THE G‑MAN AND THE HIT MAN

THE G‑MAN AND THE HIT MAN New York­er, Decem­ber 12, 1996 A REPORTER AT LARGE  Gre­go­ry Scarpa, Sr., was a mafioso with a pen­chant for bru­tal­i­ty, extor­tion, and mur­der. So what was he doing on the F.B.I.‘s pay­roll? _______________________ BY FREDRIC DANNEN IN 1991, the Colom­bo crime fam­i­ly in Brook­lyn went to war with itself: a rebel […]

A MATTER OF DISSONANCE

A MATTER OF DISSONANCE New York­er, August 26 & Sep­tem­ber 2, 1996 LETTER FROM LOS ANGELES Arnold Schoen­berg’s music was dar­ing, dis­cor­dant, and endur­ing­ly unpop­u­lar. U.S.C. is a uni­ver­si­ty famous for its foot­ball tro­phies and film school. Who­ev­er thought the com­poser’s lega­cy belonged in a place like that?_______________________ BY FREDRIC DANNEN SHORT, bald, quick-wit­t­ed, and irritable, […]

TWILIGHT OF THE GOD?

TWILIGHT OF THE GOD? New York­er, Octo­ber 3, 1994 NIGHTS AT THE OPERA James Levine has ruled the Met for over a decade. The gen­er­al man­ag­er, Joseph Volpe, who rose from the car­pen­try shop, may have ambi­tions of his own._______________________ BY FREDRIC DANNEN IT had been a bad week for James Levine. First, Levine, the artis­tic director […]

A COMPLICATED LIFE

A COMPLICATED LIFE New York­er, March 11, 1996 ANNALS OF LAW  F. Lee Bai­ley has been in trou­ble before, but this time he may be head­ing for jail—partly because of the tes­ti­mo­ny of Robert Shapiro._______________________ BY FREDRIC DANNEN AND IRA SILVERMAN ROBERT Shapiro was smirk­ing at F. Lee Bai­ley. It was the morn­ing of Feb­ru­ary 2nd […]

REVENGE OF THE GREEN DRAGONS

REVENGE OF THE GREEN DRAGONS New York­er, Novem­ber 16, 1992 ANNALS OF CRIME_______________________ BY FREDRIC DANNEN AROUND sev­en o’clock on the night of July 16, 1989, Antho­ny Gal­li­van went out drink­ing. He was joined by his wife, Chris­tine, and anoth­er cou­ple. The Gal­li­vans, who were both in their ear­ly thir­ties, were born in Ire­land, but at […]

The Nine Lives of ‘Fat Cat’

The Nine Lives of ‘Fat Cat’ Van­i­ty Fair, April 1991 One of New York’s most ruth­less drug war­lords, Loren­zo “Fat Cat” Nichols even called the shots from behind bars—ordering hits on a child­hood bud­dy and the moth­er of his son. But a mur­der he didn’t com­mit final­ly destroyed his empire. Then the Cat turned canary. FREDRIC DANNEN […]