The feds were interested in taking down the whole mafia.
I'm just one more guy putting a piece of the puzzle
together for them.
This special agent was gonna be my handler.
He gave me this small recorder, and it went into a jockstrap.
And he's like, yeah, just put it on over your underwear.
You have to record everybody.
There's no exceptions.
I mean, he started going over rules.
Can't leave the wire.
No violent, none at all.
Otherwise, the deal's off.
He gave me my code name, Break Shot.
Break Shot is the first shot in a pool game
when they spread out all the balls,
and that's basically what they wanted me to do--
help smash the mob into pieces.
The deal was six months to a year,
but I knew my life was about to change forever.
The first time I was wearing a wire,
I was going to meet a capo named Jimmy Katchi, a very powerful
captain in the Colombo Family.
Contrary to popular belief, there is no agents waiting
in a van around the corner.
When they pressed the button, I realized
that I was about to go out, and I'm
gonna record one of the most dangerous men in the world.
I thought in my head, this is it.
This is for real.
[music playing]
Wearing a wire, you think that everyone can
see that thing in your pocket.
[music continues]
Hey, Kenji, how you doing?
Sit down, sit down.
KENJI (VOICEOVER): I sit down at the table.
And in walks this big, Italian guy who I've never seen before.
He identified on tape.
He said, I'm a wise guy just like Jimmy.
He starts talking about the inner workings of the mafia.
He wants to propose a guy into the organization from Vegas.
And I'm just sitting there still,
hoping that the recorder is picking up every word
because I know it's good.
He talked about the organization structure,
and this is what the FBI is after.
This is the kind of evidence that they want.
And then, I start to feel this warm sensation coming
from the recorder, but I just kinda
blow it off because the guy is talking a lot.
I want to let things unfold.
And I'm looking at him, and it's starting to get
hotter and hotter and hotter.
I'm realizing that this thing is starting to burn in my crotch.
You OK?
All of a sudden, it just gets unbearable.
Finally, I just told him I gotta go.
[music playing]
I met up with my handler.
He asked me, so what happened?
And I told him it was burning so hot,
I thought my nuts were on fire.
He just started laughing.
He's like oh, I heard that sometimes
they malfunction like that.
But I was relieved because he told me that the tape was good.
It was valuable because it would help them find the structure
and figure out who's doing what.
As time went on, I started to get it down.
[indistinct chattering]
I learned how to elicit what I wanted out of people.
Your business-- you bring it to me, I get it done.
Hey, bartender, another drink over here.
But the fear never goes.
You always have to worry about being found out.
Almost every single person I knew
had been involved in a murder at one point or another,
and I was gathering intel on them for the FBI.
I started seeing that I could actually make a difference.
That encouraged me to do more because I felt
like I accomplished something.
Raise it to five.
At this point, I'd been undercover for six months.
I was supposed to be wearing a wire,
but I decided to continue on because I began to feel a lot
of pride in what I was doing.
[music playing]
The FBI wanted me to aim higher, go bigger.
And I knew that meant the New York families.
It's the epicenter of the mafia.
It's where the power is.
So I made a trip to New York.
That's when I met Eddie Garafolo.
My guy, Kenji.
Good to meet you.
Eddie Garafolo was a Columbo associate from New York,
and he was very well connected.
And he wanted me to move to Brooklyn and be in his crew.
And being invited there was a huge step up.
This was my chance to get intel on the real big fish
in the mafia.
But I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
[music playing]