10 Infamous Snitches

A Brief History

On May 31, 2005, the magazine, Vanity Fair, named Mark Felt as the infamous Deep Throat of the Watergate Scandal fame, ending decades of speculation as to the identity of that particular snitch. Here we list 10 Infamous Snitches. Wise old saying: “As ye snitch, so shall ye be snitched.” (I made that up.)

Digging Deeper

10. Judas, erstwhile apostle.

According to the Bible, Judas sold out Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver, later regretting his treachery and hanging himself. His name is the synonym of traitor or “snitch” today.

9. Bradley Manning, Soldier, Spy, Girl.

Now known a Chelsea Elizabeth Manning, living in prison as a woman, Manning was a US Army soldier that turned over enormous quantities of classified information to the media. He had been working as an Intelligence analyst in Iraq and leaked the information to Wikileaks in 2010. He is serving 35 years in prison for espionage, eligible for parole after 8 years. Manning was in turn ratted out by an online acquaintance, Adrian Lamo, who had informed US Army counterintelligence of the situation. His release of information is purported to have aggravated the situation in various Arab countries with their own leaders and the US. Manning will not receive the surgery and hormone therapy he seeks while a prisoner, at least not for now.

8. Salvatore “Sammy The Bull” Gravano, Mafia hit man.

This murderer traded reduced time in prison for testimony against John “The Teflon Don” Gotti, sending Gotti to prison and cutting his own jail time to 5 years, despite numerous murders and other nefarious activity. Sammy worked for the Gambino crime family and was part of the murder of mobster Paul Castellano. Gravano was the highest positioned Mafioso (“underboss“) to turn evidence against the Mafia at the time of his snitching (around 1990). Gravano left the Witness Protection Program in 1995, did television interviews and returned to crime, for which he was convicted and sentenced to 20 years (drug offenses) and is facing charges in the 1980 slaying of a police officer. Oh, he was snitched out by his own underlings.

7. Ronald Reagan, Red Scare.

As an actor and former head of the Screen Actor’s Guild (1947 to 1952 and again in 1959) Reagan served as an FBI snitch against his own union members, reporting on anyone that seemed to have sympathies toward the Communists. His snitching probably contributed to the Hollywood Blacklist of the time.

6. Kobe Bryant, Basketbro Traitor.

Despite the typical frat boy mantra, “Bro’s before ho’s” Bryant violated the sanctity of the locker room when he was confronted with rape charges in 2004. Claiming that teammate Shaquille O’Neal had paid up to a million dollars to silence his sexual conquests, Bryant said he, “should have done what Shaq does and pay this woman not to say anything.” Ouch! Thanks a lot “teammate!”

5. Linda Tripp/Monica Lewinsky, Presidential Misconduct.

While President Bill Clinton was being investigated for involvement in the “Whitewater” real estate scandal a bloodthirsty partisan investigation branched off into his personal (sex) life, resulting in the beleaguered president lying about whether or not he had “sex” with one of his young interns, Monica Lewinsky. Monica made the blunder of blabbing to her “friend” Linda Tripp about her escapades with the Commander in Chief, and Linda snitched out the 2 of them. Lewinsky then testified about the affair, including providing the damning evidence of a semen soiled dress. Clinton ended up being impeached in 1998 over the lie (perjury) and escaped with a partisan 50-50 vote in the senate. Tripp has largely been reviled by the public as a snitch, and Lewinsky’s motives in not having her soiled dress cleaned have been questioned.

4. Frank Serpico, Police Corruption.

A New York City police officer, Serpico spilled the beans on widespread police corruption in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, shown graphically in the 1973 movie, Serpico. Serpico had been working racketeering and vice as a plain clothes officer when he discovered the extent of police corruption, reporting it in 1967. Many police officers were somewhat unhappy (understatement) with Serpico’s willingness to narc on other cops, and allowed him to get shot during a drug sting in 1971 by not coming to his aid during a bust. No investigation of police complicity in the shooting took place, and other officers harassed him while in the hospital by “bed checks” every hour to prevent sleep. Serpico spent several years outside the US after the incident and retiring, and today still speaks out against police corruption. He remains a hated figure among the misguided on the NYPD.

3. Eric Snowden, NSA data gathering.

A former employee of the CIA and DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency), Snowden was a Dell computer employee working at the National Security Agency (NSA) as a contract employee, and then for Booz Allen Hamilton in a similar role. He absconded with stunning amounts of information about NSA information gathering activities concerning domestic and foreign targets, including apparent fishing expeditions against common US citizens. Snowden leaked the information to the media and then had to flee the country, ending up in Russia where he remains today. His release of information was embarrassing to the US, and may in various ways have compromised the efficacy of the data gathering programs. Americans were somewhat split on whether Snowden is a hero “whistle blower” or a common criminal. The government clearly ranks him as a criminal.

2. Joe Valachi, Mafia.

The first Mafia member to publicly acknowledge the real existence of the Mafia, the man also known as “Joe Cargo” (among other names) was a member of the Luciano and then Genovese crime families. Sentenced to life in prison for a 1962 murder, Valachi became a government informant probably in hopes of protection against the death penalty and the mob. He testified before Congress in 1963 that the Mafia was real, ending speculation fostered by the mobsters themselves that there was no big organized crime syndicate in the US. Valachi died of a heart attack in 1971, outliving Vito Genovese and the bounty ($100K) he had put on Valachi’s head. A 1968 book, The Valachi Papers detailed his account of things, and a movie by the same name starring Charles Bronson was released in 1972. Elements of The Godfather were modeled after parts of the book.

1. Mark Felt, “Watergate.”

An FBI agent that had denied involvement with the “Deep Throat” leaks during the Watergate Scandal that ended Richard Nixon’s presidency, he finally fessed up in 2005. In an unrelated case, Felt was convicted of depriving Weather Underground members of their Civil Rights, but was pardoned by President Reagan. Felt provided the clues to Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernsein that led to breaking the Watergate story wide open. Speculation over the years as to the identity of “Deep Throat” ranged from nobody, or a composite of several people, to various persons within the Nixon administration, General Alexander Haig, George HW Bush, William Rehnquist (Chief Justice of the Supreme Court!), Henry Kissinger, Ben Stein, Diane Sawyer, Gerald Ford and a bunch of people of lesser renown.

Question for students (and subscribers): Who would you add to the list? (There are a lot to choose from!) Please let us know in the comments section below this article.

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