The Smoking Gun: Al Sharpton Was A 1980s Mob Informant For The FBI

The Smoking Gun yesterday claimed it has conclusively proven that decades-old rumors about Al Sharpton having been a mob informant for the FBI are true.

TSG’s account of Sharpton’s secret life as “CI-7” is based on hundreds of pages of confidential FBI affidavits, documents released by the bureau in response to Freedom of Information Act requests, court records, and extensive interviews with six members of the Genovese squad, as well as other law enforcement officials to whom the activist provided assistance. Like almost every other FBI informant, Sharpton was solely an information source. The parameters of his cooperation did not include Sharpton ever surfacing publicly or testifying on a witness stand.  Genovese squad investigators--representing both the FBI and NYPD--recalled how Sharpton, now 59, deftly extracted information from wiseguys. In fact, one Gambino crime family figure became so comfortable with the protest leader that he spoke openly--during ten wired face-to-face meetings--about a wide range of mob business, from shylocking and extortions to death threats and the sanity of Vincent “Chin” Gigante, the Genovese boss who long feigned mental illness in a bid to deflect law enforcement scrutiny. As the mafioso expounded on these topics, Sharpton’s briefcase--a specially customized Hartmann model--recorded his every word.

Sharpton has confirmed some of the allegations to the New York Daily News, but takes issue with the term "informant."

“If you’re a victim of a threat, you’re not an informant — you’re a victim trying to protect yourself,” he said. He said his conversations with mob figures were recorded, though he denied he used a bugged briefcase. He said he was never paid, but was occasionally reimbursed for car travel. “I encourage kids all the time to work with law enforcement,” he said. “You’re acting like it’s a scandal for me to do that?” He said the role of his information in bringing down mob figures was vastly exaggerated. “I was never told I was an informant or I had a number or none of that,” he said. “Whether or not they used some of the other information they got during that period for other purposes, I don’t know.”

The Smoking Gun story opens with several paragraphs which detail Sharpton's relationship with President Obama and recent visits to the White House.