Not all snitches get stitches. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at the most famous and important gangsters who ratted on their own organizations to law enforcement.
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00:00 As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.
00:04 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the most famous and important gangsters
00:08 who ratted on their own organizations to law enforcement.
00:11 It's good work, Frank.
00:13 You know, uh, if you don't want it, drink or something.
00:18 Celebrate.
00:19 You got any holy water?
00:23 Number 10.
00:24 Max Mermelstein, Medellin Cartel
00:26 Florida-based engineer and smuggler Max Mermelstein was a key player in the Medellin Cartel's
00:30 American operations.
00:32 After his arrest in 1985, he provided one of the U.S. government's first major blows
00:36 against the organization.
00:38 Mermelstein's testimony brought indictments against Pablo Escobar, Fabio Ochoa Vasquez,
00:42 and others.
00:43 At the time, he was the most valuable informant in American history.
00:46 The government had no idea, and honest to God, if it wasn't for Max Mermelstein, I don't
00:51 think they would have ever caught us.
00:53 Escobar put out a $3 million bounty for Mermelstein, who was protected by the Witness Protection
00:58 Program.
00:59 Mermelstein was still under protection when he died of cancer 15 years after the cartel's
01:02 dissolution.
01:03 Betraying the world's most notorious drug syndicate cost him his family and his very
01:07 identity.
01:08 This sacrifice surely wasn't the worst decision of his life.
01:11 Number 9.
01:12 Joseph "The Ear" Messinau, Bonanno Crime Family
01:14 Joseph Messinau turned the Bonanno family into one of the most powerful mafia of the
01:18 new millennium.
01:19 He was so scrupulous that he ordered colleagues to refer to him by tugging their ears, in
01:23 case the FBI was bugging their meetings.
01:32 But with made men naming him in a RICO case in 2004, the Ear was facing the death penalty.
01:36 He thus became the first boss in the history of New York's five families to turn state's
01:40 evidence.
01:41 Of course, Messinau didn't testify until 2011, when he aided in the conviction of his
01:52 successor, Vincent Baschiano.
01:55 Following another testimony, his life sentence was reduced to time served in 2013.
01:58 The so-called "Last Don" lived the last decade of his life as a free man.
02:09 Number 8.
02:10 Joseph "Joe Cargo" Vellacci, Genovese Crime Family
02:13 Though the Italian-American mafia hid in plain sight the code of "Omerta" forbade members
02:18 from so much as acknowledging its existence.
02:20 Joseph Vellacci set the record straight in 1963 when the Genovese grunt was suspected
02:25 of ratting in prison.
02:26 He killed an inmate erroneously believed to be a hitman.
02:28 This ironically put Vellacci at the mercy of federal authorities.
02:31 It's uncertain if he turned informant strictly out of self-preservation or genuine disillusionment.
02:36 Either way, the televised Vellacci hearings revealed the inner workings of the Cosa Nostra.
02:46 Vellacci did not directly implicate any colleagues, but provided law enforcement with unprecedented
02:50 intel in their war on organized crime.
02:52 He lived the rest of his life and wrote his memoirs in the security of a Texas prison.
02:56 Number 7.
02:57 Michael "Mikey" Scars DiLeonardo, Gambino Crime Family
03:01 During the Gambino family's restructuring after John Gotti's conviction, Michael DiLeonardo
03:05 was made a captain.
03:06 He became a top earner in the Gotti's inner circle until both the feds and the family
03:10 charged him with being a crook.
03:12 DiLeonardo decided to take some men down with him.
03:14 He testified in court 15 times more than any made man in mafia history.
03:18 This led to some 80 convictions, including several of the Gotti's and their closest associates.
03:22 He even directly implicated the heads of the Colombo family.
03:26 DiLeonardo is further distinguished by his personal honesty.
03:29 In interviews, he recognizes his courageous testimony as an act of betrayal and weakness.
03:33 At least DiLeonardo walks free, albeit in witness protection.
03:36 My whole life, I hated rats.
03:38 Who wanted to be associated with a rat?
03:41 I become what I hate.
03:43 Number 6.
03:44 Abe "Kid Twist" Reiles, Murder, Inc.
03:46 The contract syndicate Murder, Inc. was a favorite among American gangs in need of a
03:50 hitman.
03:51 Abe Reiles himself could use an ice pick to simulate a cerebral hemorrhage.
03:53 When the law finally caught up with him in 1940, he adopted a different method of execution.
03:58 Reiles testified against many of his fellow hitmen and their clients, some of whom received
04:02 the death penalty.
04:03 After being scheduled to testify against the Gambino family, Reiles fell to his death from
04:07 a hotel window while under police protection.
04:09 A grand jury's conclusion that he was attempting to escape is still in question.
04:13 Number 5.
04:14 Henry Hill, Lucchese Crime Family Despite being barred from official membership
04:18 because of his Irish heritage, Henry Hill was a close associate of the Lucchese crime
04:22 family.
04:23 This made him a great asset after his arrest for drug trafficking in 1980.
04:26 Henry Hill did everything he could to make it out of Normalville and into organized crime.
04:33 For some 20 years, he lived the mob life until May of 1980, when it all came to a crashing
04:38 halt.
04:39 Already concerned that he was marked for death, Hill provided the FBI with extensive evidence
04:43 and testimony.
04:44 He ensured 50 convictions, then spent the next seven years moving around the U.S. in
04:47 witness protection.
04:48 But the whole world would remember this low-level mobster's name.
04:51 "I knew I was a dead man no matter how you cut it.
04:54 If I stayed in prison, I was dead.
04:56 If I went out in the street, I was dead.
04:58 So my choice was already made."
05:00 Hill's story was the focus of the best-selling book Wiseguy and Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas,
05:05 one of the most popular gangster films ever made.
05:07 Hill finally became big-time, though it was not respected for it.
05:10 "For me, being a gangster was better than being president of the United States."
05:16 4.
05:17 James "Whitey" Bulger - Winter Hill Gang
05:19 The brutal leader of the Winter Hill Gang openly terrorized Boston for years.
05:23 How did he get away with it for so long?
05:24 In 1975, James "Whitey" Bulger agreed to become an FBI informant without facing criminal
05:29 charges.
05:30 This allowed him to cripple rival gangs, while protecting his own from the authorities.
05:34 But in 1994, public exposure of this corrupt deal forced Whitey to go on the run.
05:39 "Bulger skipped town, first with girlfriend Teresa Stanley.
05:42 But when she got homesick, Bulger dropped her off and picked up Catherine Gregg, another
05:47 girlfriend, and they vanished for 16 years."
05:51 He was captured in 2011 and ultimately convicted on 31 counts.
05:54 "His conviction is a moment savored by the families of his victims who thought this day
05:59 would never come."
06:01 One of the FBI's highest assets ended up being one of their most notorious fugitives
06:04 ever.
06:05 The cold-blooded Bulger never ratted on himself, though.
06:07 In 2018, the 89-year-old was beaten to death in prison.
06:10 "Now two Massachusetts men with ties to the mafia, Freddy Gies, seen here, and Paul D.
06:16 Caligaro, are charged with murdering him.
06:19 A third man, Sean McKinnon, is accused of being the lookout."
06:22 Number 3.
06:23 Frank Lucas, Independent
06:25 With the mafia controlling New York's narcotics market, Frank Lucas was an industry unto himself.
06:29 "Frank Lucas had it knocked, because not only did he have the Italian mafia on his
06:34 side, but he also had the NYPD, an incredibly corrupt organization in the early 1970s,
06:39 protecting him."
06:40 The kingpin was known for personally smuggling his product from the Golden Triangle.
06:44 Still, for all his power and elusiveness, Lucas was sentenced to 70 years for trafficking
06:48 in 1976.
06:49 "And all of his assets worth $37 million are seized.
06:53 They include an office building in Detroit, apartments in Los Angeles, Miami, Puerto Rico,
06:59 and Harlem, and bank accounts in the Cayman Islands."
07:02 He soon turned on his colleagues.
07:03 By the time his sentence was reduced to time served, in '81, Lucas was responsible for
07:07 more than 100 convictions.
07:09 He was himself convicted of dealing again three years later.
07:12 Lucas' story as criminal underdog and rat is truly one of a kind.
07:15 "Lucas gave significant information.
07:17 I'm not saying he gave everything he knew, but he gave, I'm going to say, maybe 60%
07:24 of what he knew."
07:25 Denzel Washington immortalized him in pop culture in the acclaimed film American Gangster.
07:29 But Lucas' significance on both sides of the war on drugs goes beyond cinematic.
07:33 "Let me ask you this.
07:35 Do you really think that putting me behind bars is going to change anything on them streets?
07:40 Them dope fiends are going to shoot it, they're going to steal from it, they're going to
07:43 die for it.
07:44 Putting me in or out ain't going to change one thing."
07:46 2.
07:47 Tomasco Buschetta - Sicilian Mafia
07:49 Dubbed the boss of two worlds, Tomasco Buschetta was indispensable in the Sicilian Mafia's
07:54 US and Brazilian operations.
07:56 He remained loyal throughout a ten-year sentence, but with a gang war that claimed several loved
08:00 ones, he became disillusioned.
08:01 In 1984, Buschetta began informing Italian and American authorities of the Cosa Nostra's
08:06 inner workings.
08:07 He testified during the historic Maxi trial, and was spurred by an assassination attempt
08:11 to expose political ties.
08:12 This led to nearly 400 convictions that devastated an international criminal empire - a story
08:17 this cinematic naturally inspired a hit biopic in 2019's The Traitor.
08:21 Though Buschetta spent most of his life in hiding, perhaps that sacrifice atoned for
08:25 some of his earlier crimes.
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08:41 1.
08:43 Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano - Gambino Crime Family
08:51 John Gotti led the Gambino family as one of the most powerful and ruthless figures in
08:55 modern organized crime.
08:56 He couldn't have done it without Sammy Gravano's often brutal support.
08:59 But after the Gambino leaders' arrest and a raid, the FBI revealed wiretap recordings
09:03 of Gotti questioning his underboss' integrity.
09:06 This convinced the Bull to become the first high-ranking New York mafioso to turn state's
09:10 evidence.
09:11 "I began to cooperate with the government in 1991.
09:15 I decided to cooperate before we, meaning me, John Gotti, and our acting lusier Frank
09:20 LoCascio went to trial."
09:23 His testimony sealed the Teflon Don's conviction on 13 counts in 1992.
09:27 Gravano later was busted as part of a drug ring.
09:30 By the time he left prison again in 2017, interviews and a biography had made him a
09:34 celebrity.
09:35 He is now a legit public figure, showing that there is life after bringing down the toughest
09:39 gangsters.
09:40 "Yep, well then absolutely, and no one would know better than you."
09:44 What are your favorite stories of gangland treachery?
09:46 Tell all in the comments.
09:47 "What do you want?"
09:48 "I want what you got, Uncle Frank.
09:49 I want what you got."
09:50 "What do you want?"
09:51 "I want what you got, Uncle Frank."
09:52 "What do you want?"
09:53 "I want what you got, Uncle Frank."
09:54 "I want what you got."
09:55 "I want what you got."
09:56 "I want what you got."
09:57 "I want what you got."
09:58 "I want what you got."
09:59 "I want what you got."
10:00 "I want what you got."
10:01 "I want what you got."
10:02 "I want what you got."
10:03 "I want what you got."
10:04 "I want what you got."
10:05 "I want what you got."
10:06 "I want what you got."
10:07 "I want what you got."
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