FBI Got Bitten

To the Editor:

Bravo to Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Gustin Reichbach, the judge in the Lindley DeVecchio case, for blasting the FBI for essentially giving mobster-turned-informant Gregory Scarpa a license to kill. The exposure of the FBI's cozy relationship with the mob surely justifies the prosecution of this case with key witness Linda Schiro, a person of doubtful credibility.

It's too bad Village Voice reporter Tom Robbins opted for the "Perry Mason" moment to spring the news about Schiro's prior statements (not under oath, by the way), instead of giving an early warning to Schiro and/or Brooklyn DA, Joe Hynes, that she could easily be impeached by her prior statements.

Lindley DeVecchio won his acquittal, but few fair-minded people who followed this case would have any respect for him as a lawman. The FBI should be investigated, not only for its misconduct in this case, but because there are other important criminal informants like the infamous Whitey Bulger, Boston's former crime boss (still at large), who appear to have been given a very long (criminal) leash as long as he continued to give the Feds information on various other mobsters.

Informants will generally not be shining, upstanding citizens, so they should be put on extremely short leashes and watched 24/7 to insure that they are not engaging in crime as they feed information to law enforcement.

MICHAEL J. GORMAN

Editor's note: The writer is a retired NYPD Lieutenant and an attorney.