Philly Mob Captain, Fbi Informant Dead At 73

Ronald Previte, a onetime Philadelphia Mafia captain whose work as an FBI informant helped take down three mob bosses, earning him the nickname “Fat Rat,” has died. He was 73. Previte died Aug. 21 at a hospital in Galloway Township, New Jersey, according to Carnesale Funeral Home. PhillyVoice.com reported he had a heart attack. Previte, an imposing man who stood 6-foot-2 and weighed nearly 300 pounds, wore a hidden microphone beginning in 1997 and recorded hundreds of conversations for the FBI while leading a double life as a made member of the Mafia. He freely admitted to a 30-year career in crime, including gambling, loan-sharking, extortion, drug trafficking and prostitution. “I was a crook,” Previte testified at the 2001 trial of Philadelphia mob boss Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino and several other mobsters. Previte testified he would meet FBI agents in a hotel, get the recording device strapped to his body, attend a mob meeting and then return to the hotel to be debriefed and return the equipment. He couldn’t wear the wire at certain social functions because “there was a lot of hugging and kissing,” Previte said. Previte’s recordings led to the indictment of Merlino and another mob boss, Ralph Natale, in 1999.