FBI Agent George Piro interviewed on 60 Minutes in 2008

WASHINGTON — The FBI continues to use  the agent who  interviewed and befriended the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to entice new agents.

“Imagine sitting across from Saddam Hussein every day for nearly seven straight months—slowly earning his trust, getting him to spill secrets on everything from whether he gave the order to gas the Kurds (he did) to whether he really did have weapons of mass destruction on the eve of war (he didn’t). All the while gathering information that would ultimately be used to prosecute the deposed dictator in an Iraqi court,” the FBI says on its career web page.

It said the agent who interviewed the the Iraqi leader was FBI Special Agent George Piro, who is now an assistant special agent in charge at the FBI’s Washington field office.

“Soon after U.S. special forces pulled Saddam out of a spider hole on December 13, 2003, the CIA—knowing the former dictator would ultimately have to answer for his crimes against the Iraqi people—asked the FBI to debrief Hussein because of our longstanding work in gathering statements for court,” the bureau wrote in a release dated Jan. 28, 2008 that remains on the homepage of the career website.

“That’s when we turned to Piro, an investigator on our terrorism fly team who was born in Beirut and speaks Arabic fluently. Piro was supported by a team of CIA analysts and FBI agents, intelligence analysts, language specialists, and a behavioral profiler,” the FBI wrote.

Eduardo Ravelo in 1998 photo/fbi photo

The FBI knows  Mexican gang member Eduardo Ravelo — who may have had a hand in the recent murders of three people linked to the U.S. Consulate in Mexico — is no easy find.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Ravelo — on the FBI’s Top Ten Fugitives — probably had his fingerprints altered and plastic surgery on his face. He is listed as a captain in the Barrio Azteca, a gang that carries out contract murders for  the Juarez drug cartel, which is believed to be responsible for the spiraling murder rate in the border town of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

“Except for his dark eyes, federal officials doubt he looks anything like his 12-year-old FBI most wanted photo — round face, trim mustache and a scar along his cheek,” the Times wrote.

The Times reports that the FBI believes the 42-year-old lives in  Ciudad Juarez, which borders El Paso, and regularly crosses into Texas.

“He’s a butterfly, a moth,” Samantha Mikeska, an FBI special agent leading the hunt for Ravelo told the Los Angeles Times. “He takes care of his people and that keeps him under the radar.”

To read more click here.

John Gotti Jr./cbs news

Mobster John Gotti Jr., who escaped prison after mistrials were declared in four straight trials in New York, is off to make some doe the legitimate way.

The website Deadline Hollywood reports that the Dapper Don Jr., the former chief of the Gambino crime family, wants to peddle his life story in a documentary film, a feature  film and a book.

The website said his story will be about what it was like to grow up with a famous mobster dad.

The website said Gotti is working with Triplicity Entertainment, a New York-based production company whose founders include attorney Tony D’Aiuto, one of the attorney’s who represented Gotti in his last trial.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in January that it would not go after Gotti in a fifth trial. Jurors in the previous four trials deadlocked and mistrials were declared. Gotti had been charged with racketeering and having a hand in murder.

“He’s willing to go all the way, revealing as much as possible without hurting anyone who’s still involved in the street life,” attorney D’Aiuto told Deadline Hollywood.

OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST

• Teen Shoots Fellow Student and Then Himself in NY (AP)
• Resident of NJ City Say Cops Worse Than Citizens (AP)
• U.S. Marshals Internal Disciplinary Unit Understaffed, IG Says (Main Justice)
• Law Against Police Bumper Stickers Unconstitutional (WIRED)