Decades before rogue FBI agent Lindley DeVecchio allegedly funneled classified information to a murderous mob boss, he acted the part of Mafia hit man to foil a death plot against two federal prosecutors, sources said.
Masquerading as a hired gun named Tony DeAngelo, the now-embattled special agent went undercover in early 1983 inside the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center, where a rogue ex-CIA agent accused of selling weapons illegally was putting out the word he wanted to whack the prosecutors on his case.
“It was all on tape,” recalled Lawrence Barcella, one of the prosecutors targeted. “DeVecchio was a young FBI agent at the time, who went undercover as a mob hit man – it’s somewhat ironic.
“I haven’t seen him or spoken to him since then. The guy I met was a rock-solid, decent FBI agent who did a hell of a job. I was grateful to him for doing it.”
The bizarre incident centered around Edwin Wilson, a former CIA agent caught selling weapons to Libya.
While awaiting trial, Wilson told his cellmate that he wanted to hire someone to rub out four witnesses in the case, two prosecutors and his ex-wife.
The cellmate, Wayne Trimmer, alerted authorities, who set up a sting with DeVecchio posing as a jail-hardened murderer whom Trimmer ostensibly knew from the state prison in upstate Attica.
“Lin’s role in the situation is demonstrative of what an outstanding public servant he was and a dedicated FBI agent for 33 years,” said Mark Bederow, one of the attorneys currently defending DeVecchio against charges in Brooklyn that the agent illegally aided his Mafia informant.
DeVecchio arranged a visit with Trimmer at the jail while Wilson and his own son met in the same room. That way, Wilson could check out the man he was about to hire.
“He fit the part,” said Eugene Kaplan, the federal prosecutor who handled Wilson’s murder-conspiracy case. “He knew how to do it.”
Wilson’s son then arranged a second meeting with DeVecchio at the La Guardia Marriott, where he handed off nearly $10,000 to the undercover agent.
Charges against the son were later dropped, but Wilson eventually did federal time for the murder-for-hire plot and the weapons sale.
Carol Bruce, the other prosecutor targeted, said she took the threat seriously – especially since she was a young mother at the time.
“If anything, it’s just sad, if it’s true,” she said of the charges DeVecchio now faces. “Here was a man who was part of law enforcement, and did a great job.”
In one final ironic twist, Wilson was released in September 2004 after serving more than 20 years in prison – less than half a year before Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes would open his investigation into DeVecchio’s alleged mob ties.