How FBI Undercover Agents Really Work (Italian Mafia) | Authorized Account

[00:00] My name is Joaquin Garcia aka Jack Falcone. I  was an undercover agent for 24 years. I spent nearly three years for the FBI with the  Gambino Crime Family. This is everything

[00:14] I'm authorized to tell you. When you're  undercover, something could just go wrong. Person may get the wrong vibe about you or  may get paranoid about you for some reason.

[00:26] With the mob, you have to make sure  your eyes were dotted and your tees were crossed because one slight move. Then  you're in the back of a trunk of a car.

[00:40] They wanted me to pose as an Italian to infiltrate  the Gambino crime family. I went through this informal mob school that was set up by the case  agent who happens to be from Italy and he taught

[00:55] me the the foods and the proper pronunciation.  You know, you don't look at Italian food at like manicotti and say manikgot, it's man. You  know, it's not mozzarella, it's muzzarel. You

[01:08] sound like you grew up in that culture. You tasted  these foods. I had no idea of how the mob culture worked. And I had to learn because my role was  that my parents were third generation Sicilian.

[01:23] I grew up in that culture, but yet I grew up  in Miami and I was around the Cuban uh criminal element and that's mostly I've lost a lot of my  Italian influence. We decide to hitch our wagon

[01:38] to Greg DePalma. So, Greg DePalma became a  uh captain in the Gambino crime family, which is a very high position. We knew Greg DePalma had  a propensity for talking. Greg DePalma liked to

[01:50] talk and we in the FBI like to listen. So, it  was the perfect match. Time goes by as slowly we go out to dinner with Greg. He's trying to get  his foot on the ground. We became buddies. There

[02:03] were a couple of hijackings. Uh mostly there was  the shaking down, bookmaking. There was a lot of extortion that went on when I was with them. He  would be construction companies. He was very much

[02:15] into moving and transporting dirt. There's a lot  of money in dirt. So people say, "You want that job? I got to get the dirt out of it." And by dirt  means every time you dig a ground or foundation or something, that dirt has to be removed. Now, of  course, once you got that dirt, you know, um then

[02:33] you got to find a hole to put that in. If you got  the hole, you got the gold. We had guys who were construction company owners that had millions and  millions of dollars to contract. And how why were

[02:47] they under the umbrella of the Gambino crime  family? Because we were in the Gambino crime family had control of the unions. So it behooved  them to actually work with the mob in order to you

[03:03] know ensure that there is no problems that things  are going to flow smoothly. They're not going to have delays with anything. They have this fear  intimidation that you think some they're going to burn your house. They're going to beat you  with a baseball bat. When Greg DePalma walked

[03:18] into trial, he had the what I call the the mafia  flu where he showed up with couple of workers from the hospital, an oxygen tank, unshaven uh like  he was just about to die. There was a guy who was

[03:33] a construction guy that was being shaken down by  Greg and he's understand. And the defense attorney goes, "Well, why did you have to pay this guy all  this money on a weekly b because because you know,

[03:45] were you afraid of him?" He goes, "Yeah, I was  afraid of him." And he says, "You afraid of him?" And of course, he's sitting on the defense table  like crippled, you know, with a mask on and all

[03:57] of that. And the jury kind of laughed. And what he  should have said, the kid on the stand would be, "I wasn't afraid of him. I could [ __ ] slap this  kid all day, the guy all along. I was afraid of

[04:11] what he could, he's capable of doing, his people  are capable of doing. All it would take is an order with some subordinate guy or somebody in  his crew and associates. They go over there, burn

[04:24] his building down, beat him up, rape his wife,  whatever you want to do, and they would do it. You fear him not for his size. You fear him because  he represents the mob. and what the mob is capable

[04:38] of doing. Every day was like, "Let's go see this  guy. He owes me money." We would go pick up money. His envelopes, he had envelopes all in his jacket.  And then he cried the blues that he had no money.

[04:53] I go, "Greg, you got at least 20 envelopes.  God knows how many thousands and thousands of dollars." Anyway, one of the guys was absent.  He was never reporting. And all I would hear is this Petey Chops, he don't show up. I'm gonna go  after him. Yeah, we gotta find him. And the only

[05:10] reason he was looking for Petey Chops is because  he wanted Petey Chop to kick money up to him. That's what it's all about. It's money. One day he  comes up and he says, "I found him." I goes, "You

[05:23] and Robert," which was another made guy. He says,  "You, Robert, I want you to go with me." He goes, I says, "Where?" He goes, "He's in Bloomingdales."  Bloomingdales and White Plains, New York. I would

[05:36] never forget that. I've driven by that so many  times and I have to chuckle. And in Bloomingdales says, "What is he doing to bloom?" Well, every  Monday he goes with his gummada, his guma, he said, which is girlfriend, and goes shopping with  her, but he'll hang out at the coffee bar. There's

[05:55] Petey Chops with the two women. So, Greg gets all  pumped up. Greg says to him, "Uh, hey, get rid of the girls." So he goes, "Where the hell you been?"  Goes, "What do you mean I'm been?" He says, "Hey,

[06:07] Greg, I'm being followed." Because you're being  followed. We're all being followed. That's what we do. The feds follow us all every day long. You're  supposed to be reporting and you haven't. Well, I can't because I'm being followed. I got a lot  to lose. Then suddenly Robert comes up. He goes,

[06:23] "Hey, you're talking too loud and you're  disrespecting a skipper." And he goes, "Who are you?" He goes, "Who am I?" And he says  to the guy, "Go after yourself." He says, "Oh, yeah." He grabs this candlestick made out of solid  glass called the Costa Boa. It legit, it's kind

[06:41] of like a dumbbell. Solid glass. Grabs it, hits  this guy over the head, blood starts gushing out. This guy drops down. The only thing missing were a  little parakeet around his head because he was so

[06:57] knocked out. He's dropped down and he goes, "You  keep your mouth shut." He goes to hit him again. I grabbed his arm. I says, "What are you doing?"  So, Robin, look, we're got cameras here. He said, "Oh, the hell." When he's got a big mouth, the guy  finally gets up. He's bleeding all over and I'm

[07:12] separating them. He's saying, "What did I do? Why  did you do that for?" He goes, "Cuz you got a big mouth and you don't show up and you better show  up first thing tomorrow." Greg tells him says, "Bride and early." The next day, bright and  early, we go to the home. As I'm picking up

[07:27] Greg DePalma, here comes Petey Chops all bandaged  up, walking by, and Greg DePalma says, "Yeah, he showed up. He gave me a nice envelope, and uh  he said he's going to show up every week." And I'm

[07:40] thinking to myself, that's all they cared about.  A little intimidation always works with the mod. New York is consist of uh five families that run  the city so to speak. And by the city I mean they

[07:58] run every industry. They got the garment district.  They got the fish filter market. They they got construction. They have all their unions. They  really are in control of it. And the five families

[08:10] are the Gambinos, the Columbos, the Genovese,  the Lucchese, and the Bananos. Everyone has their little territories and if you infringe on that  territory like you got to get out of here that

[08:23] this is our turf. So everyone is very protective.  They don't post it in classified ads. They don't say looking for a gangster come and apply. So what  happens is you either get introduced to a guy who

[08:36] knows the guy and somehow you start moving into  circles. There comes a point in time that they put you on record. And on record means now you  are part of the family. You are underneath that

[08:49] umbrella, whatever family it may be. The Bananos  or in my case was the Gambino crime family. When I got put on record, I was given a pinky ring.  That was the gaudiest thing I've ever seen in

[09:02] my life. I refused to wear it, but I had to wear  it. It was a sign that the captain gave it to me to show that I am an associate of the call or  a connected guy. And how the mob works is you

[09:14] have an administration which is the boss, the  underbos and the concier. Then underneath them you have what they call captains or capos. These  cappos run crews. depends how powerful you are,

[09:28] depending how many people are in your crew and  how much money you bring that are kicked up the ladder. They had 26 captains uh the Gambino crime  family. Each captain had minimum of about five to

[09:44] 10 made soldiers which are the people below.  Those are soldiers who are waiting their turns to be cathic. And underneath them come all the  associates, all of the people who are connected,

[09:57] all of the businesses that are on record. Greg de  Palmer had several made guys. He was known as a capo deimma, which is a couple with 10 made guys.  So when one dies, they propose you and they put

[10:12] you on that list. That list is spread all around  the families to see who is this Jack Falcone. Has was he before with another family? Is he a guy  who's been a rat? Has he done anybody wrong? And

[10:27] if nobody says anything bad about you, then you're  told that you're going to get straightened out. And that simply means that they tell you put on  your best suit and on such and such a date you're

[10:41] going to meet usually meet in the basement of  somebody's house. There you have all the wise guys, the leadership, the administration and then  you take your oath of a ma where you burn a saint

[10:53] in your hand after they prick your finger and  there if you betray the family you would have the same fate as just burned car. In other words,  you're going to die. I was not a maid guy. And

[11:07] they take that stuff very serious. Like sometimes  we would go to dinner and another mate guy come in and once they get done, hey, how you doing? Good  to see you, Jack. Everything going well. You have

[11:19] to excuse me for a second. They go to another  table and they whisper. Now, in the real world, you would be kind of offended like you know this  guy. But they you don't need to know because how things work is you're not a friend of ours. Let's  say for instance I know somebody to be a wise guy

[11:38] with the Bonanos. I somehow went to a wedding and  I see the guy. I can't go to that guy and say, "Hey Joey, how you doing? It's Jackie  Boy. I'm with the Gambinos." You know,

[11:50] you can't do that because it's a secret criminal  society. You have to find a third person who knows the both of you who's going to make that  introduction. And that would be, hey Joey, I want you to meet Jack. He's a friend of ours.  That means that I'm a made guy. But if I said,

[12:08] I want you to meet Jack. He's a friend of mine.  That tells you that he has I'm not a made guy. So there's certain things you can't talk to  me about. And they really subscribe to that.

[12:21] So you're either a friend of ours or a friend  of mine. Greg DePalma would do that. He would introduce me to all these captains from other  families and he would say, "This is Jackie Boy. He's a friend of mine." Luckily for me, Greg DePalma had a big mouth and he would come back and

[12:35] tell me, "Ah, the guy wants to do this windows and  this and that." So I was fortunate to have him. I drove him to every meeting. I knew what every  meeting was about. That was a tough thing to do,

[12:52] driving him around because everywhere we went,  he would had to steal something. We go to the big man's shop because he was a big guy, too.  And he go in and he goes, "Hey, Jackie boy, look on his coat. He had socks and ties." I go,  "What the hell are you doing?" He goes, "What

[13:07] are you talking about?" They got a whole bunch  over there. You got a whole bunch there for sale, Greg. I says, "You know, you never know if you're  on a camera." He couldn't help himself. He goes, "This is what I do." He goes, "This is who I am."  This to him going there and robbing things was

[13:24] just a normal occurrence because that was in his  DNA. One of the things that I found out with Greg is you got to you got to make yourself to be the  carrot. You want him to pursue you. You don't want

[13:38] to pursue them. I slowly, methodically worked him,  made me into something that he wanted to get his hands on. There's somebody who was going to bail  him out and somebody who's going to help him. And

[13:52] for me, he was going to go places. When you're  in the mob and you go to jail and you come out, everybody gives you an envelope to get your feet  back on the ground. Well, my envelope was I gave Greg three grand. From then on, he loved me. He  realized that, hey, this guy does the right thing.

[14:09] He gave me the money. He's respectful. And  that's what the mob is all about. They want to sink their teeth into somebody who's got  who's doing well because if they're doing well, you're going to do well. They want earners. They  want people to who are going to make money and

[14:25] do the right thing with that money. We were  selling jewelry to the bad guys as as being hot and uh they would give us, you know, good  price, but of course I would sell them maybe to

[14:38] um the the captain for like give me 3500 or 4  grand for a Rolex. He turns around and sells it for seven. Now he's making money on you and  that's always a good sign. With the mob there

[14:50] is total accountability. They need to know where  you at. How come you haven't called? One time for instance, I remember he wound up calling me  and I was busy working some other case and I

[15:03] didn't return his call. Next day he began to  tell me. He goes, "Where were you?" I said, "I wasn't doing something." He goes, "Doing what?"  He said to me, "If I call you wherever you're at, you better pick up that phone. Do you  understand me? Because how do I know

[15:18] you're not locked up? How do I know you're not  working for the feds?" So, I made it a point to answer that phone no matter what I was doing  because if I didn't, it would have set me back.

[15:33] All I would do is go to Little Italy and  eat like I was going to the chair. I mean, we order all kinds of pastas and this and that.  Judge Hellerstein, never forget him, very nice man. He stops the proceeding as I'm bringing  these tapes in. And he goes, "Agent Garcia,

[15:49] every tape you guys are eating. Every tape you're  cursing. No manners, no nothing." He goes, "How much weight did you gain in this case?" I said,  "Your honor, I gained about 90 pounds in this

[16:01] case." And he looked at me. He says, "I could see  why." I says, "All you did was eat." The next day, front page of the Daily News says, "Fat fellas,  they're eat their way through New York, these

[16:14] mobsters." And then you open up to the second  page and it was he was one of the wide guys, the eating part. I think it helped me a lot.  You wind up having me meeting for breakfast.

[16:28] We would meet about 9:00 in the morning. Then  from there, we go to lunch. Of course, you know, you're eating there again. Then you go to the  strip club where I was running a strip club in New York. Then there people come in with pastries,  this and that. Okay, you're eating then. Then of

[16:43] course dinner time comes. So now now you're  eating that and then you go back to the club, you're drinking and then right around 1 or  2 o'clock in the morning, you shoot over to City Island and there you eating some again. So  this was a day I found the more I ate, the more

[16:59] they loved me. It was like we would order and they  would sit there and it goes mad on Jackie boy look at you mink you how do you eat all of that stuff  come on or try this come over my house my wife

[17:12] will cook you this bought it hook, line and sinker  uh no one ever questioned me they thought I was a third generation Italian and everyone wore these  Tacchini training suits but there was no training

[17:25] going on nobody ever said to me hey Jackie boy I  want you to go jogging today let's go to the gym. Gym? What gym? These guys all walked around the  sergeant tinies with their bellies hanging out,

[17:37] the crosses out. No one worked out in the  freaking mob. The only thing they ran away is from the cops. And that's the only time I saw  any running. You had to wear your Brioni suit, uh, your Zenga suit. Everything had to fit beautifully  on you when you went out. We would spend uh maybe

[17:54] a couple of thousand for suits custom made. You  would go usually to a tailor that the mob uses. Of course, you had all the obligatory 4karat  pinky ring. You had the Rolex president watch.

[18:06] You had your jewelry. You had your cross. You had  your car. Now, I drove a Hummer H2 at that time, but prior to that was a Mercedes and you could  eat off that car. I used to carry four to five grand a day with me and I would have it wrapped  up in a broccoli band. That's the funniest part.

[18:24] At the end of the case, all of that property have  to be returned. So, I had to return all the suits. I had to return my underwear. I mean, who the  hell's going to wear my underwear, right? Listen,

[18:37] it broke my heart having to turn somebody's  suits in. You know, I went from a, you know, a bion suit to a uh god knows like a Corvette,  you know, one of the cheap suits that I bought,

[18:49] a Target suit for crying out loud. So, it was  tough. Then of course your cars have to go and then you have to get back in a bureau car and but  I was lucky because I worked so many undercover

[19:01] cases that I would roll from one right into the  other where I I had the ability to have nice things when I was undercover because those are  the roles that I was playing. I was a big guy.

[19:19] I always approached my undercover work as being  inclusive of everybody, just trying to be getting along, being nice. I wasn't playing a tough guy  like some of these guys play or anything like that. I was just being me, you know, the way I  am now. I talk, I tell jokes. All my meetings

[19:36] were recorded. And then I would arrange it with  the case agent to meet me either at a church, at Home Depot. We walk down the aisles. I give  him the tapes. He in turn give me money, the

[19:48] cash that I needed to operate. Uh he would give me  whatever the paperwork and we filled out the form to say on such and such a date I met with such and  such a person. When you're working on the cover,

[20:00] it's it's very difficult trying to keep a hold of  the evidence as well as your paperwork. I always believed in wearing a recorder. If I'm wearing  a recorder, you're memorializing that person's conversation. It's not going to go to court or  it's going to be your word against mine. A lot

[20:17] of undercovers sometimes are leerary about wearing  a recorder. Nobody ever put their hands on me to ever search me, nor would I allow that to happen.  I I would just say, "Hey man, that what what are say, "You know what? Hey dude, I ain't got time  to work with your paranoia. I'm out of here."

[20:36] and I would just walk away because no matter what  would happen, whatever happened is if they do pat you down, they don't find anything, they're still  not going to trust you. But again, I was kind of

[20:50] lucky. I, you know, I was, my size helped a lot  because I didn't look like an agent. You command respect, you know. uh you also have a reputation  like you're a badass and that that always goes a

[21:04] long way with with the mob. You're not somebody  who is just, you know, walking around aimlessly or or as they call the mort somebody dying of  hunger. It worked for me, but it also could have

[21:18] really backfired because okay, the guy's not an  agent, therefore he has to be nothing but a rat. I started the case in 202 and we ended in  205. This operation began when there was a

[21:36] strip club in the Bronx that we had called Mirage  International. One day these Albanians came in, Albanian gangsters, and they started roughing up  some people, getting into fights. The owner and

[21:48] the bouncers went up to them and said, "Hey  guys, you can't do that. It's not the way we operate here." He goes, "Look, you have a horrible  security. We want your to be your security. You got to pay us 5,000 a month." The owners, there  was several of them came to the FBI and said,

[22:04] "Look, man, we don't want any of the trouble.  We just trying to get this business off the ground." So, we said, "All right, well, let's  look into this. Let's uh look into it. Well, sure enough, the very next day, a mob guy shows  up to the club, all spiffied up, beautiful suit,

[22:22] and he says to the owner, he goes, "Hey guys, I  heard you had a problem." I says, "I heard the Albanians were here causing trouble." He says, "We  can make that problem go away, but you got to pay us $5,000." So the guy goes, "Wait a minute. So  I'm paying 5,000 to the Albanians for no trouble,

[22:38] but you want me to give you $5,000 to keep  them? I'm still paying 5,000. We go back, we get together and realize they said, "Okay, we  want to handle this. We want to find out who first of all who this mob guy was." Nobody knew who he  was. So they put a tail on him. He's meeting with

[22:54] the right people. Day or two go by, we decide  we're going to go get rid of the Albanians. Let them be worked separately. and I'm introduced and  I pay this mob guy the $5,000 to assure us that

[23:11] the Albanians were never going to come in. So  now we're working with the with the Gambino crime family. As we're moving along, Greg DePalma  comes out of jail after his arrest for the Scores

[23:26] and the Gold Club investigation. Greg DePalma  is probably one of the most colorful mobsters around. He had a business back in the mid70s. It  was like a concert supper club. Frank Sinatra,

[23:40] Dean Mar, Narita Franklin, Sunny and Sher  who's who of entertainment played at this club that was owned by the mafia called the  Westchester Premiere Theater. That club was

[23:52] under his control before he went to jail. and  he drives directly from jail to the club. He's trying to get his foot on the ground. We became  buddies. And next thing you know, as I I was

[24:05] hanging around with him every day at the club, 24  hours a day just about and I became like his son.

[24:18] The Great Depal incident. The end of the case  resulted in 32 mobsters arrested. Originally the boss and the underboss were arrested. The boss  wanted to do what they call a global plea which

[24:31] means everyone in the case has to plea and the  United States attorney will accept it and you know it will help towards their sentence reduction.  Well, everybody took the global plea except for

[24:44] Greg DePalma who we had the most evidence but  Greg DePalma believed the old school. He was from the John Gotti school where I don't care  what they have on you, you go and fight it with the feds. 31 uh plead guilty and Greg DePalma  did go to trial. Where I finished testifying,

[25:02] I walked by him and uh he looked at me and he  goes, "You and the judge went nuts. He says, "You can't intimidate the witness." And all of  that, but I just found it hilarious that he was

[25:15] uh you know, he was being a tough guy all  the way to the very end. I mean, Greg, that was Greg's thing. He fought you all the way.  And uh he believed in the mob and the mob came first to him. And I had the SWAT team take me to  um to court cuz they thought there was going to

[25:32] be some issues. They had some guys watching over  making sure that I was going to be okay. There was um a newspaper, Front Page News, that had me  for $250,000 contract on me. But, you know,

[25:45] it's funny with the contracts. The mob doesn't  take out contracts. The mob works if they want to whack you. The boss simply says he's done. You  know, you don't pay the guy to do it. That's just what you do. You're told by the boss to do it.  You kill the guy. What do you do? You kill the

[26:01] guy and do you go to the boss and say, "Can I have  my $250,000 reward there? You're going to wind up being killed yourself." Greg De Palm, I think, got  12 or 14 years. He died in prison. The other guys

[26:14] got about 10. So, it was a very good case, but in  hindsight, knowing that it was terminated earlier, it could have been a much better case. Similar to  what I experienced, so was Donnie Brasco. He was

[26:28] uh in the movie. He was also uh proposed  for membership and uh the bureau decides to pull it at the last minute, which I I I  can't understand that. When I worked drugs,

[26:42] we did is we find the drug dealer. We found whose  supplier was and we go up the ladder. Keep going up until you can't go anymore. Here we're in with  the ground floor. No one else thought of me being

[26:55] anything but Jack Falcone. Well, let's just keep  going up and up and up. And um it was decided against and uh that was it for my career in as  an undercover with the organized crime family.

[27:14] It's unfortunate when you work your own because  they tarnish the badge that we so proudly wear, you know. And when people always ask me  like that and I always say to them, look, that's our job. We have to get rid of them because  that's a reflection of us. These people are out

[27:30] there representing us and they're dirty. And when  people know that they're dirty, they're gonna think we're all dirty, you know, and it really  was it's it's horrible. And there's even some

[27:43] uh some police departments that look at you as  a rat if you work police corruption cases. A lot of these police corruption cases I've done, I've  done them San Juan, Puerto Rico. They were just

[27:55] as bad. I've done them. I've done them in uh South  Carolina. um at gunman Broward Sheriff Department. The Hollywood cops ended around 2000. There  were some police officers in Hollywood that we

[28:09] uh were working with and these guys were really  hardcore thieves. They had no business being police officers. And I was playing the role of  of a mobster along with my partner uh Dino. We

[28:24] were out working with them. They wanted they were  obsessed with the mob. They wanted to be around gangsters. They loved that. So, what we would  do is we would devise create these crimes like we just stole this Van Gogh art piece and we  need it transported up north. And sure enough,

[28:43] we would hire them. They would transport the  stolen artwork up to New York. They give it to us. We spend a day partying with them. They go back.  Then we did, we told them stolen Krugerrand.

[28:55] They brought the Krugerrands which the gold  coins up north to us. We kept utilizing them but as we were utilizing them we kept growing.  That left from one to two to three to four to five cops that we were paying them off for  transporting stuff. We even set up an executive

[29:13] uh card game where we rented a boat and there  they uh we brought in agents from the West Coast and they were responsible for counting  the money because it was a $50,000 entry fee

[29:27] and they took care of all the security for us.  We told them we're going to move to the big time of transport cocaine for us and that's what  they did. We would meet them up in Hollywood.

[29:39] We would have a tractor trailer pull up. They  would load the tractor trailer with cocaine and then we would drive up north. Was one time when  we came in to see them to arrange another dope, there was a leak and we couldn't find them. They  weren't there and they were always picking us up

[29:57] at the airport. And it turned out that there was  a leak within the Hollywood Police Department that found out because the FBI met with them  because they were partners in their terrorist

[30:09] investigation and told them that we had this  ongoing police corruption case and that we had just flipped one of the cops to work internally.  Well, the chief of police, he didn't like that.

[30:22] And next thing you know, some words got to the  subjects that we were dealing with and they put in their retirement paper. So this way guaranteeing  that they were going to get paid for the rest of

[30:36] their lives. We wound up arresting all of the  guys. I think we arrested five or six cops. And what surprised me about that case, the cops were  such nice guys. I mean, they were kind of guys you want to sit down and have a beer with, which  just baffled my mind how they decided to do this.

[30:58] When I came from Cuba, I was 9 years old and  uh came to America. I was a big kid. We lived in Washington Heights, New York. And then from  there, my parents were able to move to the Bronx where I grew up. When you're in New York, it's  funny. You know who the mobsters are. I mean,

[31:13] you know the guys like a Vinnie Bag-a-donuts. It's  Joey Pots and Pants. These are the guys street corner. They hang out. They got their Cadillac,  you know, and they're all shiny. They always have

[31:25] people coming up to them giving envelope. You  kind of respected them and you left them alone. They weren't celebrity mobsters like John Gotti.  They weren't celebrity gangsters like Joey Molino.

[31:38] No one knew who they were. Yeah, you assume who  they were because, you know, doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what this guy does. It's  a secret criminal society and they stuck to those

[31:50] ethos. But we recognized that we respected  them and um we left them alone and you know, we had nothing to do with them because once they  got you, you know, you were done. And some of my

[32:04] friends that I grew up with, unfortunately, fell  into that and helping them out, carrying disc, getting them coffee, wash their cars, and then  from then on as they grow up, they start hanging

[32:16] out even more. And next thing you know, you got  a gangster in your hands. My freshman year when the football coach walked around and he saw this  big mama Luke, me, walking around and he says, "Hey kid, you know how to play football? But  I thought football was soccer cuz in Cuba we

[32:32] don't play football, you know, it's baseball, our  sport. From then I was uh uh I started doing well enough to get a old conference, old city and  wind up uh getting a bunch of scholarships and

[32:44] then they changed the coaching staff. I went to a  junior college that won the national championship and then from there went to the University of  Richmond. I was a defensive uh tackle and uh we

[32:57] had a great season. My junior year we were 8 and2  ranked 20th in the nation. Uh and during the six week we would go before the games to watch a film.  The coach got us all together to keep us out of

[33:10] trouble. So we went to see the movie Serpico with  Al Pacino. Now I finished watching this and I go, "Oh my god, this is what I want to do in life." I  mean, his cool Al Pacino, long hair, undercover,

[33:23] good-looking chick, lived in Greenwich Village,  drove a motorcycle, and to add to that, he had a sheep dog. And I said, "This is what I want to  do." So, I applied for the FBI. And of course,

[33:35] didn't hear anything. Called the FBI, said, "Let  me get back to you." Gets back to me and he says, "Problem you haven't heard from us is you're not a  citizen." I became a citizen in the bicentennial year of 1976. And right after I got that,  I went right to uh the FBI and I told them,

[33:54] I said, "Look, uh um I took the test. I'm  now a citizen. Let's get my application process." Four years it took me to get in.  And when I finally did get into the bureau, I filed for a freedom of information and privacy  act for my file. And I saw so much communications

[34:13] from the CIA saying in as much as he is from  Cuba, the possibility could be is that he is a mole that could be planted into the FBI and  is not our recommendation that he be hired.

[34:31] I was a police officer with the Union County  Prosecutor's Office and in 1980 I received my appointment letter to report to Quantico as  a special agent of the FBI. The FBI Academy

[34:45] kind of works with three components. There's the  physical where they have you running and doing push-ups and all of these timed uh events that  receive points. Then there was your firearms. And

[34:58] number three that I found tough was the academics.  So my studying skills were really lacking. And I was just barely graduated from the University  of Richmond where I went to school. I in fact I

[35:12] even go as far as saying I probably ranked last  in my class. So when I go to the FBI Academy, I really got to hunker down and learn how to study.  I was able to pass. The minimum grade you need at

[35:25] the FBI Academy is 85, which is pretty high. Below  that, it's a failure. And if you have two failures uh in any kind of academic class, you're gone.  It was very difficult for me because I had to go

[35:40] through a second process uh at the academy due  to the fact that the first one there was this assistant director who didn't take a liking to  me and was very upset about how much I weighed

[35:53] and I didn't fit the bureau standards and uh I  was kind of given an ultimatum. I either resign and lose the weight and come back to the bureau  and I would be accepted. And if I did not resign,

[36:05] I would be fired. When I did u leave, I I was at a  loss. I got a call from the counselor of my class and said, "Hey, lose the weight. Come back. We  need you." And sure enough, it was like the Rocky

[36:19] song came out. I started running, working out,  got into shape. I'm 6'4. They wanted me to weigh about 200 lb. I think I was 200 lb when I was  12 years old. Um, so it was a very tough thing

[36:33] and they got me down to 240, but even for me at  240 that was kind of very light. The FBI Academy surprised me first of all that I made it. That was  my big surprise. I think I was 26 years old and

[36:46] uh it was such an exciting thing. I know my  parents were not too crazy about it uh because of of the unknowns of the FBI, but for me it was uh  probably one of the greatest moments of my life.

[36:59] And I didn't quite fit the bill throughout the  career. I mean uh the way I looked. I'm a kid from the Bronx, from Cuba. Uh the bureau early on in  the 80s still had the remnants from Jag or Hoover.

[37:13] So, the demographics, you know, it didn't  really mirror the demographics of our society, of our society. Everybody looked like an agent.  You know, they wore three-piece suits, they wore their wing tip shoes that we used to call them  thousand eyes cuz they had the little perforated

[37:30] holes. And everyone was either from the Midwest  and uh here comes here I come from from the Bronx, you know, a kid who grew up in that area. that  just didn't, you know, belong in there. And I

[37:45] think because of that, people realize that this is  maybe the opportunity for me to have worked on the cover because I I could blend with a lot. I've I  I've grown up with all types of races. I've been

[37:58] around people and I'm able to feel comfortable  around people who are not like me. And uh I think that's where I owe my success in and why uh I did  uh so many undercover cases in my bureau career.

[38:18] If I had to name the the most fearful types,  it would have to be uh the Mexican cartel, the Colombian cartel. Um would be my toughest group  and uh very violent because they come after your

[38:31] family. There's a lot of stuff that they do where  they uh make sure that if you screw them, they'll wind up killing your family, letting you live, and  then at the end they'll kill you. I worked some

[38:43] big cases even in Miami with the Los Muchachos,  the uh Willian Sao. These guys were huge dealers. I wound up going after the uh jury foreman who  admitted that he took million-dollar bribe and

[38:57] u we got him for 19 years and then I wound up  getting two other jurors that that we got. Once they identify those who will be testifying against  Willie and Sal they wound up being killed blown up

[39:10] in cars any cocaine that came out of Florida or  even the United States at that time William and S owned it. I mean, they they're are legends down  here to this day. Willie and Sal were characters

[39:24] and W had to testify two weeks in his trial.  I I actually felt good about them even though, you know, they did had the connections for  wiping people out because that's what they did. I think at that time they had resigned that  they were pretty much done. I know they made a

[39:38] lot of offers to the government, something to the  effect of we'll give you tons and tons of coke and millions and gazillions of dollars if you just cut  us loose, but we didn't do that. Most of my career

[39:50] was done through drugs because I speak Spanish  fully. I worked pretty much as a doper. I was a a drug trafficker. I was an importer. I was a money  launderer. And the money that's made from cocaine

[40:03] and heroin, the mob doesn't even come close to any  of that kind of money. They make more money than the mob. They're more brutal, but yet they're not  as romanticized as they are with the mob. One that

[40:17] was really a pucker factor. And that was at the  Queen's Mall. Uh near the Queen's Mall, there was the Peach Tree Diner, I think it's called. I was  dealing with these gangbangers from Harlem. and they were going to sell me nine teas of Coke.  And uh we had it all set up for the next days.

[40:33] This is got to be 200 uh probably year 2000 2001.  We had all our agents, our crew guys are out in the car in the parking lot. My back was covered.  So in comes the gang bangers and I go, "Hey guys,

[40:47] you ready to let's let's get this thing done." And  the guy goes, "Well, you got to wait a while. We got to wait for these other guys to come." We're  waiting a little while. We're talking. All of a sudden, another car pulls up. Now, we're up to  nine guys that are just floating in this drug

[41:02] deal right outside the diner. So, I got a quick I  got to think quickly on my feet. So, I said to the guy, "Guys, I'm not comfortable doing here." He  goes, "Don't worry about it." I says, "They got

[41:14] a house down the block. You can go in nice and  comfortable. We'll count the money out. We'll check the dope. Make sure everything is fine."  Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. I'm not going anywhere. And he says, "Well, why not?" I said, I went to  my santara yesterday, you know, like in witchcraft

[41:29] santia. I said, she told me, do not leave  this place. This is where the god the orishas, the gods are watching me here, and if you go,  it'll be different. So, he goes, I said, I got I

[41:42] got to call her. So, he says, go ahead, call her.  Right. I walk through the to the lobby area of the uh diner, called the office. He goes, "Um, I got  two car loads of guys here and they're as they are

[41:58] as just badasses as they look, but we got to pull  it down and we're going to pull it down now." Next thing you know, people scattering, running down  Queens Boulevard, which is a very traveled area, locked up the nine guys, bring them down to the  station. Um, and there they admit that they were

[42:16] going to take me hostage and take my money and  they were going to take the Colombians who had the dope take their money as well and their dope  in the car. We found Tech 9 mm. There was all

[42:32] kinds of tape. Uh, there was rope. There was all  admitted to uh wanting to, you know, take care of me and and that. And that was about as close as I  came to being targeted. All my undercover roles,

[42:46] I like to do them publicly. I do them in a in a  public forum in a parking lot of the let's say whether it's Home Depot or inside a restaurant  to talk about it. You feel more in control.

[43:05] The mafia has morphed itself many times  over. They learned from all of our successes. and they of course try not to duplicate them in  kind of ways. But the unfortunate thing is the FBI

[43:18] has an investigative priorities of very violations  that they work and the the mob uh organized crime has just kind of dwindled. They've actually cut  the five squads that they had down to one squad.

[43:34] So what does that tell me having worked organized  crime and having walked among them is that these people are going doing what they're supposed to do  live a quiet life under the rocks. They're still out there. They're still growing in numbers. They  just we are not working because we are sidetracked

[43:51] with other things. You know of course important  matters uh uh you know cyber and uh terrorism and whatever you want to go but you can't let go  of the mob. Mobs are like weeds. They're growing

[44:05] out there exponentially and the only way you got  to maintain uh taking care of you got to make sure that they stay where they're at. Otherwise,  they're just going to grow. I mean, they're always looking to make money in any type of capacity.  They just want to get their claws into people. And

[44:22] as long as people are romanticizing and love them,  they'll do it. They'll get in. People have this fascination with being around these criminals.  It's romanticized, especially in the New York

[44:34] area. It's like, uh, hey, I know a guy who knows  a guy who's connected. Like, I'm a connected guy, you know? Like, give me a break. And if you see  a bunch of guys, too. You go to the casinos, a lot of guys dress up like the gangsters. You  notice how they wear sometimes the suits are all

[44:50] dressed up, but they're here and they're talking,  hey, how you doing, demons? You know, it's you get to the point is like they always say everybody's  a gangster. And so, a gangster walks in the room. then it's a whole different ballgame, you know.  I mean, I know now there's a lot of cop shows,

[45:06] you know, there's FBI, this and that. I know that,  but somehow every mob story is the same. I mean, you look at the Godfather, Godfather one, three,  Bronx tale, uh, good fellas. He can go on and it's

[45:19] always some kind romanticized where it's cool  like this pious uh, fedora wearing guys with 45s. to school, you know, killing somebody and  Robert Dairo in his roles and and all of that.

[45:35] It's just that uh it's criminal. It really bothers  me that the media does that. I retired in 2006 and I was hired as a contractor and I was towards that  end to work that case and then they wanted me to

[45:49] do more on the cover as retired. But I did,  you know, I did 26 years. I said, you know, enough is enough. I wanted to do 20. 20 led to  25. 25 is gone for 30. And then I got a year for

[46:02] my sick leave. And then I said, "What am I going  to do here at 30?" At 30, they give you like a 10 karat gold little tiny uh ring kind of thing with  a cubic zirconia. Uh 30 years for that. I said,

[46:17] "I can get whacked anytime for that, you know."  And uh no gold watch, you know, no thank you very much. No pat on the back. Uh but I left. I  figured it's time for the new blood to uh work on

[46:30] the cover. I also do I miss the job? Absolutely.  I mean, there's no better adrenaline rush than sitting across the street from across the table  from a bad guy and you're toasting something and

[46:44] you raise your glass and you look him in the eyes  and your hands are not shaking but his art. That that it doesn't come any better than that. I did  some contract work with the Boston case, but I

[46:57] I you know, it was time. I wanted to spend time  with my daughter. She was young. My daughter at the time was six years old when I retired. And I  drove her all over the place. And I reminded me of

[47:09] driving the captain of the Gambino crime family.  And it was kind of like the same, you know, hey, daddy, get me some ice cream. Hey, hey, Jackie  boy, let's go over here. Let's get some ice cream, something to eat. So, it was like uh the same  thing almost and it felt good to just be around

[47:26] uh family and and and I survived. I'm a survivor.  Nothing happened to me. I've known a lot of I've been to funerals of undercover police officers and  agents and uh this sadden thing that it happens.

[47:40] It's just so many um police officers who have  died doing this and uh I I wish the same for all my brothers and sisters out there who are  working undercover. When I was the mob guysman,

[47:52] I walk in the tra waiters trip over themselves  getting a table for you. Whatever you need, you don't even look at the menu. The chef  comes out, he'll tell you what he's made or whatever he whatever you want he'll make. Oh god,  I miss that tremendous. Now to put a reservation,

[48:10] you got to wait online. Then you got to sit in the  bar area. You got to wait about half hour before your table's ready. Then you come in. It's like,  you know, all of that panach, all of that thing is

[48:23] gone. I mean, uh, it's it's no longer now. Before  I used to carry such a bankroll. Now I got I don't even have cash now. I got a credit card. Yeah. I  wrote the book. My book I wrote after I retired.

[48:35] Title of the book is called Making Jack Falcone.  It was a New York Times bestseller. So, there's a snippets of some of the hundred cases that I  worked. If I was called for to do an undercover case, I would do it. That's how much I uh love  the I love the action. It's a tremendous action.

[49:01] then please subscribe and comment with more  topics that you'd like us to cover in this series.