32:13
his own hands Scarpa carried out his plan with the help of a guy named huaso who had
32:20
been working with his team as a partner for a long time Scarpa first lobbied for
32:25
casso's admission into the family where he was placed on Vic Ora's team as Caso
32:30
grew closer to Arena Scarpa had his eyes and ears in the camp of his main opponent in the power struggle casso
32:38
played his role so skillfully that Arena started to trust him a lot and helped him with his career in the mafia too
32:46
thus with one secret and one obvious Patron cesa went from a soldier to a consigli a in a matter of years however
32:55
it should be noted that scarpa's loyalty was based more on fear than on Love on
33:01
the one hand cesa did have a good relationship with Arena Vic even helped
33:06
him distance himself from Scarpa but Greg scared cesa too much for him to break the bond
33:13
completely additionally rumors were constantly circulating in the mafia that Scarpa was an informant no one could
33:20
prove anything but that scared Cesar too for Greg knew where the bodies of the
33:25
people Cesar had killed on his orders were hidden Scarpa realized that fear
33:30
alone would not be enough to make cesa go against Arena cesa had gotten too
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close to him and it would be foolish to dismiss the possibility that he might betray
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Greg nevertheless Scarpa had already decided to get Vic out of his way and
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started weaving his web again Angelina to PLL the captain on whether they
33:52
supported Pico's rule when Angelina did so orena eliminated him it would later
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turn out that Angelina was killed for a different reason generally on the orders of pero himself however when sometime
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later cesa was appointed consilier and Arena asked him to make the same inquiry
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cesa became nervous Scarpa on the other hand added fuel to the fire by telling
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him that he had heard cesa was being prepared to be assassinated when he went to the ceremony for accepting new
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members which he as consigliere was a obliged to attend eventually Cesar under pressure
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from Scarpa decided to kill Arena but the attempt was unsuccessful after this
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the family split into two factions one sided with Arena and the other with proo
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who by this time was convinced that Arena was indeed plotting a coup there were talks for a while both between the
34:51
factions and with other families but in November 1991 there was a complete
34:57
assassination attempt on Scarpa signaling the start of a fullscale war
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Greg himself was involved in four murders in this confrontation despite looking more like a walking skeleton due
35:09
to Advanced AIDS he traveled around New York with a gun seeking out enemies and
35:15
mercilessly shooting and killing them however orena was still alive and then
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Scarpa began to realize his other plan if he couldn't kill Vic he decided to
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put him away 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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Scarpa because Tommy suspected that Greg was an informant and started discussing it with other gangsters we know this
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from the testimony of Greg Scarpa Jr it's also known that when the Columbo war broke out and it became clear that
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Scarpa couldn't kill Arena directly he planted the guns from the that crime on Vic this move initiated Arena's
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apprehension in fact Vic was convicted based on circumstantial evidence rumors
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hearsay and a weapon that was planted on him devoid of
36:12
fingerprints after his imprisonment the war stopped and so did scarpa's
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multi-prong scheme before I tell you about the fall of the Grim Reaper as Greg was called I want to take a moment
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to discuss the murders he committed as this aspect is is crucial in understanding his character we've
36:31
previously discussed the murders of Charlie and Joe Brewster as well as the four killings during the Columbo's third
36:36
war however Scarpa didn't stop there there was also domenic suer who
36:42
complained to family Captain Anthony scappa about Scara Jr being insubordinate during a heist Greg
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remembered this and patiently waited for suer to make a mistake so he could obtain permission from the family boss
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to kill him when the opportunity arose Scarpa pulled the trigger himself
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additionally there was his mistress Lily the John's lover who was planning to
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talk to the IRS about Scarpa and their joint business interests Greg personally
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shot her there was also a man in his social club who owed money to his lone shark and another time he killed a
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regular limousine driver for insulting Scarpa Jr Greg also killed another driver when he found out he was trying
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trying to molest his daughter I've chosen these examples out of about two dozen murders attributed to Scarpa to
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show you that Greg could kill for just about anything from a power struggle to
37:40
a simple insult the next two examples are meant to demonstrate that for his own safety
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he could go to the extent of killing even those closest to him the first example is the death of scarpa's older
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brother Salvatore by the end of the 1980s there were relationship wasn't the
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best Salvatore seeing how his brother repeatedly evaded accusations the latest
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of which was an almost assured case involving credit cards began to speak about suspecting Greg of working for the
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government Scarpa killed him for this the second example is Gus farasi who was
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scarpa's nephew he was quite close to Greg and worked on his crew however when farasi killed a Drug
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Enforcement Administration agent Scarpa publicly dis disted himself from him in an interview fearing that such a
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connection could harm him as farasi was a major Target for law enforcement agencies several New York mafia families
38:38
were interested in his murder and Scarpa 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 Lon
38:52
Doo however Dio 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
39:04
double game agent Chris FAO proved to be the most incredulous he had long
39:10
suspected Doo but he was finally convinced when the lonar Carmine imbali was arrested imbali began to cooperate
39:18
with the authorities and revealed that he had heard Scarpa bragging at dinner about killing a man the prosecutor's
39:24
office to whom imali told this passed the information to Chris FAO who reported it to
39:31
dto within a couple of days imali said there was a rumor on the streets that Scarpa wanted to kill him FAO easily
39:38
traced the pattern here but couldn't believe it yet the final straw for FAO
39:43
which tipped the scales toward refusing to trust his boss was a conversation with dito after the murder of Arena
39:49
supporter Larry lampi when FAO informed D of this he replied yeah we're
39:55
definitely going to win it wasn't hard to guess that doto was specifically referring to the war in the Columbo
40:02
family as an FBI agent and the superior overseeing teams capturing members of the bonano and Colombo families he had
40:09
no business empathizing with anyone in an armed conflict this clearly indicated
40:15
that dito was engaged and taking scarpa's side favo began to act without
40:21
consulting dito as much as possible he installed listening devices in the home and car of scarpa's team member Joseph
40:29
amberino those recordings helped link Scarpa to two murders and one attempted
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murder in March 1992 the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office obtained an
40:40
arrest warrant for Scarpa on charges of weapon possession after two officers
40:45
witnessed him dropping a gun from his car window dito was with Scarpa during
40:51
this period but did not arrest him or inform the prosecution of his whereabouts meanwhile FAO circumventing
40:58
dto obtained an arrest warrant for Scarpa for conspiring to commit murder at the same time FAO received it and
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began watching Greg completely unsuspectingly assured by Doo that everything was fine and he had nothing
41:13
to worry about first Scarpa appeared in court over an issue with poorly
41:18
sanitized blood at a hospital that infected him with AIDS where he won
41:24
$350,000 he then attended the court proceedings for illegal possession of a
41:30
firearm it was here that favo arrested him as he left the courtroom by that
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time scarpa's Health was terrible and he looked like a walking skeleton his
41:41
imprisonment only worsened his condition he lost more weight showed signs of
41:46
dementia and other mental impairments and it became increasingly difficult for him to move each day his relatives
41:54
managed to have Greg placed under house arrest due to his hell however Scarpa wouldn't be himself if he
42:00
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
42:12
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 Scarpa
42:24
initiated a shootout in which he himself l lost an eye and his son's friend died
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after this incident he was returned to prison Scarpa didn't defend himself in
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court on May 6th 1993 Greg Scarpa Jr pleaded guilty to three counts of murder
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and conspiracy to commit more murders he faced a life sentence without parole
42:47
however considering his health the judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison in
42:53
his final years Greg Scarpas sir was bedridden his body scarred and suffering
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making even eating eating and drinking painful he passed away on june4
43:06
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
43:18
unconfirmed lindo's fate took an unexpected turn despite suspicions
43:24
reported by FAO an FBI internal investigation found no grounds for
43:29
further action dto quietly retired after 30 years with the bureau escaping any
43:35
consequences for alleged connections with Greg Scarpa Greg Scarpa Jr imprisoned since
43:42
1988 spent over three decades in ax Florence one of the strictest US prisons
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released in 2020 his life had been marked by violence and crime this
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concludes the story of Greg scar Sr a figure whose life and actions were
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entwined with the dark underbelly of organized crime if you enjoyed the story of the
44:07
enigmatic Greg Scarpa don't forget to like subscribe and hit the Bell icon for
44:13
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