Kiriakou: 23 months in federal prison
John Kiriakou served 23 months in federal prison after being charged with revealing the CIA's torture program to ABC News and the New York Times.
Where this was said
Life in Federal Prison: Gang Hierarchies and the Mob
At 1:40:54 · chapter starts 1:40:30
Kiriakou's federal prison experience turns out to be a rich source of storytelling. On his first day, two white supremacists with face tattoos walked into his cell and — after establishing he wasn't gay, a rat, or a child molester — invited him to sit with the Aryans. Months later, a Bonanno family captain asked why he was wasting time with 'Nazi retards' and adopted him. He describes Black inmates divided between Crips and Bloods in a fragile peace, and Hispanic inmates organized under an involuntary umbrella gang called Pisces with dozens of sub-factions. The Italian mob, though the smallest group, commanded universal respect. He then describes the most elaborate and darkly comic incident of his prison stay: manipulating a serial killer known as Truck into beating a fellow prisoner who'd called Kiriakou a rat, then walking out of the prison officers' interrogation by making counter-accusations — demonstrating the CIA rule 'admit nothing, deny everything, make counter-accusations.'
The Prison Story: How Kiriakou Got the Mob to Do His Dirty Work
Kiriakou planted a lie with serial killer 'Truck' — telling him a fellow prisoner had called him a pedophile — and Truck beat the man nearly to death. Kiriakou sat watching the Steelers game through the whole thing. When prison officers called him in, he turned the tables with counter-accusations and walked free. His rule: let others do your dirty work.
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