FBI AGENT SUSPECTED OF MOB LEAKS TO RETIRE

An FBI supervising agent being probed for allegedly leaking government secrets to a top mob informer will retire next month, authorities said yesterday.
Lindley DeVecchio’s decision to resign came three weeks after the Justice Department decided not to prosecute him after a two-year investigation of his relationship with mobster/informer Gregory Scarpa Sr.
DeVecchio’s lawyer, Douglas Grover, said the decision was a “long overdue vindication” for his client, but a top federal prosecutor said the investigators had not “exonerated DeVecchio.”
They determined “they do not believe they have proof [of a crime] beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Brooklyn Assistant U.S. Attorney Valerie Caproni.
The inquiry began in 1994 after agents began to suspect that DeVecchio was leaking FBI secrets to Scarpa during the bloody Colombo mob war.
The investigation has triggered several hearings to determine if convicted Colombo mobsters, including acting boss Victor (Little Vic) Orena, should get new trials. DeVecchio, who testified at Orena’s trial, invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege and refused to testify at any hearing.
“If DeVecchio had a clean conscience, he would come in here and testify,” said Orena’s lawyer, Gerald Shargel.
Grover countered, “Lin has done nothing wrong, but . . . I do not believe it would be advisable for him to testify.”