Author and investigative reporter Peter Lance presented his latest research into organized crime and the Mafia. His previous investigations into terrorism and the FBI led him into this topic. Ramzi Yousef, called the architect of the 9-11 plot, was "stung" by the FBI working with Colombo family capo Greg Scarpa Jr., who was imprisoned in the same jail in NYC as Yousef. His father, Gregory Scarpa Sr., also a capo for the Colombo crime family, had such nicknames as "The Grim Reaper" and "The Killing Machine," and ruled an area in Bensonhurst (Brooklyn) with an "iron fist." He was responsible for 25 separate homicides between 1980 and 1992, Lance detailed. Though Scarpa Sr. was a multiple murderer and racketeer, the FBI used him as a criminal informant, and intervened on his behalf, keeping him out of jail. In fact, Scarpa Sr. only served 30 days in a 42-year career of "murder & mayhem," Lance bemoaned.

In an exclusive, Lance has posted an 11-page FBI debriefing memo (PDF file) outlining Scarpa Sr.'s revelations of not only the inner workings of the Mafia Commission and the organization of what Hoover later called La Cosa Nostra, but also the details of their secret induction ceremony. As to why Hoover never cracked down on the Mob, Lance conjectured that he may have been forced to keep quiet because gangsters like Meyer Lansky had a file on him about being a cross-dresser.

Lance announced that he recently republished the book Murder Inc., a 1951 classic written by Burton Turkus and Sid Feder about Syndicate murders in the 1930s and '40s, involving such players as Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lanksy, and Lucky Luciano. "It's the original mingling of the Italian and the Jews...they came up with this extraordinary fiendish thing called Murder Incorporated," where they killed people for hire, operating out of a candy store in Brooklyn, he explained. Lance shared that he's working on a dramatic cable-TV series, also to be called Murder Incorporated, which will chronicle cases from the 1930s to the 1990s.

GM Farming Dangers

First hour guest, fourth generation Texas farmer, Eric Herm, warned about the widespread use of genetically modified organisms and crops in the US, where there are 165 million acres planted, and worldwide 365 million acres. GMO seeds are injected with pesticides and herbicide genes, as well as antibodies, and those consuming the foods that come from them are basically guinea pigs, he said. Additionally, there could be countless unintended effects on plant life in the wild that comes into contact with the GM crops, he lamented.

News segment guests: Lauren Weinstein, Whitley Strieber