The cases featured in Fear City weren't the only high-profile FBI operations that Cantamessa worked on. "There was a little honor among thieves," says Cantamessa, "and a little bit of mutual respect back then."įBI surveillance image of Ruggiero. After one target was tipped off about being recorded, he held onto the equipment until FBI agents came by to pick it up. Things could go wrong, however, most often due to leaks that alerted subjects to the presence of recording devices. "Our success rate was around the 99th percentile," said Cantamessa. If he had, he could have been called to testify in court, and in the courtroom, the contents of his "black bag" would have been discussed and analyzed, alerting the mob to developments in FBI technology. This is why, though he installed wires, Cantamessa never listened to the surreptitiously recorded audio. Microphones, for example, could be concealed inside of telephone pieces. "'Hold the flashlight, can you give me a hand with this, can you pull on this,'" he'd ask, "Whatever the case was."Ĭantamessa was able to pull this off because few outside the FBI knew what the agency's technology looked like. "That helped me," he said, "my undercover identity was, in fact, back stopped by me and my life experiences."Īnother technique he deployed to sooth suspicions was enlisting his targets' help with his work. Cantamessa drew on his real-life knowledge of the area to prove his Bronx bonafides. ![]() On one occasion, Cantamessa realized that a subject was subtly quizzing him about the Bronx, perhaps to see if he was a genuine New York repairman or an outsider. Sill, it wasn't unusual for those in the home he was bugging to be suspicious. After returning to the New York area, he earned an accounting degree before joining the FBI in 1976. Cantamessa, who grew up in the Bronx and New Jersey, worked as a telephone man before serving in the army during the Vietnam War, where he served as an electronics technician. It was undercover work, but not exactly a stretch for the agent. Cantamessa was sent in dressed as a telephone repairman, and he installed a recording device in the household's phone. ![]() In one of the operations outlined in Fear City, the FBI, having learned that Gambino crime family member Angelo Ruggiero needed his telephone repaired, gained cooperation from the telephone company to intercept the assignment. That's when he would be tapped as an undercover operative. "When we could not effect a surreptitious entry during the night or during some unoccupied time, we had to create an alternative scenario that might work," Cantamessa told Esquire. The 78 Best Documentaries on Netflix to Watch Nowįor years, Cantamessa worked as a "black bag man," an intelligence operative skilled in entering suspects' homes, cars, and hangouts and installing hidden surveillance technology.There will be giveaways, updates, sneak peeks, and more. In the meantime I’ll keep listening to this.ĭon’t forget to text BOOKS to (917) 905-8801 to join my email list. It was a great show and I hope sometime in the near future it gets a proper release to a streaming service or on DVD. I assumed that I would just cop the first three seasons and be a happy man. I wanted to go to Natalie’s like it existed in real life.Īndre Harrell and Dick Wolf seemed to fuse two worlds together perfectly. It looked natural and the backdrop of New York City helped enhance the visual. That stunt was unforgivable and they really tried to continue the show, too. I watched the show faithfully right up until they killed Eddie off. I know we have a lot of dope TV shows on the air right now, but Fox’s Thursday night trifecta of Living Single, Martin, and New York Undercover couldn’t be touched.
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