Speaker details covert work

The former FBI agent says he was believable in his mob role.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A former Howland High School football coach who went on to become a notable FBI undercover agent learned some of his skills -- and created the persona that made him famous -- while living on North Park Avenue in Warren.
Edgar Robb told a Trumbull Town Hall Lecture Series audience Wednesday he decided to name his Mafia alter ego "Tony Rossi" while living in Warren in the 1960s because his home was across the street from a funeral home of that name.
Robb joined the FBI in 1969. He had previously taught English and served as assistant football coach at Howland.
He said he chose the name Tony Rossi because it seemed to capture the image he felt he needed to convince people that he was a "Mafia guy."
It worked. In a 20-year career, he succeeded in getting more than 200 convictions. While posing as a South Florida bar owner, Robb fooled Mafia dons in the 1980s. He also participated in the "Pizza Connection" case, which broke an international narcotics ring using pizza parlors as a front.
Book recounts life
Robb signed copies of the book "Friend of the Family," by D. Lea Jacobs, at W.D. Packard Music Hall. The book follows Robb through eight of the most notable moments of his career, including a foiled Mafia plan to kidnap hotel giant J. Willard Marriott.
Robb has been a state senator from Virginia and was elected Albemarle County, Va., sheriff in 1999, a job he still holds.
"You all taught me how to be Mafia," Robb told his audience during a 60-minute talk, saying the Italian population of the area and Mafia influence both helped him acquire the speech patterns and mannerisms that sold people on his identity.
"Your first impression is vital," he said, launching into his Tony Rossi persona, complete with mannerisms, accent and gold chains visible in an open-neck shirt. Though Robb has not "played" Rossi for years, he still presented a believable Mafia figure. "When I left here in the 1960s, I could pass as a Mafia guy," he said.
For some reason, people seemed to like to open up and tell him things, he said. He thinks it may have been because he was a good listener.
Trick of the trade
In his earliest days in the FBI, Robb spent some time in Tennessee, where he learned an important lesson about how to be believable: Observe and be quiet and let people see you for what they think you are. Too much talking reveals the truth, he said.
In one high-profile case, the suspect seemed to buy the Rossi persona completely, he said. The suspect "wanted so bad to believe I was the bad guy. It didn't matter what I said. Perception is everything."
While FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was alive, Robb didn't get to go undercover because Hoover didn't like the idea. Hoover felt it would be too easy for an FBI agent to become corrupt because of the "free-wheeling lifestyle" an agent leads and the possibility he could forget who he really was.
When Hoover died, Robb got the chance to test Hoover's theory. He acknowledges that he liked being Tony Rossi and that it was difficult giving up the persona in 1981 when he quit his undercover work.
"I still wore the clothes, bought a Cadillac," he said. "It was hard to give up my identity as Tony Rossi. I liked being him."
In fact, Robb says he has separate feelings about the people he helped convict and the criminal activities they committed.
"People ask how can you testify against" Mafia figures, Robb said. "You have to draw the line. It's not that I didn't like them. I didn't like the things they did. A lot of them are fun to be around," he said, adding that as a people, Italians are some of his favorites.
runyan@vindy.com