The Mob History Story of Columbo Captain and Hitman Gregory Scarpa Sr. known as the Grim Reaper
The Mob History Story of Columbo Captain and Hitman Gregory Scarpa Sr. known as the Grim Reaper.
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Scarpa Sr., known as “The Grim Reaper,” was a feared Colombo crime family captain and killer who secretly supplied information to the FBI while continuing his criminal career. His story combines Mafia violence, the Colombo family’s internal war, and a deeply controversial relationship with federal law enforcement. The family’s name is spelled Colombo. From Brooklyn racketeer to feared enforcer Born in 1928 and raised in Brooklyn, Scarpa entered the organization that became the Colombo family and developed a reputation as an aggressive enforcer. He became closely associated with boss Carmine Persico. His power rested on both profitable rackets and a willingness to use violence: his crew’s activities included gambling, loansharking, extortion, and other organized crime. The nickname “Grim Reaper” reflected his reputation for killing. However, the large murder totals attached to him in popular accounts should be treated cautiously. Suspected killings, crimes attributed to his crew, and murders established through admissions or court proceedings are different categories. There is no reliable, settled total for everyone Scarpa personally killed. The secret FBI relationship Scarpa’s most consequential secret was his work as an FBI informant. Earlier cooperation reportedly reached back to the 1960s; court records firmly document his renewed relationship with the Bureau beginning in 1980, when agent Lindley DeVecchio became his handler. Scarpa supplied intelligence about Colombo leadership, members, rackets, and internal disputes. This was not a mobster leaving organized crime behind. Scarpa continued operating inside the family while informing. His access made him valuable to investigators, but his continuing violence raised serious questions about how the FBI supervised him. Later allegations that DeVecchio passed confidential information back to Scarpa became central to the scandal. Those allegations must be distinguished from proven findings of criminal wrongdoing. The Colombo war Scarpa became a major combatant when acting boss Victor “Little Vic” Orena challenged the authority of the imprisoned Persico in 1991. Scarpa remained on the Persico side. In November 1991, Scarpa reported surviving an attempted assassination by Orena supporters. He then participated in a violent campaign against the opposing faction. A later federal court opinion linked him to the killings of Vincent Fusaro, Nicholas “Nicky Black” Grancio, and Lorenzo “Larry” Lampasi, describing him as possibly the war’s most violent participant. His position was extraordinary: he was fighting in the conflict while secretly giving the FBI information about it. That created lasting questions about what investigators knew, what Scarpa concealed, and whether his information served his own faction’s interests. Illness did not stop the violence Scarpa contracted HIV following a blood transfusion during medical treatment in the 1980s and eventually developed AIDS. By 1992, his health was severely impaired. Nevertheless, he continued criminal activity. After his August 1992 arrest, he was allowed home confinement because of his medical condition. On December 29, 1992, he left the house without authorization and became involved in a gunfight that cost him an eye. His bail was subsequently revoked. The court also recorded evidence of continued loansharking during his release. Conviction and death In May 1993, Scarpa pleaded guilty in a federal case involving racketeering and killings. Federal court records document a ten-year prison sentence in December 1993. He died of AIDS-related complications in federal custody in Minnesota in June 1994, aged 66. Accounts conflict on the precise day of his death. The scandal outlived him After Scarpa’s death, disclosures about his FBI relationship fueled challenges to Colombo prosecutions and scrutiny of DeVecchio’s conduct. In 2006, Brooklyn prosecutors charged DeVecchio with involvement in four murders connected to Scarpa. Those charges were dismissed in 2007, after recordings contradicted important testimony from Scarpa’s longtime companion, Linda Schiro. DeVecchio was not convicted in that case. Scarpa’s place in mob history comes from this combination: a violent Colombo captain, a key Persico combatant, and a secret FBI source whose criminal activity exposed serious problems in the handling of dangerous informants. My assessment is that Scarpa’s greatest historical significance lies in what his double life exposed: an informant could help law enforcement investigate organized crime while continuing to inflict the very violence investigators were supposed to stop.
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