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Part 5: FBI Agent Seamus McElearney on How Sopranos was Based on DeCavalcante Mafia He Busted
Part 1: Former FBI Agent Seamus McElearney on Investigating DeCavalcante Mafia AKA Real Sopranos
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FBI Agent Seamus McElearney played a pivotal role in dismantling the notorious Colombo crime family during his tenure as supervisor of the FBI’s Colombo squad from 2004 to 2013. Initially reluctant due to his relatively short six-year career, McElearney transformed a troubled unit with eight supervisors in eight years into a stable, effective force focused on taking down key Mafia figures. One of the squad’s major breakthroughs came in 2008 with the arrest of the acting boss and several captains, leading to insider cooperation that exposed multiple buried bodies and crimes. Emphasizing proactive witness testimonies and extensive recorded evidence, McElearney’s team secured convictions and flipped numerous high-level mobsters. In 2013, he capped his career by solving a 44-year-old homicide tied to mobster Jimmy Burke, uncovering remains in Burke’s basement and confirming identity through DNA. McElearney’s leadership helped deliver a lasting blow to the Colombo family’s criminal operations.
