The Rev. Al Sharpton says a report he spied on Mafia figures for the FBI in the 1980s is old news. Sharpton said he went to the FBI when he was threatened by mobsters in the music business. (April 8)
2. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Rev. Al Sharpton, National Action Network
"Nothing new about this story. Joe Banner was the one who set up the meeting with this guy Sal. So I've done a lot of things in life some that if I could do again I'd do differently but in this situation I did what was right. I did what I was always raised in the values of a praying mother to do and I did what I tell kids every day all over the country that they should do and that is deal with getting guns and crime out of their community and cooperate with the law."
3. Wide of Sharpton press conference
4. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Rev. Al Sharpton, National Action Network
"If I was doing business with James Brown I had no choice but to meet with guys, who would later be alleged, or earlier be alleged, to be mobsters. It wasn't like I was saying 'hey I heard you was with the so-and-so family let's chill together.' It wasn't like that."
5. Medium of people watching presser
6. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Rev. Al Sharpton, National Action Network
"The conversation were recorded and I would record them today if somebody threatened me."
7. Wide of Sharpton
8. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Rev. Al Sharpton, National Action Network
"Rats are usually people that were with other rats. I was not and am not a rat. Cause I wasn't with the rats. I'm a cat. I chase rats and whether it's a rat in racial profiling or police brutality, or mobsters exploiting black artists, don't get me confused."
The Rev. Al Sharpton says a report that he spied on New York Mafia figures for the FBI in the 1980s is old news.
Sharpton spoke Tuesday about the story posted Monday on the website The Smoking Gun that said he had recorded conversations with mobsters.
"Nothing new about this story," said Sharpton. "Joe Banner was the one who set up the meeting with this guy Sal. So I've done a lot of things in life some that if I could do again I'd do differently but in this situation I did what was right. I did what I was always raised in the values of a praying mother to do and I did what I tell kids every day all over the country that they should do and that is deal with getting guns and crime out of their community and cooperate with the law."
The website said Sharpton worked with a police-FBI task force. The site posted dozens of pages of documents that it said showed Sharpton's dealings with mob figures.
Sharpton said he went to the FBI when he was threatened by mobsters in the music business.
Said Sharpton: "If I was doing business with James Brown I had no choice but to meet with guys, who would later be alleged, or earlier be alleged, to be mobsters. It wasn't like I was saying 'hey I heard you was with the so-and-so family let's chill together.' It wasn't like that."
He says he cooperated with the FBI but didn't consider himself an informant. He says his lawyers are looking at the documents posted on The Smoking Gun.
"Rats are usually people that were with other rats," said Sharpton. "I was not and am not a rat. Cause I wasn't with the rats. I'm a cat. I chase rats and whether it's a rat in racial profiling or police brutality, or mobsters exploiting black artists, don't get me confused."
The website said Sharpton was known as Confidential Informant No. 7.
