Al Sharpton's Secret Work As FBI Informant

[mota bhai 2,675]

A lengthy investigation by The Smoking Gun has uncovered remarkable details about Sharpton’s past work as an informant for a joint organized crime task force comprised of FBI agents and NYPD detectives, as well as his dealings with an assortment of wiseguys.

Beginning in the mid-1980s and spanning several years, Sharpton’s cooperation was fraught with danger since the FBI’s principal targets were leaders of the Genovese crime family, the country’s largest and most feared Mafia outfit.

...

TSG’s account of Sharpton’s secret life as “CI-7” is based on hundreds of pages of confidential FBI affidavits, documents released by the bureau in response to Freedom of Information Act requests, court records, and extensive interviews with six members of the Genovese squad, as well as other law enforcement officials to whom the activist provided assistance.

Like almost every other FBI informant, Sharpton was solely an information source. The parameters of his cooperation did not include Sharpton ever surfacing publicly or testifying on a witness stand.

Genovese squad investigators--representing both the FBI and NYPD--recalled how Sharpton, now 59, deftly extracted information from wiseguys.

...

Information gathered by Sharpton was used by federal investigators to help secure court authorization to bug two Genovese family social clubs, including Gigante’s Greenwich Village headquarters, three autos used by crime family leaders, and more than a dozen phone lines. These listening devices and wiretaps were approved during the course of a major racketeering investigation targeting the Genovese family’s hierarchy.

A total of eight separate U.S. District Court judges--presiding in four federal jurisdictions--signed interception orders that were based on sworn FBI affidavits including information gathered by Sharpton.

...

Investigators also used Sharpton’s information in an application for a wiretap on the telephone in the Queens residence of Federico “Fritzy” Giovanelli, a Genovese soldier. Giovanelli was sentenced to 20 years in prison for racketeering following a trial during which those recordings were played for jurors. In a recent interview, the 82-year-old Giovanelli--now three years removed from his latest stint in federal custody--said that he was unaware that Sharpton contributed in any fashion to his phone’s bugging.

...

Sharpton vehemently denies having worked as an FBI informant. He has alleged that claims of government cooperation were attempts by dark forces to stunt his aggressive brand of civil rights advocacy or, perhaps, get him killed.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/investigation/al-sharpton-764312

[Danno 1,228]

I was going to post this story but if I did... you know what Marvin would have said.

Plus the Jay-Z racist story is looking pretty good.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

I was going to post this story but if I did... you know what Marvin would have said.

Plus the Jay-Z racist story is looking pretty good.

I'm surprised you didn't.

[Danno 1,228]

I'm surprised you didn't.

I didn't want to hear that I was celebrating the outing of another crooked Black leader.

Does Jessie have the spotlight all to himself now?

Lets be honest, we all knew he was slimy I just had no idea his commitment to diversity was so broad....The Mafia.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

I didn't want to hear that I was celebrating the outing of another crooked Black leader.

Does Jessie have the spotlight all to himself now?

Lets be honest, we all knew he was slimy I just had no idea his commitment to diversity was so broad....The Mafia.

You speak is if there no other such thing.

[deleted-05292014 331]

Hmm interesting.....I would argue, Black people cannot be racist. Not just Blacks, but Latinos, Indians, Native Americans, Asians, any ethnic minority in this country cannot be a racist.

Perhaps in the future when one group becomes a racial majority, probably Latinos or Asians. First person who ever told me that was a White sister (Catholic) in high school. Seems to be an accepted understanding in sociological circles that I've come across and read.....the confusion is that many people think racism and prejudice are the same thing and they are not. Where anyone can be prejudiced, only a racial majority in power can be racist.

I've personally known a few 5%ers back in my day. I am a Christian so I don't follow their beliefs, although they do not consider themselves a religion per say. As far as Jay Z is concerned he probably is a 5%er otherwise he wouldn't be wearing the medallion. Tons of hip hop artist are 5%ers, and I do mean tons you'd be surprised. Unless you know the lingo or code words, it's like Masons or other secret orders, you probably wouldn't even realize it. Furthermore what does it matter? I'm sure Jay Z has made a lot of White people very rich in his career so if the 5%ers were about hate, and I would argue they aren't, then wouldn't his lyrics reflect that? Wouldn't his business practices support that?

Arm>Leg>Leg>Arm>Head

[ready4ONE 5,400]

I didn't want to hear that I was celebrating the outing of another crooked Black leader.

Does Jessie have the spotlight all to himself now?

Lets be honest, we all knew he was slimy I just had no idea his commitment to diversity was so broad....The Mafia.

So being an FBI informant is slimy? How is Sharpton tainted by assisting law enforcement agencies exactly?

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

As big a POS as I think Sharpton is, why would the FBI release that info?

I was going to post this story but if I did... you know what Marvin would have said.

Plus the Jay-Z racist story is looking pretty good.

SEE SEE yup Racist

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

As big a POS as I think Sharpton is, why would the FBI release that info?

SEE SEE yup Racist

Because we know Danno never post anything about black people.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Hmm interesting.....I would argue, Black people cannot be racist. Not just Blacks, but Latinos, Indians, Native Americans, Asians, any ethnic minority in this country cannot be a racist.

Perhaps in the future when one group becomes a racial majority, probably Latinos or Asians. First person who ever told me that was a White sister (Catholic) in high school. Seems to be an accepted understanding in sociological circles that I've come across and read.....the confusion is that many people think racism and prejudice are the same thing and they are not. Where anyone can be prejudiced, only a racial majority in power can be racist.

I've personally known a few 5%ers back in my day. I am a Christian so I don't follow their beliefs, although they do not consider themselves a religion per say. As far as Jay Z is concerned he probably is a 5%er otherwise he wouldn't be wearing the medallion. Tons of hip hop artist are 5%ers, and I do mean tons you'd be surprised. Unless you know the lingo or code words, it's like Masons or other secret orders, you probably wouldn't even realize it. Furthermore what does it matter? I'm sure Jay Z has made a lot of White people very rich in his career so if the 5%ers were about hate, and I would argue they aren't, then wouldn't his lyrics reflect that? Wouldn't his business practices support that?

Arm>Leg>Leg>Arm>Head

No anyone who is educated, should know racist and prejudice are different. Anyone who is educated should also know anyone can be either.

I am prejudice but not racist.. How about you ?

Because we know Danno never post anything about black people.

Here I am back on VJ for a few mins, for the first today, and your bickering with Danno, done gone and ruined my VJ experience. (P.S. that is redneck slang not black, so don't get fired up".

[deleted-05292014 331]

Nature boy - I'm sure I am prejudice to some degree. It's hard to be born into the American experience and not be, kinda like it's hard for you being born White and deny White privilege.

The difference between you and me though, is that your racial identity is part of a majority that controls every means under the sun to oppress minorities (banking, government, commerce, industry etc)

If you are uncomfortable with the definition and think it is somehow unfair, we can use a different example. We can say that a White guy living in Zaire cannot be racist. Black Africans are the majority in that country and control all means of power and can therefore oppress White minorities on a large scale. Is that understanding better for you to swallow?

[LibCampFireClub 635]

Hmm interesting.....I would argue, Black people cannot be racist. Not just Blacks, but Latinos, Indians, Native Americans, Asians, any ethnic minority in this country cannot be a racist.

Correct. Only white people could ever be racist. It's just not possible for a black to do anything harmful to a white person just because they are white.

Edited April 7, 2014 by ExExpat

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Nature boy - I'm sure I am prejudice to some degree. It's hard to be born into the American experience and not be, kinda like it's hard for you being born White and deny White privilege.

The difference between you and me though, is that your racial identity is part of a majority that controls every means under the sun to oppress minorities (banking, government, commerce, industry etc)

If you are uncomfortable with the definition and think it is somehow unfair, we can use a different example. We can say that a White guy living in Zaire cannot be racist. Black Africans are the majority in that country and control all means of power and can therefore oppress White minorities on a large scale. Is that understanding better for you to swallow?

IMO, the definitions are reversed. Anyone can be racist. That's not hard at all. Racism is the system in which racists thrive. Perfect definition of it right here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLwVIawPW10

[deleted-05292014 331]

Correct. Only white people could ever be racist. It's just not possible for a black to do anything harmful to a white person just because they are white.

If that's what you think, more power to you....but that is not what I said.

Racism at an institutionalized level and understanding is very clear. Same with sexism. I recognize that I am born into a society that values me being a man more so than it values a woman. I am consciously aware of this fact. Would I consider myself a sexist, not really I don't dehumanize women or think that I am better than women but I know that I have received some benefits in life because of my sex. I know that I am treated differently in areas of business, or buying a car, or the amount of money I make because I am a man. I do not think that is fair and I RECOGNIZE that that exists.......Why is it so hard for you to recognize your racial identity privilege?

[deleted-05292014 331]

IMO, the definitions are reversed. Anyone can be racist. That's not hard at all. Racism is the system in which racists thrive. Perfect definition of it right here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLwVIawPW10

It boils down to how you define racism.

IF you define racism as, hating anyone because of their race...then yes Black people can be racist (or anyone for that matter).

I define racism as being a majority, with power, to enforce their prejudices on a minority group or people.

Critical Race Theorists reject the dictionary definition of racism and use this instead: “racism = prejudice + power”

The formula appeared in 1970 in Developing New Perspectives on Race by Pat Bidol. Judith H. Katz popularized it in White Awareness: Handbook for Anti-Racism Training. Mary Anne Mohanraj explains it:

“…there’s an alternate and widely-used definition of racism that goes like this: We’re all prejudiced, because we grow up in a racist culture and we inherit those prejudices. But racism is a system of institutional, systemic oppression, and in order to be racist, you need both the prejudice + the power to affect people. By that definition, which a lot of progressives share, PoC (people of color) can’t be racist, because they don’t have any reinforcement from that institutionalized power. We may hold individual racist ideas and thoughts, but we only have the power to do damage with our actions in the rare, brief contexts where our other privileges temporarily override color privilege.”

http://shetterly.blogspot.com/2012/04/racism-equals-prejudice-plus-power-so.html