Free The Mafia Hit Man's Daughter by Linda Scarpa Page A

murdered civil rights workers and finally to find the murderer of civil rights leader Vernon Dahmer.
    The movie Mississippi Burning was based on the disappearance of those three civil rights workers. Although the movie indicated an African-American FBI agent, who flew down to Philadelphia, Mississippi, to question the town’s mayor, broke the case, it was really my father who cracked it.
    My mother went with my father to Mississippi when he was helping Hoover find the bodies of the three civil rights workers. I’ve asked her to tell the story. However, as part of our research we’ve pieced together my father’s involvement in these three civil rights cases. I’ll talk about that after my mother tells you what happened.
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    Greg shared all his secrets with me. We were out to dinner one night when he said he had to tell me something.
    â€œI’m working with the FBI.”
    â€œOh, my God. Are you a rat?”
    â€œNo, I do work for them. In fact, I have to go to Mississippi and I want you to come with me.”
    He told me that J. Edgar Hoover wanted him to go find the bodies of three murdered civil rights workers. Hoover was getting a lot of heat because no one could find the bodies. Hoover wanted Greg to go down to Mississippi to torture one of the Klansmen to find out where the bodies were buried. An FBI agent couldn’t go down there and put a gun in someone’s mouth, but Greg could. The only person Hoover felt could get the job done was Greg Scarpa. I was proud of him.
    I was in my late teens at the time. I told him I had never been on a plane before, but he said not to worry. He took me shopping the next day to Harpers Fashions on Kings Highway in Brooklyn. He sat in the chair while I tried on all these outfits with these big hats. He just kept telling me to get that one and that one and that one. I didn’t know how many outfits I bought.
    When we finally got on the plane to Mississippi, I started getting sick, but Greg was eating and drinking champagne. When that plane landed, he told me we had to take another plane. We took three planes because he wanted to be sure no one was following him to see where he was going.
    When we got to the hotel, I looked up at the balcony and saw some men standing there.
    I said, “Wow. Greg, look at that.”
    Then I saw him wink at them. They were FBI agents waiting for him to arrive. Once we were inside our room, one of the FBI agents I had already met knocked on the door. As soon as he came in, he gave Greg a gun.
    â€œOkay, sweetheart, if I don’t come back, I left you money up here [on the dresser] and a one-way ticket home.”
    I said okay, but I wasn’t worried. He was coming back. I had so much confidence in him. I feared nothing with him. He could do anything. When he came back, he told me what had happened.
    The Klansman he had to convince to talk owned a TV store. When Greg got there, he told the guy he was buying a TV and asked him to put it in his trunk. While he was doing that, Greg shoved the guy in the trunk and then drove him to an abandoned house. FBI agents followed in another car.
    He tied the guy up and asked him where the bodies were.The man told him. Greg went outside to check the story with the agents, who said he was lying. Greg went back inside, put a gun in the guy’s mouth and said he’d blow his brains out if he didn’t tell him the truth. He did. Then Greg told the FBI agents.
    When Greg came back to our room, he was all smiles. He told me they found out where the bodies were. Greg was happy that he had done it—of course, he was getting paid, too. But he was really proud of what he had accomplished. I was so happy. I just felt so safe and secure with him. Nothing was ever going to happen to Greg Scarpa.
    When we got back to Brooklyn, I met the first FBI agent Greg worked with—Tony Villano. We met Tony at a restaurant in Manhattan. There we were, sitting at the table right