informant

According to Crow, Darby was the fifth informant that the government had sent after him at that point.

He even agreed to betray informants under U.S. protection to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele in exchange for an agreement to lock up purported Venezuelan gang members in El Salvador’s gruesome gulag.

Sometimes, the feds couldn’t either: One informant, resting his legs on the desk of mob boss Joey Merlino, had the wire to the wiretap hanging from the bottom of his pants leg.

Critics argue that this move undermines the credibility of U.S. law enforcement and could deter future cooperation from informants.

The day before the crime, they bought screwdrivers, duct tape, zip ties and a laser sight, which the informant taped onto a semi-automatic handgun.