Mafia 'takes out contract on FBI agent'

A $250,000 (€202,263) murder contract has been taken out on an undercover FBI agent who infiltrated the New York Mafia, it was claimed today.

The FBI is engaged in a race against time to warn gang bosses not to make any attempt on the life of “Jack Falcone", according to the New York Post.

The agent had become so embedded in the family that he was proposed for membership, forcing the FBI to end its sting and swoop on the notorious Gambino family, arresting several leading figures.

The murder threat reportedly emerged last week after one of the mob’s associates boasted that he had accepted a contract to kill Falcone.

The agent is said to have been offered protection where he continues to work undercover in another state, while members of five organised crime squads contact family bosses.

The FBI spent three years infiltrating the Gambino family with the 6ft 4ins undercover agent posing as a gangster moving stolen goods through a crew of Cubans.

The family’s acting boss, underboss and more than 12 other associates were arrested earlier this year and indicted on racketeering charges at a Manhattan court.

The FBI was unavailable for comment on the latest development although a spokesman told the Post that when there is a threat from any source, it is generally acted upon in a “timely and appropriate manner”.