Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “The Grim Reaper” Gregory Scarpa Pt. 1

Episode Date: May 29, 2023

Starting in the 1950s, Greg Scarpa killed his way up the ladder to become the Colombo family's main hitman. By the mid-1980s, his children were in on the family secret. And the only thing more surprising than the number of kills he racked up was who else was paying him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Due to the nature of this episode, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of gun violence, murder, and attempted sexual assault. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. By their very nature, a hitman has to live a double life. During the day, he might obliterate a man's forehead with a bullet. Then in the evening, he may return home to help his wife with the dishes and put the children to bed, caressing their foreheads with a kiss. That was certainly true for Greg Scarpa, except he wasn't just any hitman.

He was a relentless killing machine, one of the most prolific murderers in organized crime history, and he was a family man with a partner and children. He tried to keep these two worlds separate, but when his daughter realized that her kind, caring father was also a cold-blooded murderer, she couldn't help but wonder, Can you ever truly know the ones you love? Hi listeners, it's Greg. You're listening to Serial Killers, a Spotify original from Parcast. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa.

Hey, everyone. Today we're continuing with our series on Hit Men. These episodes explore the twisted world of contract homicide, both the people who kill and the ones who hire them. This time, we're covering the life of a prolific killer, Gregory Scarpa Sr., from the perspective of those who knew him bad. his family. But even they didn't know his greatest secret. One so wild, it sounds like a conspiracy

theory. So if you're a fan of plot twists, continue listening, because Greg Scarpa, the Grim Reaper, will surprise you over and over again. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Bonnie and Clyde, the lonely hearts killers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. These are infamous criminal duels. But you don't need to break any laws to find your perfect business partner because you have Shopify. It's the commerce platform that can help you with literally everything, website design, marketing, shipping, and more. So start your business today with the best partner, Shopify, and get that.

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may help reduce the frequency of minor digestive discomfort, which includes gas, bloating, rumbling, and abdominal discomfort. Greg Scarpa's closet was filled with skeletons. Even his secrets had secrets. So we're going to try to get to the heart of who he was. That way, hero or villain, caring or cruel, you can decide for yourself. And there's no better place to start

than with the person who adored him most, his own daughter. Linda Scarpa grew up in Brooklyn, New York in the 1970s and early 80s, and she adored her father, Greg Scarpa. He was the coolest guy in the world. He had style, a thick mustache, and a cool confidence. His soothing baritone made him sound like Barry White. He helped with homework and tucked her into, bed. Sometimes he'd play video games with her and her younger brother, Joey. Garpa also vowed to always

protect her. When young Linda scraped her knee or got sick, he coddled her back to health. Under his watchful eye, she was safe. And this meant the world was her oyster. As Linda strolled through her neighborhood, everyone was really kind to her. It was almost as if her family had the keys to the city. For instance, when they went out to eat at a diner, they were treated like royalty. The staff The chef brought Linda and her brother a never-ending supply of treats without them ever needing to order. It was every child's dream. The perks didn't stop at food, of course.

Linda was also spoiled rotten. At age six, she got her first fur coat. That's right. We said first. And instead of taking the bus, she took a limo to school, like some sort of celebrity. None of her friends got that kind of treatment. Linda didn't know why. it was just the way the world worked. But then one night, Linda woke up, perhaps hearing a noise,

and crept downstairs. That's when she saw something magical on the dining room table, laid out from end to end, was a pile of gleaming jewelry like a treasure trove. Her father was there, lording over the fortune like a king. Linda asked him, where all the stuff came from? And he said he was a professional gambler. That night he'd gotten lucky. You see, even at this young age, Linda knew that was kind of strange, but she had no reason to doubt her father. So at school, when someone asked her what her dad did for a living, she said, Professional Gambler. This got weird looks, but she knew it was the truth. As time passed, though, Linda grew more curious about what her dad did all day before he came

home for dinner, especially since every once in a while he'd say something odd. What are their favorite things to do together was watch James Bond films. They saw every single one of them, twice, and her dad would tell her to call him Bond, Greg Bond. He looked at the screen and said, That's your father. Linda wasn't sure what he meant by that, but by the time she got to her mid-teens, she started piecing some things together. When her dad's friends came over for parties, she noticed they weren't like other parents. They were all good-looking, flashy dressers, and they always had sunglasses on, even at night. They often talked business in front of the kids. That's how Linda finally realized these weren't just her dad's buddies. These were mobsters.

And her dad was a mafioso. Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or a psychiatrist, but we have done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. A 2018 empirical study about children in the mob found that the father is often idealized as a mythical figure. Many mob are. kids felt a strong, positive emotional connection with their dads. Young adults believed their mafia fathers were caring and attentive and, quote, always respected everyone. They even firmly believed he was innocent when it came to joining the mob in the first place. But the study also noted that when these children got older and faced the outside world, they had to confront

the truth about their criminal dads. Their relationships became more complicated after that and filled with conflicting feelings. starting to happen with Linda. And then, when she was 15, her father showed her who he really was. One morning, Linda hopped into her limo, ready to go to school. But her usual driver wasn't behind the wheel. It was some man she didn't recognize. He asked her to sit in the front seat, so she did. That was the first tip-off that something was wrong. The second came when Linda realized they weren't heading to her school. The driver didn't stop until they got to Brooklyn's Prospect Park. Linda told him to take her to class, but the driver said, you're not going to school

right now. We're not going to tell you everything that happened then. Just know that the driver made unwanted sexual advances on Linda, and she was assaulted. She was terrified, but managed to get the man to stop by convincing him she wanted to meet him after class instead. They could continue later in private. The attacker bought the lie. He put the car in gear. He put the car in geese. He put the car in gear and drove her to school. As soon as Linda got inside the building, she started shaking. She called her mom to come pick her up. When she got home, Linda told her father everything. Keep in mind, Scarpa was a beefy, imposing man, and as soon as he lost his temper, that was it. In the blink of an eye, he'd go from a big teddy bear to someone capable of all-out destruction.

So when he heard what this driver did to his daughter, he erupted. Scarpa turned to Linda and said, quote, This guy is dead. Her father then stormed out with a bunch of his friends. When he returned, he told Linda he'd taken care of it. And then that was it for a while. But a couple of days later, Linda was reading the newspaper, and she saw an article about the driver.

Someone had shot him execution style near his doorstep. When Linda asked her dad about it, Scarpa said, He got what he deserved. You'll never have to worry about him again. Linda didn't want the guy anywhere near her, of course, but she didn't want him to die. Linda ripped out the article and stuffed it into her wallet. Every once in a while, she took it out and gave it a peek.

Maybe to remind herself, this was the consequence of having a father that would keep you safe no matter what. It was around then that Scarpa told Linda what he actually did for his mafia family. He wasn't just some run-of-the-mill mobster. Linda's loving, gentle giant of a dad was, by trade, a ruthless hitman. And if anyone ever hurt her,

he'd make sure they paid the ultimate price. Coming up, the hits get closer and closer to home. Snoring, gasping during sleep, feeling fatigued, ask your doctor about zeppbound, terseptide. The first and only FDA-approved prescription, medicine for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and adults with obesity. Zepbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity to help adults with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and obesity to improve their OSA. Zetbound is approved

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It all had to be very confusing and scary for Linda, but over time she'd learn more and more about her father's past and who he really was. And as outlined in her eventual memoir, the Mafia Hitman's daughter, she realized his thirst for blood was evident from the very beginning. Greg Scarpa was a teenager living in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bensonhurst. When a local mobster took him under his wing and showed him the ropes of the trade, about five years later, Scarpa was invited in. But before he could join, he had to participate in a centuries-old mafia ritual.

Scarpa gathered with the heads of what would become the Colombo crime family. The boss asked the 22-year-old Scarpa if he was willing to kill for his captain. Scarpa nodded. The others held out a card bearing the image of a saint. Then they stabbed his trigger finger and drops of his blood spilled onto the card. They set the cart ablaze. As it burned, Scarpa spoke the sacred words. I swear that if I ever violate this oath, may I burn as this paper.

Scarpa had taken the old Merta vow to secrecy, which meant that if he squealed to the authorities, he was as good as dead. After that, Greg Scarpa was a made man. Scarpa quickly became what the mafia called a good earner. He built an empire through loan sharking, dealing marijuana and cocaine, credit card fraud, and grand theft. But he was also famously cold. At 510 and 220 pounds, he could deal out a brutal beating and had no qualms about murder. A former prosecutor once said that Scarpa was absolutely fearless and especially unpredictable. He would, quote, smile at a guy, take him out to dinner and blow his brains out.

Using his weapons of choice, a rifle or shotgun, Scarpa racked up as many murders as he did nicknames. He became known as the Grim Reaper and the Killing Machine, due to his frightening brutality. According to one of his protégés, he claimed that once he reached 50 hits, he stopped counting. He didn't shy away from killing women either, even if the other hit men didn't have the stomach for it, and he once shot off a driver's face just for insulting a loved one. The reason? He wanted to force the man's family to identify his body using only his body. using only his tattoos.

His biggest justification for killing was when a maid man broke the Omerdeval and collaborated with the authorities. That was unforgivable. By the time he had his daughter Linda in 1969, he was the Colombo family's chief enforcer, but having kids didn't slow him down. Linda later said, he could go kill someone and five minutes later

he'd be home watching Wheel of Fortune with my brother and me. We talked about this earlier, but Scarpa could be both a cunning serial, killer for the mob and a loving father to Linda. This kind of duplicity is all thanks to compartmentalization. According to the authors of serial murder and the psychology of violent crimes, murderers divide others into, quote, two categories of human beings, their circle of family and friends, whom they care about and treat with decency, and individuals with whom they have no relationship and therefore victimize with total disregard. This separation helps neutralize

whatever pangs of guilt a murderer might have. And really, we all do it in some form or another. The authors note that a company executive can be hard on his employees, but a sweetheart to his family. Scarpa was no different, but interestingly, because Linda's father was essentially a serial killer, she also had to use compartmentalization, especially when faced with horrific tragedy. Like in the case of Linda's favorite family friend, a wise guy named Joe. Joe Brewster. Joe and Scarpa had a close, trusting friendship. They did everything together, including hits. He was Greg Scarpa's right-hand man. And when it came time for Joe's wedding, Scarpa was his best man. So Joe was around the house a lot. He was like an uncle to Linda.

She loved him and his huge, wonderful smile. But over time, Linda noticed Joe was changing. Around 1987, Joe started coming over to the house drunk. In fact, he seemed drunk all the time. When Linda asked him to sign her yearbook, he could barely write his signature. Not only that, but Joe's beliefs seemed to be shifting too. One day he told Linda he wanted to live a good Christian life. He didn't want to do anything illegal anymore. But when you were friends with Gregory Scarpa, you had to be careful about what you wished for.

On September 17, 1987, Scarpa asked Joe to wear his best suit, something about a special event. When Scarpa and another crew member came to pick him up, Joe hopped in the back seat. He didn't know the car had been stolen earlier that day. He also didn't know there was a revolver hidden under the floor mat. After driving for a little while, the other mobster whipped out the gun and shot Joe. Joe slumped over, blood spilling all over his nose. nice white shirt in his best suit pants. We don't know who ordered the hit on Joe, but the Brooklyn DA later knew why.

Joe seemed interested in leaving the family. Worse still, he'd refuse Scarpa's orders to do a hit and had done burglaries on his own. All Linda knew is that suddenly her Uncle Joe didn't come around anymore. When she asked her parents about it, they told her he got sick and passed away. Eventually, though, Linda found out the truth. When she did, she barricaded herself in her room and cried. Though Linda was tormented, she couldn't stay mad forever. Like I said earlier, Linda also had to compartmentalize.

In her memoir, she said, quote, I knew my father was killing people, but I turned away from it. It was almost as if I'd taken an oath to my family. I just had to turn the other cheek. She learned to block it out. That way, she could still give herself permission to love him and be protected by him. As long, of course, as he was around and stayed out of jail. On that front, Scarpa was in good shape.

For decades, the hitman managed to steer clear of prison. Considering his rap sheet, it was almost unheard of. Any charges authorities managed to pin on him, either got dismissed, or ended up with a slap on the wrist. It was like he was invincible. The feds couldn't touch him, and he always seemed one step ahead of his rivals. He knew all sorts of hard-defined information about his enemies, the dresses, their next moves, that sort of thing. Later on, his crew wondered where he was getting this situation. stuff. Scarpa just said he had a mole on the inside, someone in a rival gang. That's how he

punished his enemies before they had a chance to strike. Whenever Scarpa's pager went off and it was his contact, he'd get to a phone as quickly as possible, even if he was on the highway. Whoever the source was, they were important and high up. Linden knew about it too. Sometimes she'd answer the landline and there'd be a mysterious man who'd introduce himself as Mr. Delo. One time she yelled that Mr. Della was on the phone, and her father got angry. He told her to never use that name in the house. Whoever Mr. Della was, he wasn't like the other wise guys. When the mystery man came over, everything had to be shut, the blinds, the doors. No one was allowed in or out of the house. It had to be a total secret, and no one could know. This had to be the reason the Grim Reaper could escape death,

and it even came into play when Linda's little brother, Joey, got into a bind. We've talked about how Scarpa would do anything to protect Linda. The thing is, he treated Joey the opposite. He wanted Joey to protect himself. From an early age, Joey was groomed to follow in his dad's cold-blooded footsteps, and in 1990, three years after Joe Brewster's murder, Scarpa put 18-year-old Joey to the ultimate test. Joey had a best friend Patrick Porco. The two were so close that, to Joey's mom, Patrick, was like a second son.

But instead of hanging out of the mall or going to the movies, Joey and Patrick ran a full-blown coke-dealing operation. And at some point, they got into a feud with a rival dealer. So Joey and a couple of friends hopped in a car and shot the rival in a drive-by. In the following days, Joey and Patrick laid low. But then, Scarpa gave his son some bad news. He'd heard from a source the cops were closing in, and Patrick was just days away from ratting Joey out to the police.

Joey was skeptical. His best friend would never do that, but Scarpa was adamant. This really freaked Joey out. He knew what happened when there was a rumor someone would rat to the police. They weren't given a stern talking to. They were executed. Joey pleaded with his father, but Scarpa had made up his mind. Patrick had to die.

And Scarpa told Joey that he had to carry out the hit himself. This wasn't a debate. You didn't disobey your father. father, and you definitely didn't disobey a mob enforcer. Scarpa perhaps wanted to teach his son a lesson about loyalty. This is what happens when you rat to the police. One night in May 1990, Joey and his cousin allegedly picked up 17-year-old Patrick for a drive. It was Memorial Day weekend.

Sitting in the back seat, Patrick probably thought they were headed out to have a fun night. Instead, he ended up getting fatally shot, then dumped on the side of the road. road. Later that night, Joey returned home and went straight to his room. His mother checked on him. We haven't talked much about Linda and Joey's mom, a woman named Linda Shiro. She was 19 years younger than Greg, and a mafia woman through and through. She grew up surrounded by Goodfellas. So, at least for her own life, she knew what she'd signed up for. But when she opened Joey's door, she found the 17-year-old sobbing, curled up in the fetal position. Sherro got down and held her son. This was the bargain she made when she got to

involved with a mafia hitman. Scarpa provided luxuries and defense, but there'd be no protection against the awful things her kids would witness and the terrible things they do. At least in this moment, she had some solace knowing that with the aid of Mr. Delo, Scarpa was untouchable and her family was safe, both from rivals and the cops. But soon, Greg Scarpa would finally square off against the first enemy he couldn't stop with a bullet, a fated. A fateful. disease. Coming up, the Grim Reaper is handed a death sentence. Transport your senses with Sol Dijanado's limited edition perfume mist collection.

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stomach. About four years before the incident with Joey and Patrick in 1986, 58-year-old Scarpa was having abdominal pain. He wound up in the hospital in emergency surgery for stomach ulcers. Scarpa needed a blood transfusion and fast, but it was the early years of the AIDS epidemic and people were terrified of transmission. Allegedly, the hospital told Scarpa to get his friends to give him blood. That way the donations would be from people he trusted. By the the next day, almost 30 associates showed up at the hospital. Being a top dog in a crime family certainly had its perks. Out of those 30 donors, Scarpa's partner Linda Schiro said that six of them had Scarpa's blood type. And out of those six, one of them was a weightlifter. To help gain muscle,

this crew member took steroids, steroids he injected with a needle. And it was likely during one of those injections, the man contracted HIV. That's right, unbeknownst to any, one at the time. Scarpa's crew member at least had HIV, if not AIDS. The hospital failed to screen for it, so the weightlifter's blood was pumped directly into the Grim Reaper's veins. Suffice to say, the stomach ulcer surgery didn't go so well. But no one knew why at first. The hitman kept getting infection after infection, and he had to get his stomach removed. His daughter remembers not knowing if he'd make it. One night, Linda visited her dad in the hospital and threw her arms around him. He'd been unconscious, perhaps for hours or days. She pleaded with him not to leave

her. Tears streamed down her face. It was then that Scarpa opened his eyes and said, I'm not going anywhere. True to his word, Scarpa went home soon after that, but the eventual HIV diagnosis was a hard blow. It seemed to make Scarpa realize just how fragile his life was. Over the next few years, Linda watched her dad become weaker and weaker. Without a stomach, he had to digest food with enzyme pills. His once hefty frame shrank as he lost about 75 pounds. He thought maybe it was time to retire, to spend more time with his kids. After more than 30 years of violence, maybe he was ready for peace.

And perhaps that's what could have happened. The Grim Reaper would finally holster his trusty rifle and shotgun, and the story would end there. The thing was, while Scarpa was in recovery, a war was brewing. A few years back, the head of the Colombo family, Carmine Persico, was thrown in prison, and the family split into two factions. A dispute about who would take over ensued, a real godfather situation. Another Colombo mobster named Bicarina staged a coup.

In 1991, Scarpa, now in his early 60s, was fiercely loyal to Carmine and itching to get into the fight. At one point, he asked his daughter Linda for her blessing. She didn't like the idea, especially considering his diagnosis. Plus, with so much killing in the streets, she worried he would be locked up. But he simply said, I don't go to jail. Eventually, Linda consented, but she didn't want to disappoint him. She told him to be careful. But later that year, their conversation came back to haunt her.

It was a cold day in late fall. 22-year-old Linda left the house with her dad. She was going shopping, and Scarpa was headed out with his crew. By this point, Linda was a parent herself. She carried her eight-month-old child and a diaper bag to her black Mercedes. Her father helped her settle the baby into the car seat, then kissed them both goodbye. She watched Scarpa get in a vehicle with his crew and drive off. Now it was her turn.

She put her car in reverse and backed into the street. But that's when she noticed a van, hurtling toward her and her baby, Thankfully, it stopped right before slamming into her. Linda cursed at the driver. Soon after, as her father's car neared a stop sign, a big white truck pulled into the intersection ahead, blocking his path. It was clear something was wrong. Linda and Scarpa were trapped between the truck ahead and the van behind them.

They were sitting ducks. That's when Linda heard a barrage of gunfire. A team of guys in ski masks. dress head to toe in blacks swarmed their cars. A man in a black trench coat stood on the sidewalk, walkie-talkie in hand. It was a kill squad. Linda watched the bullets rip through her father's car. She saw one of the other passengers step out to return fire, but a bullet whizzed through

this guy's hair. Inches away from splattering his brains all over the pavement. The man panicked and jumped back in the car. One of the assailants swung a machine gun wildly, and the bullets careened through Linda's sedan. Linda ducked under the dashboard. She wanted to grab her kid, but fear gripped her. When she finally poked her head up,

she saw her father's car was riddled with holes, and through his rear window, she saw Scarpa collapse to the floor of his car. That's when she knew her dad was dead. At that moment, her father's car peeled out and squeezed past the white truck, the gunfire, stopped. Linda was stunned. Besides the terrified screams of her child, it was dead silent.

The hit squad scattered except for the man with the assault rifle. Slowly, he sauntered over to Linda, maybe to finish the job. She stared into his icy blue eyes. Then as if by some miracle, the man walked away. Linda ran into her house. She and her baby were both screaming. Shiro came running in to ask what was wrong. Linda, sobbing uncontrollably, said, Mom, I think they killed Daddy. But as Linda explained what happened, the front door opened. Scarpa stood there.

He had tears in his eyes as he took his grandchild in his arms. He seemed relieved that his daughter and grandson were safe. For a moment, Scarpa was the caring father Linda grew up with. Maybe this would be a warning to him, that his separate lives had coincided and his family was in danger. Perhaps it was assigned to put away his guns and retire. But then Scarpa's eyes darkened and he said, They're all dead. They're going to die starting tonight.

In an instant, he went from loving protective dad to vengeful killer. Linda had thought her father would always be around to protect her, but now she realized he was either going to end up six feet under or in a six-foot cell. But the thing is, Scarpa always had a secret weapon. See, there's a reason Scarpa asked his daughter to call him Greg Bond. James Bond is a master at manipulation, and a highly proficient death machine. And he works for the British intelligence agency, MI6. So, in many ways, Scarpa was a lot like Bond.

He knew how to live a double life. He knew how to kill with precision and speed. And ever since 1960, Scarpa had been working. for another intelligence agency, the FBI. And the mysterious Mr. Delo was his handler. The guy's real name was Special Agent Linda Vecchio. It's how Scarpa stayed out of jail for so many years. It's how he knew Patrick Porco would rat on his son.

Despite killing dozens for breaking the Omertovow by ratting to the cops, Scarpa had been working with the authorities all along. He had a reputation as a heartless hitman with a lust for blood. But as an FBI informant, perhaps the truth is more complex. And next time, we'll explore a tantalizing question. What if Greg Scarpa was one of the good guys this whole time? Thanks again for tuning in to serial killers. We're here every Monday and Thursday.

And next time, we'll be back with Part 2, where we get into Greg Scarpa's relationship with the FBI. For more information on Greg Scarpa's family life, we found Linda Scarpa's memoir, The Mafia Hitman's Daughter, extremely helpful to our research. You can find all episodes of Serial Killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. We'll see you next time. Stay safe out there. Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast. Our head of programming is Julian Barrow. Our supervising sound designer is Russell Nash, with Nick Johnson as our head of production,

and Spencer Howard as our post-production supervisor. Stacey Nemick is our supervising editor, and Derek Jennings is our writing lead. This episode of serial killers was written by Ben Carrow, edited by Robert Tyler Walker and Kate Murdoch, fact-checked by Bennett Logan, researched by Brian Petrus and Chelsea Wood, produced by Bruce Kitovich,

and sound designed by Juan Borda. Our hosts are Greg Poulson and me, Vanessa Richardson. Want to hear something? Spooky. Monster, it reminded me of Bigfoot. Monsters Among Us is a weekly podcast featuring true stories of the paranormal. One of the boys started to exhibit demonic possession. Stories straight from the witnesses' mouths themselves. Something very snake-like lifted its head out of the water.

Hosted by me, your guide, Derek Hayes. Somehow I lost eight whole hours. Listen now on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. A beloved 75-year-old man washing up getting ready for bed is brutally beaten and killed. Despite an exhaustive investigation, the killer avoids arrest and then strikes again. I'm global news crime reporter Nancy Hicks. You might listen to a lot of true crime podcasts this year, but they're not crime beat. Search for and follow the award-winning podcast Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music,

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