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Developed by Justice Department employee Gerald Shur<\/a> and beginning in 1971, the Federal Witness Protection Program\u2014or Witness Security Program (WITSEC)\u2014has provided safe harbor for over 18,000<\/a> federal witnesses and their families in exchange for damning testimony. It was WITSEC and the promise of a government-subsidized hiding place that convinced several \u201cmade\u201d men of the mafia to turn their backs on organized crime and help prosecutors convict numerous leaders, from John Gotti to several members of the Lucchese family<\/a>.<\/p>\n Protecting whistleblowers from the dangerous criminals they implicate doesn\u2019t come cheap. By some estimates, the government spends upwards of $10 million annually [PDF<\/a>] to keep the WITSEC program going. But witnesses with information so provocative their life is at risk make for strong cases: Trials involving WITSEC have an 89 percent<\/a> conviction rate.<\/p>\n The U.S. Marshals assigned with forging new identities for these individuals are notoriously guarded and rarely speak on the record about program specifics. But that hasn\u2019t stopped bits of information from leaking out. With author Pete Earley, Shur co-wrote a book, WITSEC: Inside the Federal Witness Protection Program<\/em><\/a>, on his career; over the years, various WITSEC enlistees have spoken to media about the stress of assuming new identities. Here\u2019s as much detail about the program you\u2019re going to get without finding yourself in a considerable amount of trouble.<\/p>\n \u00a01. THEY HAVE ORIENTATION.<\/strong>For years, WITSEC was plagued by a haphazard method of educating enrollees on what was required of them and what they might expect from being relocated and assigned a new name. In some cases, witnesses waited months for new birth certificates or social security numbers. To help streamline the process, the Marshals instituted a clearinghouse<\/a> in 1988 for recent inductees in the Washington, D.C. area. The WITSEC Safesite and Orientation Center can house up to six families at a time; visitors are driven there in vehicles with blacked-out windows and locked in separate rooms to ensure they don\u2019t see one another.\u00a0If trouble happens to follow, the site can also withstand bomb blasts.\u00a0Owing to the trauma of upending their lives, psychological counseling is available. Within two weeks, they\u2019re shown video of their new location.<\/p>\n The movie trope of an innocent man or woman caught up in criminal crossfire or as an unwilling party to illegal dealings is a rare event in the real world. Shur estimated that less than 5 percent<\/a> of relocated witnesses are completely free of any wrongdoing; the vast majority are career hoods looking to be absolved of charges for their own activities and protected from retribution. Different sources put the recidivism rate for WITSEC members at anywherebetween<\/a> 10 and 20 percent. In 1995, Portland police chief Michael Chitwood complained<\/a> that Maine had become a \u201cdumping ground\u201d for criminals in the program: Local law enforcement is not informed when a criminal has been dropped off in their territory and often fear<\/a> they can bring an entire network of illegal activity into an area.<\/p>\n Shur\u2014who ran the program for more than 25 years while employed by the Department of Justice\u2019s Organized Crime and Racketeering Section in Washington and continued as a consultant after retirement\u2014disclosed<\/a> in WITSEC<\/em> that relocated witnesses were not usually given totally unfamiliar new names. To help them acclimate to their new identity, Shur usually allowed them to keep the same first name and even their initials. In addition to reacting when someone addressed them, witnesses could also catch themselves signing their old name before it was too late. Children learning their new last names are sometimes told to practice<\/a>\u00a0writing it.<\/p>\n 4. PARENTS ASK FOR BETTER GRADES FOR THEIR KIDS.<\/strong><\/p>\n WITSEC is responsible for assigning new social security numbers, driver\u2019s licenses, and birth certificates to qualifying witnesses and their families. If a witness has children, it means school records will need to be modified so educators can see grades from earlier enrollment. Initially, a Washington area school agreed to help<\/a> by getting redacted records and transferring grades and teacher notes into a new file. While the program usually keeps the same marks, Shur recalled that some parents asked him to improve their children’s grades. He refused.<\/p>\n In the 1970s and 1980s, WITSEC was having unprecedented success damaging the infrastructure of the mafia. Major players were testifying against bosses knowing they could start over somewhere else. Initially, the government was so keen on their continued participation\u2014trials could go on for years\u2014that they indulged some unnecessary expenses. Former mob hitman Aladena Fratianno requested (and got) the United States to pay<\/a> for his wife\u2019s breast implants, facelift, and dental work. Another had a psychologist backing his claim of poor self-esteem issues, and the government bought him<\/a> a penile implant.<\/p>\n In a landmark case that had far-reaching effects on WITSEC, Thomas Leonhard went public in the early 1970s with a story that was any parent\u2019s worst nightmare. Because his ex-wife was married to a protected government witness, Leonhard (who had visitation rights) was not allowed<\/a> to see their daughter on the grounds that her location and new identity would be compromised. When he filed for and was granted full custody, WITSEC officials still refused to disclose her location. The ensuing publicity led to an amendment in 1984 to WITSEC protocol that needs to take joint custody into account when relocating children\u2014although ex-spouses still found it difficult<\/a> to see their child via a circuitous airplane route under an alias. One father wondered whether he would ever be able to see his daughter\u2019s graduation or wedding when she got older.<\/p>\n A non-program parent with visitation rights must now agree<\/a> to have the child relocated. If they refuse and win full custody, the child will not be allowed to remain in their new identity.<\/p>\n\n2. THEY\u2019RE MOSTLY CRIMINALS.<\/h4>\n
3. THEY SOMETIMES KEEP THEIR FIRST NAME.<\/h4>\n
5. THEY USED TO GET GREAT PERKS\u2014LIKE BREAST IMPLANTS.<\/h4>\n
6. DIVORCED SPOUSES HAD KIDS HIDDEN FROM THEM.<\/h4>\n