Ron Previte, wiseguy informant who brought down mob bosses, dead at 73
Ron Previte a onetime cop-turned mob capo-turned FBI informant whose testimony helped take down three Philadelphia mob bosses and send more than a dozen other members and associates to prison, has died.
Previte suffered a fatal heart attack last week. He was 73.
A longtime South Jersey resident who openly described himself as a general practitioner of crime, Previte was not shy about discussing his three-decade criminal career first as a dirty cop on the Philadelphia force where he shook down pimps and drug dealers, later as a top earner for Philadelphias crime family, for whom Previte once estimated he earned millions of dollars.
It was his years spent wearing a body wire for federal investigators in the 90s that ultimately kept him out of prison and earned him a measure of public notoriety.
About the only thing, he never did, his longtime lawyer Joseph P. Grimes said Tuesday, was kill anyone.
He always used to say, Why would I kill people who owe me money? the lawyer said.
The hundreds of conversations Previte secretly recorded in the 90s and his testimony at their trials helped put towering criminal figures like Philadelphia dons Ralph Natale, Joseph Skinny Joey Merlino and John Stanfa behind bars.
He was a con man and he was a witness and he never denied any of it. Its hard to have a larger impact, Grimes said. He was absolutely considered by law enforcement to be one of the most pivotal undercover operatives ever.
Link: http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/ron-previte-dies-informant-mob-bosses-philly-20170829.html