Rookie agent Séamus McElearney put his heart and soul into flipping the first New Jersey organized crime member in more than 100 years. Through courage and compassion, he helped dismantle a murderous criminal enterprise extending from New York to Florida. Join co-authors Séamus McElearney and Barbara Finkelstein for an in-depth look into the inner workings of these efforts and the lasting impact of this work.

About Flipping Capo

Séamus McElearney's early days on an FBI organized crime squad were full of grunt work. For months he was mired in administrative tasks, including the transcription of secret recordings of the DeCavalcante and Bonanno crime families. Eighteen months later, McElearney assisted in his squad's arrest of thirty-nine Mafia suspects; he led the team arresting Anthony Capo, a DeCavalcante soldier linked to stock fraud and conspiracy to commit murder. Barely a week after Capo's arrest, McElearney accomplished what no other law enforcement agent had ever done in the hundred years of the DeCavalcante crime family's existence: he flipped one of their made men. Anthony Capo confessed to dozens of illegal activities, including two murders and eleven murder conspiracies, and agreed to work with the government to bring down his former family. What followed was a spiral effect of cooperation as McElearney and colleagues flipped three more DeCavalcante associates, one captain, and an acting boss. Flipping Capo resulted in the Bureau solving eleven murders, convicting seventy-one defendants, and dismantling the DeCavalcante crime family. Thanks to the redemptive relationship he built with Capo, McElearney helped unmask a criminal network that led to the RICO convictions of the entire DeCavalcante hierarchy, just as the world was coming to know them as the "real Sopranos."

About Séamus McElearney

Séamus McElearney began his distinguished career with the FBI in 1998, joining Squad C-10 of the New York Organized Crime Branch. Tasked with investigating the Bonanno and DeCavalcante crime families—infamously known as “the real Sopranos”—Séamus quickly made his mark. He retired from the FBI in 2019. Today Séamus is the global head of corporate security for a major financial institution.

About Barbara Finkelstein

Barbara Finkelstein is the author of Summer Long-a-coming (HarperCollins). She has also published non-fiction and essays with Walker and Company, W.W. Norton and Company, and Syracuse University Press. She has contributed book reviews and articles to The New York Times, Newsday, The Plain Dealer, HeadButler, The Forward, and many other media outlets.

Contact the host of Author Talk and Book Signing with Séamus McElearney and Barbara Finkelstein: Flipping Capo: How the FBI Dismantled the Real Sopranos