MANY SNITCHES STILL DOING CRIME

Salvatore Gravano, the Mafia underboss turned government snitch, may be the
most notorious example of a growing problem for America's justice system:
protected witnesses who return to crime under the noses of law-enforcement
agents.

Gravano joined the federal Witness Protection Program nine years ago after
his arrest in connection with 19 murders, loan-sharking, illegal gambling
and other crimes.

His testimony put Gambino family boss John Gotti and 39 others behind bars,
making heroes of FBI agents, federal prosecutors and Gravano himself.

Authorities now believe his transition from mobster to mole did not produce
a model citizen. They say the former hit man directed a syndicate dealing in
Ecstasy, a designer drug, with the help of a suburban White supremacist
gang.

So why didn't officials know?

Gravano's 1991 plea agreement says he is subject to prosecution for all past
crimes if he engages in future illegal activities. It also provided for
Sammy "the Bull" to get a new name (Jimmy Moran), a new home (Tempe) and a
new life as a construction contractor.

At sentencing, the judge praised the mobster for a "commendable and
remarkable contribution" to society and for his commitment to a crime-free
life.

After Gravano's release from prison five years ago, he helped convict
Vincent "the Chin" Gigante, and he agreed to testify in a jury-tampering
trial scheduled to begin this April.

The FBI in return sought to protect Gravano and his secret life. In July,
after The Arizona Republic discovered Gravano in the Valley, agents in New
York and Phoenix pressed the newspaper not to publish a story.

Gravano agreed to an interview in which he boasted of a friendship with
government agents. Gravano said he was being monitored by U.S. marshals, and
he spoke of regular phone contact with FBI agents. He said that was a reason
he felt safe despite a purported $1 million price placed on his head by La
Cosa Nostra.

The Government Witness

Joe Valiquette, spokesman for the FBI's New York office, said it would be a
mistake to think agents were overseeing Gravano despite their contact.
Valiquette stressed that Gravano had left the Witness Protection Program,
was no longer on parole and was not on the bureau's payroll.

"The FBI has not been protecting Mr. Gravano," he added.

In court Thursday, Gerard Gravano told a judge his dad was still "dealing
with the FBI."

Salvatore Gravano lawyer Larry Hammond said his client has been "punctilious
in the performance of his duties" for federal officers but would not comment
on his relationship with the Justice Department.

The U.S. Marshals Service would not comment.

Tom Morrissey, former chief U.S. marshal in Phoenix, rejected the notion
that agents have befriended Sammy Gravano or visited him on vacation, as
Gravano has claimed.

"I don't believe that," said Morrissey, who retired while Gravano was in
prison here. "I would say that's absolute bunk."

Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who once headed the Drug Enforcement Administration in
Arizona, said he doubts that anyone "looked the other way" or gave the
former mobster immunity. Rather, he said, it is likely that Gravano's
"semi-secret role" with the government created confusion and communication
breakdowns.

"Sometimes you don't know a snitch is dealing," Arpaio added. "He's making
cases and working on the side."

There was another unusual aspect to the arrest of Gravano, his family and
about 30 others: The FBI did not take part in the eight-month investigation
or the raids.

In fact, despite Gravano's ongoing role as a federal witness, Justice
Department officials were not apprised of the operation until three weeks
ago.

Dennis K. Burke, special assistant attorney general, said Gravano's fate
would hinge, in part, on "his further use within the federal system." Burke
also acknowledged that it was odd that FBI officials had not been given an
early call.

Attorney General Janet Napolitano insisted that she never had misgivings
about the FBI's links.

"I think we followed standard operating procedure," the former U.S. attorney
for Arizona said. "I was not concerned that the FBI or any other federal
agency would do anything inappropriate with the information they had."

Corrupted Justice?

Critics point to Gravano as the most infamous evidence of a system corrupted
by unholy alliances.

"How the FBI could not observe any of these illegal acts right under their
watchful eyes - while they're protecting their (top) informant - just
doesn't pass the smell test," said James Ridgeway de Szigethy, a writer who
runs a Mafia Web site.

Boston attorney Elliot Weinstein described Gravano as a "high-profile
example of our government's misuse of cooperative witnesses."

Bad guys lie, cheat and steal until they get caught, he said, until they get
"flipped" by the government. Then they lie about other bad guys in court.
And, when it's all over, they go back to lying, cheating and stealing.

"Where's the bright line between sanctioning criminal misconduct and not
pursuing criminal misconduct?" Weinstein asked.

Bruce Cutler, a New York lawyer who represents Gotti, said Gravano is
typical of informers who have committed crimes that were as bad or worse
than those they informed on.

"(They) make sweetheart contracts with ambitious prosecutors (who) must put
their man in jail," he said. "In order to do that, they'll make a pact with
anyone for whatever they want to hear."

Cutler said government agents give the cooperative witness a lenient
sentence, then "relocate him in some unsuspecting community and absolve him
of what he did wrong. . . . They are true to no one but themselves. Greed is
their idol. But then, when they're called before the man, they say, "Who,
me?' "

The Justice Department could change the policy, he said, but prosecutors
don't want to.

Cutler said he plans to appeal Gotti's conviction.

Lawrence Hochheiser, a Brooklyn lawyer, said he expects his client to beat
the government on charges of jury tampering in Gotti's 1987 trial, because
the prosecution's chief witness is Gravano.

Hochheiser said he doesn't believe the authorities allowed Gravano to commit
crimes in Arizona. Rather, he expects to use Gravano's deception of the FBI
as proof that Gravano has no credibility.

Bill Muller, an executive assistant U.S. attorney in New York, would not
comment.

A Rogues Gallery

Michael Black, a Phoenix lawyer, said he believes it is not uncommon for
law-enforcement officers to look the other way when an important snitch
violates the law.

The result: A hidden crime wave ignored or allowed by authorities. Some
examples, here and nationwide, are legend.

Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega sold narcotics information to U.S.
officials even as he protected major cocaine cartels.

In 1994, informer Michael Sanders helped convict Timothy Ring in the
robbery-murder of a Phoenix armored-car driver. Ring was an FBI informer.

Three years later, Sanders was arrested with others who, posing as bounty
hunters, killed two Valley residents.

In New York, "Hurricane" Maria Polkowski arranged at least 50 drug buys and
was paid $560,000 by the DEA. The fact that she routinely perjured herself
came out when a corrupt agent cut a plea agreement.

Michael Long, a Phoenix pilot, was on the DEA's payroll for eight years
before anyone learned that he had laundered $75 million in Colombian drug
money.

Law-enforcement agents admit that the use of paid snitches and "flipped"
criminals can be treacherous but insist that the practice is a necessary
evil.

Most agencies have strict policies that prohibit fraternization with
snitches and prohibit any crimes except those performed to further an
investigation.

In practice, rules quickly become gray. Informers are capable liars and
actors. Many are bright and charismatic. They work with law officers who
rely on them to bring down criminals.

Protected By The Feds

One of the most glaring examples involves James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen
"The Rifle" Flemmi, longtime Boston Irish mob members indicted in 1995 on
charges ranging from racketeering to extortion.

They worked for years as top informers until their handler, FBI agent John
J. Connolly Jr., retired in 1990. Connolly was indicted in December for what
prosecutors say was granting criminal carte blanche to Bulger and Flemmi.

Last fall, U.S. District Judge Mark Wolfe's ruling condemned the FBI's
overall informer policies and practices in the bureau's Boston office.

Wolf traced the problem to then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy's fixation
with infiltrating La Cosa Nostra in the mid-1960s, when Flemmi was recruited
as an informer. For the next 25 years, he and Bulger ran their rackets while
the FBI turned a blind eye to it.