Jimmy Fratianno - Government Witness

Government Witness

On October 6, 1977 Danny Greene was killed and Ray Ferritto was arrested for the murder. Ferritto implicated Fratianno in the planning of the murder and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Ahearn arrested Fratianno, who, at this point, was looking at life in prison or death by Brooklier's order, agreed to become a government witness against the Mafia. Unlike Genovese crime family informant Joe Valachi, a low-level "soldier" limited to knowledge within and about New York, Fratianno was privy to information on the detailed hierarchy of organized syndicate operations across the United States. Fratianno also knew about Florida crime boss Santo Trafficante, Jr.'s 1960s plans to assassinate Cuban president Fidel Castro as part of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)'s Cuban Project Operation Mongoose. Some conspiracy theorists (such as the people behind the Gemstone File) named Fratianno as one of the three assassins of U.S President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

In 1981, after testifying for the government, Fratianno entered the federal Witness Protection Program. However, the government dropped him from the program after he published two biographies, The Last Mafioso with author Ovid Demaris and Vengeance is Mine with author Michael J. Zuckerman. The FBI determined that Fratianno could support himself; they didn't want the public to think that the Witness Protection Program was a retirement plan for former mobsters. Fratianno enjoyed his years as a criminal celebrity with appearances on the CBS 60 Minutes television news program and various television documentaries.

In 1993, Jimmy Fratianno died in Oklahoma. An autopsy performed at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Oklahoma City determined that he died from complications of Alzheimer's Disease.