He Claims To Be Snitch; Officers Say Loan Shark
TAMPA – Most confidential informants like to stay confidential.
It’s safer that way.
But Richard Sabol is no ordinary informant.
An attorney for the 45-year-old repeat offender, who was arrested April 15 in connection with a loan-sharking investigation, told a judge in court papers Wednesday that his client was once placed in the Federal Witness Protection program after ratting out members of the Lucchese crime family.
Sabol said he is going public about his past because police put him in harm’s way by arresting him and parading him before the media.
Police say if Sabol is in danger, he put himself there by remaining a bad guy.
Sabol, who also uses the names Richard Ciro and Richard Coccia, said he was involved with people associated with Westshore Pizza as an informant, not a loan shark, and that Tampa police should have known that.
“I want the judge to be aware of the fear factor, “Sabol said in a telephone interview. “Why would [law enforcement] put me in harm’s way like that?”
Police and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, who have been conducting a 17-month investigation into allegations that Westshore Pizza owners have been forced to pay loans at rates as high as 185 percent, have a different take. They say Sabol acted as muscle for some alleged loan sharks.
“You may need to take a close look at who you are dealing with,” Tampa police Detective James Bartoszak said Monday. “He is an excellent con man and has been doing this his entire life. Every time he gets into trouble, he either cooperates or tries to say he was cooperating, and he still has managed to spend half his life in prison.”
Police officers, Bartoszak said, didn’t put him danger.
Sabol put himself in the public eye by appearing on the NBC show “Dateline” and on a New Orleans station talking about how he ratted out the mob in New Jersey and New Orleans on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI.
“I can tell you that no law enforcement agency has stepped forward” to tell police he is working as an informant right now, Bartoszak said. “I don’t know what his version of the case is, but like I told his attorney, let’s tee up.”
Informant Or Mobster?
When police paraded Sabol in front of cameras, Bartoszak told reporters Sabol was a “documented past associate” of the Lucchese crime family.
In an affidavit warning that Sabol is a flight risk, Bartoszak wrote that “Sabol was active in a mob crew run by Joseph Giampa, a capo in the Lucchese crime family.”
Bartoszak also wrote that Sabol was convicted of a laundry list of crimes, including aggravated assault, assault with intent to cause injury, burglary and attempted murder.
Sabol was freed after posting $200,000 bail.
His attorney, John H. Trevena, filed a motion Wednesday with the 13th Judicial Circuit Court asking that bail be reduced. In his motion, Trevena says not only have authorities failed to establish probably cause that Sabol violated the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, but also they filed affidavits containing “numerous false or misleading statements and material omissions.”
Sabol, Trevena said, isn’t a mobster. He is working for the government to put organized crime figures behind bars. By publicly linking Sabol with the Luccheses, authorities placed Sabol and his family “at substantial risk of serious bodily harm,” Trevena argued.
Trevena said affidavits are wrong about Sabol being convicted of crimes such as burglary and attempted murder.
Bartoszak acknowledged in an interview that he should have said Sabol was arrested but not convicted of some of the crimes. The Tribune has been unable to compile a complete record of Sabol’s convictions.
Bartoszak said he has a solid case proving Sabol threatened a Westshore Pizza produce supplier.
In his affidavit, Bartoszak wrote that Sabol yelled at the supplier that “you have to pay the money,” referring to a loan with a 185 percent interest rate. Bartoszak said Sabol acted as muscle to “collect a loan-shark loan.”
“I stand by the affidavits,” he said.
Sabol denies those charges, although he admitted he used rough language as part of his undercover persona.
Bartoszak also disputes Sabol’s story about working with Westshore Pizza associates as a confidential informant.
“Richie did do a marijuana case that had ties o Hillsborough County in connection with the FDLE in Brevard County, “ he said. “But that case was completed during the time Richie showed an interest in Hillsborough County and Westshore Pizza.”
Standing Their Ground
The 25-year police veteran scoffed at the notion he misrepresented Sabol’s mob ties.
“I will stand by my statement that he was an associate of the Lucchese crime family because he had those associations,” Bartoszak said. “He utilized them to get his butt out of the Atlanta pen [where Sabol was serving a 20-year sentence on federal drug charges]. His cooperating resulted in a number of them getting indicted. It’s like saying Sammy ‘The Bull [Gravano] cooperated with the government against John Gotti, so he couldn’t be part of the mog.”
Trevena will argue Friday before a judge that the bail has strained Sabol’s finances. Sabol said he hopes to live long enough to make it to court.
“They didn’t have to corral me and bring me in like that,” Sabol said. “If the government assessed that there was a threat against me and whisked me away to the witness protection program, why would you link me to Giampa? That’s only going to put a bullet in my head.”
