# United States v. Persico, 164 F.3d 796 (2d Cir. 1999)

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/courtlistener-us-v-persico-164-f3d-796/

The Second Circuit affirmed convictions of Theodore Persico and others in the Colombo family war case. Under "The Scarpa disclosure," it records that after trial "the Government acknowledged that for many years Scarpa had been an informant for the FBI" and that Scarpa had lied about or misrepresented his involvement in some murders.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, decided January 15, 1999. The proof at trial, the court says, "consisted largely of the testimony of four cooperating accomplice witnesses," and the defense argued that the violence was "only a series of personal vendettas of Sessa and Gregory Scarpa, Sr., a soldier in the Persico faction."

Under the heading "The Scarpa disclosure" the court writes: "After Persico's trial, the Government made several disquieting disclosures concerning Scarpa ... First, the Government acknowledged that for many years Scarpa had been an informant for the FBI. Second, it was disclosed that Scarpa had lied about or misrepresented his own involvement in some of the murders occurring during the intra-family war and had falsely attributed some of these murders to others." It adds that it was disclosed that Scarpa's handling agent "might have improperly given Scarpa sensitive FBI information"; that is the court's description of a disclosure, not a finding, and this page does not go further.

The defendants sought new trials under Brady v. Maryland. "The judgments of the District Court and the denial of post-judgment motions are affirmed in all respects." The label "a soldier in the Persico faction" is the court's description in summarizing the defense theory.

## Sources

- CourtListener (Free Law Project), text of the opinion: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/760471/united-states-v-theodore-persico-robert-zambardi-and-richard-fusco/