One of FBI agent, Joseph O’Brien’s favorite tactics in the field, was to gather the addresses and birthdays of Gambino crime family members and then send them birthday cards, congratulatory notes, etc. always enclosing his business card. Sometimes he’d even slip in a dollar bill as a token of good luck. The mobsters went ballistic when they received the cards, since they feared that other members of the family would think they were cooperating.

Today’s installment of Based on a True Story comes from the book, Gotti’s Boys: The Mafia Crew That Killed for John Gotti by Anthony M. DeStefano.