A document to be used in the defense of former FBI supervisor R. Lindley DeVecchio charges that celebrated New York Police Detective Joe Coffey (right) was a mob informant, according to a story by Scott Shifrel of the New York Daily News.Coffey, who solved more than 80 murders and led New York's Organized Crime Homicide Task Force, said the charge was "absolutely outrageous. I never in my life dealt with the Mafia other than to lock them up. They hated me. To this day, they hate me."
The defense document is a Sept. 4, 1984, memo relating to Mafia bigshot Gregory Scarpa (left), in which DeVecchio noted, "The source could not furnish specific details, but has longtime street knowledge of Coffey's dealings with La Cosa Nostra members."That memo appears to have been the catalyst for an investigation of Coffey. "There was an investigation, and it was disproved," Coffey said. He suggested that DeVecchio might have fabricated the "tip" about his mob involvement. The two men feuded for some time.
DeVecchio (right) is standing trial in Brooklyn on murder charges. Prosecutors say his cooperation with Scarpa aided the Mafioso during the violent 1990s civil war in the Colombo Crime Family. Scarpa died in prison in 1994 at the age of 66. DeVecchio maintains his innocence. He is supported by a number of current and former FBI agents.Coffey's law enforcement career is the subject of:
The Coffey Files: One Cop's War Against the Mob
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