How The FBI Used Mob Muscle to Break The `Mississippi Burning' Case

`And every cop is a criminal, and all the sinners saints...' - Mick Jagger

Yes, the line does get a little blurred at times...

Back in 1964, three civil rights activists - James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman - were beaten and shot by a gang of Klu Klux Klansmen and buried in an earthen levee near Philadelphia, Mississippi. The story of the case was made into a pretty decent movie awhile back called "Mississippi Burning."

Apparently the real story is even more interesting.Today, a Mob hitman's ex-girlfriend testified in court that the FBI used mob muscle to solve the 1964 case, making this the first official corroboration of a story that's been underworld legend for years.

Linda Schiro testified that that her ex-boyfriend, late Mafia tough guy and Columbo `Family' member Gregory Scarpa Sr. ( AKA `The Grim Reaper') was recruited by the FBI to help find the bodies of the murder victims, and that Scarpa later told her that he had terrorized an appliance salesman for details and then put a gun in a Klansman's mouth and threatened to pull the trigger unless he started singing and revealed where the bodies were hidden.

This testimony came to light as part of a corruption case against former FBI agent R. Lindley DeVecchio, who's been charged with four counts of murder in a major law enforcement corruption case. It's being alleged that DeVecchio was on Scarpa's payroll, revealing the identities of witnesses and informants in exchange for cash, jewelery and even prostitutes.

Schiro testified Monday that she and Scarpa traveled to Mississippi in 1964 after he was recruited by the FBI. According to her, they went directly to a hotel the FBI had commandeered for it's own use and an FBI agent later showed up in their room and handed Scarpa a gun.

She said Scarpa helped find the volunteers' bodies by "putting a gun in the guy's mouth and threatening him" and that afterwards another FBI agent returned to the room, gave Scarpa a wad of cash, and took back the weapon....badda bing, badda boom.