Rep. Michael Grimm, a freshman Republican from New York, is in the spotlight following a New Yorker story that details his past as an undercover FBI agent.
The story reveals Grimm was investigated for an ugly episode at a New York night club in 1999 in which, according to a retired NYPD officer and other witnesses, he threatened the estranged husband of his date and held patrons against a wall while holding a gun.
Grimm denied the account and said he was exonerated by the investigation, but neither the FBI nor the NYPD will provide documents that could verify what happened.
The story also provides an interesting inside look at the world of the FBI’s paid informants.
Grimm’s undercover name was Michael Garibaldi, which a source notes was the name of a prominent character on the sci-fi show “Babylon 5.”
“Garibaldi” worked with a con-man and paid informant, Josef Myers, who claimed to be the heir to a fortune from Austrian royalty. The FBI repeatedly helped Myers avoid punishment for a string of crimes to keep the tips coming in. But the story questions whether Myers helped manufacture crime that wouldn’t have occurred otherwise.
The article is not online yet.
