In this gripping episode of Gangland Wire, retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective Gary Jenkins unravels one of the most damning scandals in FBI history—a chilling story of corruption, betrayal, and a sanctioned murder that would stain the Bureau’s legacy for decades. Gary examines the sinister role played by FBI agent H. Paul Rico in the 1965 murder of Teddy Deegan. You’ll hear how, back in October 1964, Rico learned Deegan had been marked for a mob hit—yet the Bureau did nothing. Why? Because the killers were protected informants.

Gary breaks down how the FBI built its case on the false testimony of mob informant Joe Barboza. Instead of stopping the murder plot, the Bureau sat on exculpatory evidence and let Barboza’s lies send Louis Greco, Henry Tamaleo, Peter Limone, and Joe Salvati to prison—two of them to death row.

The FBI’s Informant Obsession:
The Bureau’s relentless protection of violent informants like Barboza and Vincent “Jimmy the Bear” Flemmi reveals how an obsession with “winning” overshadowed basic justice. The Justice Department’s own admission in 2000 that they knew the real killers exposes just how far the corruption ran.

From Cover-Up to Vindication:
Follow the twisted timeline of the Deegan murder, the courtroom betrayals, and the decades-long fight to clear the names of the wrongfully convicted. Gary explores the human cost of a system that chose loyalty to informants over the truth.

Why This Story Matters:
This episode forces listeners to confront a haunting truth: when law enforcement trades integrity for convenience, innocent lives pay the price. Gary challenges you to rethink the myth of the Bureau’s infallibility—and to remember the names of the men who spent their lives behind bars for a crime they didn’t commit.

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Transcript
[0:00] Well, hey, all you wiretappers out there, good to be back here in the studio. This is Gary Jenkins, former Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective. I've seen a lot of things in my life, and I just heard something in that interview I just did with Detective Mike Huff from Tulsa that I had never heard before.

[0:18] I mean, I've heard a lot of corruption things, but this one, it just went beyond the pale, especially there at the end where he said that this H. Paul Rico asked him about his kids and how old his kids were. That was like, you know, and I, you know, I talked with that guy long enough to know that he wasn't lying. You know, he wasn't making that up. That was, it was just beyond the pale, if you ask me.