Obviously we have no absolute way to prove or verify their claims really but based on what I've read and on their demeanor, to me the most reliable rat would have to be Nick "the Crow" Caramandi. He doesn't come across as out for fame or to make a buck and is very "matter of fact".
The most unreliable, exaggerating, embellishing rat IMO in Ron Previte. He comes off as being extremely bitter, taking shots at Merlino and Stanfa at every opportunity and bragging that the amount of money he made was "astronomical", when in fact he was easily bought off by the FBI for 5 grand a month. Now I know 5 grand a month is not chump change but when talking about dollar figures with wiseguys and mobsters and the term "astronomical" is used, 5 grand seems very low, especially when we consider if he would have been caught wearing a wire, in all likelihood he would have been tortured and killed on the spot. It would take a lot more than 5 grand a month for me to risk death and torture, especially if I was already making "astronomical" amounts of money stealing from the casino's as Previte claims. Care to explain that for us Ron?



I have never read "Underboss" yet so I can't really comment on Gravano but from what people on the boards say he has been known to contradict himself and stretch the truth. Sometimes it's the ones you least expect (sarcasm).

What do you guys think? Who are the most reliable and unreliable turncoats?

Thank you for your time.

ive always said that nicky the crow seems like the most reputable snitch. he hadn't had snitched he was gonna die. not just face time. i dunno about the most fame seeking but ron previte def ranks up their hes such a cock asshole.

Cock asshole is definitely the right term to describe Pervite. By the way, I'm gonna start using that term more frequently. I have a cousin who's nothing but a damn cock asshole.

When I saw this forum title I thought of the Crow right away. Everyone has always said that about him. But what about Vitale or Phil Leonettis was a decent one. He testified against scarfo and Gotti. He had a lot of info since he was always with Nicky. I am sure there are better ones but off the top those are who I thought of.

But that Previte did seem like a real cock asshole on his special years back.

Burt Kaplan was one of the better ones. In fact, Breslin nicknamed him The Good Rat.

John Veasey seemed to be dead on honest in his testimony. Stanfa really fucked him over and if any boss deserved to get ratted on it was him. Never gave Veasey the money for the Mikey Chang hit then gave him a ring as a gift which he later found out was fake. For all Stanfa's old school ways he sure showed how horrible of a boss he was, I hope future bosses took note on now what do do after Veasey's testimony.

nick the crow and al d'arco in ny are the ones for me

Nick the crow is full of BS on most accounts. A very close relative of mine knew him well years before he got involved with Scarfo till the time he turned rat. He was a compulsive liar and half the stuff he said on the stand and tv interviews afterwards are BS. He was also very very dumb, my relative had to pick him up in Center City Philadelphia one time because he couldnt find his way back home to South Philly from a bar he was drinking at. He also told me that during the ride home a very drunk Caramandi was crying the whole time about how he dont know why he got mixed up in this life.

Yah, well a very close relative of mine said The Crows words were the gospel truth. Much like you, I do not have any way to verify my relative even knew Nick Caramandi but everyone should believe me because I said so on an internet discussion forum.


Most of what the Crow said was corroborated by DelGiorno and Leonetti, but let me guess, the FBI put the 3 of them in the same cells for months so that they could get their story straight and fool the Jury, George Anastasia and everyone else.

Dominick Montiglio and Henry Hill. Both put a bunch of guys away with testimony corroborated by evidence and wiretaps.

Years ago, Jimmy the Weasel provided plenty of accurate testimony, most of which was supplied by the Feds.

On that Notorious Underboss documentary Phil Leonetti comes across very matter of factly about the mob, very believable. However i dont really know how he did on the stand.

Mine would have to be Anthony Casso.......damnit hold on.

I guess I would have to say Sammy Gravano......Shit

Well If I had to choose I would say John Alite......

see where I am going with this? Not to many "rats" out there are what you would call reliable.

Really? You mean to tell us that most rats are probably unreliable? Thanks for the ingenious insight man where would we be without you?

Even though 99% of rats are unreliable guys like Caramandi and Veasey come across as more truthful than the guys you mentioned.

Agreed Vin, in fact Breslin's book is the most entertaining LCN read I have ever picked up.

Valachi and Massino probably.

Good call Sonny. I totally forgot about Valachi. He came across as very sincere. He got the shaft from the government too. Did 20 years and died in prison if I'm not mistaken, despite being arguably the most influential and damaging rat in the history of the mafia.

Valachi was coached on everything except his persoonal experiences he couyld not have filled those charts

valachi was just a puppet. he was told what to say. the fbi was looking for a puppet and found one. does anyone really believe he had all that first had info on other families and bosses? no way although he did seem sincre was happy to get a raw deal of a protected prison deal. good for him. and btw mussolini jvanely never has anything intelligent to say.

i don't know how reliable i would call sonny. alot of the things he said just didn't add up. he opened up alot of stuff and made things more confusing than they already were. we will have to see what else the govt has planned for him. if i had to bet i think they are going to use him for alot more than just vinny b.

yeah d'arco was just plain fed up with bullshit and i think ratting was his defense.

I think I heard somewhere that D'Arco holds the record for getting the most guys locked up. The Feds rolled him out for testimony for like 10 years.

Really? That's very interesting, I would never have guessed it would be D'Arco. How many people is he credited with putting away?

i think the most unreliable are usually the high up people like massino casso and gravano while the reliable ones are the guys who that lifestyle hasnt reallly payed off for

Leonetti seems reliable. However he comes across calm and collected he was just as bad as his uncle. Also he claims he was upset at Salvie's death while the crow says he was happy. Other than that he seems pretty truthful

The most reliable informants seem to be the ones who were the earlier ones to be informants like George Barone, D'Arco, The Crow,Leonetti, Angelo Lonardo. The guys that have turned informants in the last 5 or 6 years like Michael Souza, Tranghese,Arillota,Steve LaPella, Dino Calabro have seemed to be less effective,not truthful,and not able to get as many convictions as their predecessors.

Ill say Valachi because in my eyes that was the beginning of the end.

I have to mention Mikey "Scar" DiLeonardo as one of the most reliable "rats". He struck me to be very articulate and bright, especially when he gave evidence during the Junior Gotti trial. I don´t know anything about how his situation is, or his whereabouts, today but I would think that he fully regrets his former life as a Gambino mobster.

The most reliable ones in my opinion are the guys that don't do any book deals or television. The liberties they take in their books are far more bigger than the ones they take in court. The reliable info is probably what they say to the fbi in the interview rooms as they probably just explain what happened and why where as after its all done they can add things in and exaggerate their roles in things.

Valachi was more useful than reliable.

I'm going with Nicky Crow...