They say crime doesn’t pay, and you’ve learned that the hard way.
Taking a job with the largest ferret-smuggling ring on the East coast seemed like a good idea,
but less so when you’re locked up facing hundreds of charges. But you’re a tough guy, and you’re not
going to break easily. You can do hard time, and you’re not worried about trial - until you
realize the next big superhero movie is coming out this Friday. You’ve got to get out of here!
A pair of sharp-dressed men show up at your cell one morning,
and they tell you they’ve got good news. They don’t really want you - they want to
get to the head of the smuggling ring, and you’re the guy with the most information.
You’re going into the US federal government’s program for high-value assets - the United
States Federal Witness Protection Program. Get ready to leave your old life behind.
Entering its fiftieth year of keeping witnesses safe,
the witness protection program was designed to help the government nail organized crime
syndicates by ensuring the bosses couldn’t assassinate witnesses before trial. Since 1970,
they’ve protected over 19,000 witnesses and families - 95% of which are criminals. After all,
who knows more about the inner workings of a crime syndicate than the people working
in it? But the program is closely guarded to keep its participants safe, and you’re
going to learn all about its deepest secrets as you prepare to leave your old life behind.
The first surprise? It’s very organized, and your first step is orientation. Originally,
relocated witnesses were left to fend for themselves with only basic documents and training,
but now your first stop is a clearinghouse in Washington DC, the WITSEC Safesite and Orientation
Center. Essentially a dorm that can house up to six families at one time, you’re transported there
in a secure vehicle with black windows. What’s awaiting you inside this mysterious campus?
Inside, you learn all the details of your new identity and location, given new documentation
including a birth certificate and social security number that will allow you to do anything your old
identity could, and informed of your obligations to the government. When they’re ready to put your
boss on trial, you’re obligated to testify in exchange for your place in the system.
Don’t expect to meet new friends, though - everyone entering the program is segregated
from each other at the facility, and you’ll only meet with your handlers for private orientation.
One of the biggest worries you have about the program is getting a new name.
You were named after your Great Uncle, and he taught you everything you know.
So many memories of collecting your first protection money with him. But your handler
surprises you when he tells you that many members of the program keep their first name!
This is to make the adjustment easier, and to make it less likely that a rookie in the
program will blow their secret identity. When someone calls you by your first name,
they expect you to respond, and even a few seconds’ delay could raise the attention of
someone in your new town. You will get a new last name, though, and your handlers are going to make
sure you know it inside and out. Expect lots of practice signing documents with your new name.
The good news is, for the first time in your life, you get to decide exactly who you want to be!
You’ll have a role in customizing your new identity, and your handlers will ensure your
documents match. Never finished college and want to make sure you look good to your new neighbors?
It’s a lot easier for the government to give you a fake degree than it is to go back to school.
For parents who are taking kids into the program, some even ask for their kids to
be given new transcripts that make them look like good students when they enroll in school.
Man, you should have gone into witness protection when you were trying to pass chemistry.
The government doesn’t grant unnecessary requests like that regularly, though.
The more you hear about witness protection, the more you like it, because you’re going to
be living on easy street - for a while at least. The government will relocate you to a new town,
give you housing and furnishings, and pay you a salary based on the cost of living in the area.
The average relocated witness receives a total of $60,000 from the government, but don’t expect the
gravy train to last forever. By six months, the government expects you to have landed a job in
the area and be sustaining yourself in your new living situation. But for witnesses who are under
close guard and required to testify frequently, the government gravy train can go on much longer.
Don’t expect to spend all your time in your new life lazing around, though - you’ll have
someone to keep you accountable. One of the biggest secrets of witness protection
is that you’ll have a shadow following you at all times. This is your personal US Marshall,
and that assignment is for as long as you’re in the program or alive. US Marshalls regularly work
undercover to catch criminals, so yours might integrate themselves into the community to keep
an eye on you. When it comes time to testify, your marshall will escort you to the trial to
keep you safe. But once you settle into your new life, the Marshall will become a smaller part of
it - some witnesses in the program for a while only check in with their Marshall once a year.
But where are you going to live in your new life? Your liaison at the safe house asks you
for your preferred setting, but you soon find out that you’re going somewhere else
entirely. This is one of the biggest secrets of the witness protection program - no one goes where
they’re hoping. That’s because they know you’ve probably told people all about your plan to retire
to Nashville to pursue a career in country music after that one big ferret score. Lots of people
are going to be after you, and the odds are one of them knows to look for you in Nashville.
That’s why you’re going to Nowheresville, USA, where no one will look for you. Making
sure witnesses are where people would least expect it is the key to the program’s success.
You’re already starting to get stir crazy thinking about it, and you’re wondering - what if this
program isn’t for you? Surely the heat will die down after a while once you’ve testified, right?
What happens when you want to go back to your old life? The good news is, nothing is stopping you.
The Marshalls won’t volunteer this information for your own safety, but many residents of the program
go back to their old lives eventually, taking back their old name and even telling all about their
crimes. No one’s stopping you - but that also means no one's protecting you if your old enemies
decide to say hello at your book signing. Leave the witness protection program at your own risk.
The Marshalls want you to keep your head down, stay out of trouble,
and embrace your new life. And most do, but up to twenty percent of witnesses commit new crimes
while in witness protection. That’s probably not a great idea with the US Marshalls watching,
but old habits die hard. Still, with up to 40% of people on parole committing new crimes,
the witness protection program has a better rate of success. If someone is determined to go back
to their old life, few things can stop them. That was the case for Sammy the Bull Gravano,
a notorious mobster who turned witness and escaped a life sentence for murder.
He couldn’t hack the quiet life, left the program once the heat had died down - and
was eventually caught in a massive drug ring that sent him back to jail for twenty years.
So how far will the government go to get someone into the witness protection program?
That depends on how valuable the witness is. During the early days of the program,
when the government was breaking up some of the most powerful crime syndicates in history,
they would grant bizarre and elaborate wishes from witnesses as they relocated them. Most famously,
this would include free plastic surgery. New life, new you! Mob informants would get dental
work done, facelifts, and breast implants for their wives. One witness even claimed he needed
an operation to enhance his manhood, and got a psychologist to sign off. Those days are long
behind the program, but new and thorny issues are cropping up for the Marshalls every year.
You’re heading into the program single, and you want to know - what if you meet someone while
you’re in the program? The good news is, there’s no rule saying you can’t date or even get married
while in the witness protection program. The bad news? You’d better get used to lying to your
significant other. The program doesn’t advertise it, but keeping your identity secret means just
that - even when you’re on a date. That’s because many new relationships end in a nasty way,
and would you want your ex to know a secret that could possibly get you killed?
Of course, some witnesses take the secrecy further than others. When mobster Henry Hill
entered witness protection, he soon got married - without letting his new
wife know he was still married to a woman who didn’t go into the program. Awkward.
Things get even more complicated if you’re bringing kids into the program,
especially if you’re a divorced parent. Custody battles are tense enough as is,
but when the witness protection program is involved, seeing your kids can become
a labyrinth of regulations. In the 1970’s, Thomas Leonhard’s ex-wife went into the
witness protection program with her new husband and took Thomas’ kids with her. His visitation
rights were terminated due to security issues, and he had to go to court to get their location.
It took years of battling with the government for WITSEC to make an amendment allowing parents with
joint custody to see their kids, although they still don’t make it easy - to fly to the kids’
new home, you’d have to do it under an alias via a complex plane route to throw people off the track.
You don’t have any of that baggage, so it sounds like you’ll be on easy street soon enough.
Some minor ferret fraud isn’t a big deal for the government to forgive if you testify,
so you’ll be walking into your new life with a clean record. But what about the
heavy-duty criminals who enter the system? Some mobsters who turned state’s evidence
are among the most dangerous people out there, including mob hitmen with body counts of dozens.
Do the Marshalls just let them go scott-free? One of the witness protection program’s biggest
secrets is that a chunk of their witnesses are still in prison. They get their new identity
and serve their sentence under an alias, usually with a shortened term and added perks
including unlimited phone calls and better food in prison. Most will be released into
the regular witness protection program soon enough, but some serious criminals including
Washington DC drug kingpin Rayful Edmond are doing life sentences in witness protection.
The federal program is well organized - so well-organized, in fact,
that big states decided to copy it. While most of the residents are in the federal program,
states and major cities have a scaled-down version of the program designed to help people
who witness lower-level crimes. If a witness sees a gang killing and is too scared to talk,
the city will give them a new place to live and the protection they need to testify.
But without the access to federal documents that you’ll get in WITSEC, this is ideal
for short-term protection and not for someone who’s going to cross a powerful crime syndicate.
So how long should you expect to stay in the program? Well, I wouldn’t make any plans back
home. Crime bosses have a long memory, and while no one who stayed in the witness protection
program has ever been killed, the same can’t be said for those who stray. Daniel LaPolla decided
to come home after testifying to attend a friend’s funeral. When he opened the door to his home,
it had been rigged to explode right in his face, and his furlough from the program was
cut violently short. Once you’re in the witness protection program, there’s only one way to stay
safe - get used to your new life. You’re going to become the mask. And stay away from ferrets.
For more about why you should steer clear of the mafia check out “Crazy
Italian Mafia Crimes”. And for some witness protection blunders to avoid,
check out “Most Epic Fails of the Witness Protection Program”.