Editing Al Sharpton (section)

===Work as FBI informant===
Sharpton said in 1988 that he informed for the government in order to stem the flow of crack cocaine into black neighborhoods. He denied informing on civil rights leaders.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/21/nyregion/protest-figure-reported-to-be-a-us-informant.html |title=Protest Figure Reported To Be a U.S. Informant |first=M. A. |last=Farber |date=January 21, 1988 |work=The New York Times |access-date=July 21, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/24/nyregion/sharpton-champion-or-opportunist.html |title=Sharpton: Champion or Opportunist? |first=M. A. |last=Farber |date=February 24, 1988 |work=The New York Times |access-date=July 21, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.corenyc.org/omeka/items/show/109 |title=Minister and Informant |work=Newsday |date=January 20, 1988 |first1=Bob |last1=Drury |first2=Robert E. |last2=Kessler |first3=Mike |last3=McAlary |access-date=March 12, 2014}}</ref>

In 2002, HBO's ''[[Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel]]'' aired a 19-year-old FBI videotape of an undercover sting operation showing Sharpton with an undercover FBI agent posing as a Latin American drug lord. During the discussion, the undercover agent offered Sharpton a 10% commission for arranging drug sales. On the videotape, Sharpton mostly nods and allows the FBI agent to do most of the talking. No drug deal was ever consummated, and no charges were brought against Sharpton as a result of the tape.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/25/nyregion/a-19-year-old-fbi-videotape-keeps-pulling-sharpton-back-to-the-past.html |title=A 19-Year-Old F.B.I. Videotape Keeps Pulling Sharpton Back to the Past |first1=Ralph |last1=Blumenthal |first2=Susan |last2=Saulny |date=July 25, 2002 |work=The New York Times |access-date=July 21, 2013}}</ref>

In April 2014, [[The Smoking Gun]] obtained documents indicating that Sharpton became an [[FBI]] informant in 1983 following Sharpton's role in a drug sting involving [[Colombo crime family]] captain [[Michael Franzese]]. Sharpton allegedly recorded incriminating conversations with [[Genovese crime family|Genovese]] and [[Gambino crime family|Gambino]] family mobsters, contributing to the indictments of several underworld figures. Sharpton is referred to in FBI documents as "CI-7".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/investigation/al-sharpton-764312 |title=Al Sharpton's Secret Work As FBI Informant |publisher=The Smoking Gun |date=April 7, 2014}}</ref>

Summarizing the evidence supporting that Sharpton was an active FBI informant in the 1980s, [[William Bastone]], the Smoking Gun's founder, stated: "If he (Sharpton) didn't think he was an informant, the 'Genovese squad' of the FBI and NYPD officials sure knew him to be an informant. He was paid to be an informant, he carried a briefcase with a recording device in it, and he made surreptitious tape recordings of a Gambino crime family member 10 separate times as an informant. He did it at the direction of the FBI, he was prepped by the FBI, was handed the briefcase by the FBI and was debriefed after the meetings. That's an informant."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/08/al-sharpton-fbi-informant-claims-are-embellished-crazy-a-stretch.html |title=Al Sharpton: I'm No Snitch |website=The Daily Beast |date=April 8, 2014}}</ref> Sharpton disputes portions of the allegations.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/08/sharpton-fbi-informant/7457761/ |title=Al Sharpton downplays claims he was an FBI informant |newspaper=USA Today |date=April 8, 2014}}</ref>

Sharpton is alleged to have secretly recorded conversations with black activists in the 1980s regarding Joanne Chesimard ([[Assata Shakur]]) and other underground black militants. Veteran activist Ahmed Obafemi told the [[New York Daily News|New York ''Daily News'']] that he had long suspected Sharpton of taping him with the bugged briefcase.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/activist-recalls-1983-meeting-sharpton-bugged-briefcase-article-1.1754857| author = Ron Howell | title = Ahmed Obafemi recalls 1983 meeting with Rev. Al Sharpton and his bugged briefcase | work = Daily News |location=New York | date = April 13, 2014}}</ref>