A report was released on Page Six yesterday, April 7th, that has boldly outed Rev. Al Sharpton as an official Confidential Informant (CI) for the FBI back in the 1980's.  Not only was the story written by Page Six's William Bastone, but it also contains loads of legal documents to back up the claims of Sharpton's involvement with the FBI.  One document in particular carried Sharpton's signature on it that contained a long written statement that revealed various information on mob activities.  

He apparently worked covertly with an FBI/NYPD task force called the "Genovese Squad," and wore wiretap recording devices to collect information that was ultimately used against various mob figures from the Genovese crime family.

According to the report from Page Six:

"Sharpton, now 59, deftly extracted information from wiseguys. In fact, one Gambino crime family figure became so comfortable with the protest leader that he spoke openly--during ten wired face-to-face meetings--about a wide range of mob business, from shylocking and extortions to death threats and the sanity of Vincent "Chin" Gigante, the Genovese boss who long feigned mental illness in a bid to deflect law enforcement scrutiny. As the mafioso expounded on these topics, Sharpton's briefcase--a specially customized Hartmann model--recorded his every word.

"Records obtained by TSG show that information gathered by Sharpton was used by federal investigators to help secure court authorization to bug two Genovese family social clubs, including Gigante's Greenwich Village headquarters, three autos used by crime family leaders, and more than a dozen phone lines. These listening devices and wiretaps were approved during the course of a major racketeering investigation targeting the Genovese family's hierarchy.

"A total of eight separate U.S. District Court judges--presiding in four federal jurisdictions--signed interception orders that were based on sworn FBI affidavits including information gathered by Sharpton. The phones bugged as a result of these court orders included two lines in Gigante's Manhattan townhouse, the home phone of Genovese captain Dominick "Baldy Dom" Canterino, and the office lines of music industry power Morris Levy, a longtime Genovese family associate. The resulting surreptitious recordings were eventually used to help convict an assortment of Mafia members and associates."

The news came as a shock to many, but Al has denied ever working the role of a "CI."

"I am not a rat," he wrote on his Twitter account.  I am a cat, I chase rats thugs, gangsters, bigots, drug dealers. Bad cops whoever out of our community. That is right"

Even though he denied ever working as an official CI, Twitter has shown no signs that they believe his denial on the subject, and in turn many people have bashed him for now wearing the image of a "snitch."  Check out the story of Al Sharpton's involvement with the FBI in helping to take down various mafia personnel, along  with the legal document with his signature on it and the many Twitter reactions to the news, above.

Source: PageSix.com