Mafia Son: The Scarpa Mob Family, the FBI, and a Story of Betrayal

The Scarpas were a Mafia dynasty led by Greg Scarpa Sr., a man so addicted to killing that he was nicknamed “The Grim Reaper.” His son, Gregory Jr., was slowly drawn into his father’s dark world. What only father and son knew was that for thirty years, starting in the 1960s, Scarpa Sr. was an informant for the FBI. Then, faced with arrest two decades later, Greg dropped the time on his own son.

Gregory Jr. was imprisoned alongside terrorist Ramzi Yousef. He offered to trade information on Yousef with the government in exchange for leniency, providing detailed intelligence on what would eventually result in the September 11attacks. His warnings were ignored, and he was sentenced to forty years to life in prison, where he remains. A story that gained national notoriety, this is an “enthralling look at ties between the Mafia and the FBI” (Booklist).