Jul 13 2007
FBI feared Cotroni hit
Rastelli was serving a 10-year sentence for racketeering at Lewisburg at the time; Gambino was doing time for tax evasion.
On April 22, 1982, Anthony Provenzano, a captain in the Genovese crime family of New York, was added as a suspect in the plot. Provenzano died in 1988. The names of three other people have been blotted out on the copies of the documents supplied by the FBI, presumably because they are still alive.
Dozens of messages concerning the alleged plot were sent among FBI offices during the investigation.
Agents tried to figure out how to investigate the plot while most of the suspects were still behind bars. The penitentiary in Lewisburg had no private rooms where investigators could discreetly interview suspects without other inmates noticing.
Cotroni was back in Montreal at that point, but the documents indicate the FBI had not planned to question him. One possible reason was that by February 1982 the FBI was, for the second time, investigating a drug-smuggling operation headed by Cotroni.
He had arranged for a large quantity of heroin to be shipped from Milan to Halifax in containers packed with furniture and antique French lamps.
The assassination plot investigation was further frustrated by a reluctance on the part of the U.S. district attorney’s office in Seattle to let the informant be interviewed by FBI agents.
One investigator summarized the situation as follows: The “source is not aware of anyone other than himself who is aware of the discussions by subjects and believes open investigation would place him in serious jeopardy. Seattle office recommends no direct contact by bureau agents be made with any of the subjects.”
The informant was looking to lighten his sentence in exchange for information. But FBI agents raised questions about his credibility, as he denied being involved in crimes the FBI was certain he had participated in.
Facing hurdles that prevented it from pushing the investigation further, the FBI decided the best way to proceed was to warn some of the suspects and the heads of most of the Mafia families in the eastern United States that investigators were aware of the assassination plot.
On June 24, 1982, FBI agents arranged to meet with John LaRocca, the long-time boss of a mob family based in Pittsburgh. An FBI agent who summarized the meeting wrote that LaRocca was “appraised of the fact the bureau was aware of assassination plots being formulated against U.S. judges. LaRocca denied any knowledge of these assassination plots. LaRocca was informed by bureau agents that if any assassination or an attempt of an assassination took place, the FBI would respond with all its resources.”
Six days later, the FBI interviewed Rastelli inside the Lewisburg penitentiary. He was given the same warning.
Gambino refused to talk to the FBI while at Lewisburg.
The FBI passed on similar warnings to the heads of other Mafia families in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Buffalo, N.Y. All denied knowledge of the plot.
Eventually, agents brought what little information they had to a prosecutor, who decided no charges could be laid. The investigation ended quietly on March 18, 1983, in a letter sent to the director of the FBI.
FBI feared Cotroni hit – PAUL CHERRY – The Gazette – Wednesday, July 11, 2007 – http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=1b83bbca-a08d-4ca8-a748-200bb7df2a13&k=42382
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