Jailed don Joseph Massino secretly recorded his successor plotting the assassination of a federal prosecutor, becoming the first head of a New York Mafia family known to have turned government informant, sources familiar with the case said.

A Mafia “godfather” clawed his way to the top of a major US crime organisation with a string of hits on fellow gangsters, a court has heard.

A FABLED, 20-year-old FBI undercover operation resurfaced to shock the US underworld this week.