There's no shortage of Mike Grimm photos now
Almost from the moment I first learned of Mike Grimm's candidacy for Congress way back in 2009, I've wondered about one thing: Why on earth did he ever leave the FBI? Now, thanks to new revelations from veteran law enforcement reporter Murray Weiss, we know that the recently indicted congressman
can't ever go back:
Federal security personnel at the FBI's headquarters in Lower Manhattan and a satellite office in Kew Gardens, Queens, posted Grimm's photo inside their glass-enclosed stations in the event he showed up, sources said.
They were under orders to stop him and to immediately notify higher authorities on what further action to take, according to the sources.
"He is not permitted in our space," one source told "On The Inside."
"He is not welcome," a former top FBI official said.
Please read below the fold for more on this story.
Wow! So what's the backstory here? Before he ran for the House, Grimm was a former FBI field agent and had done some serious undercover work, even penetrating the Gambino mafia family to gather evidence against Peter Gotti, brother of notorious mobster John Gotti. But then, in 2006, apparently at the peak of health and only in his mid-30s, Grimm left. Who does such a thing?
It's exceptionally difficult to become an FBI agent in the first place, and the sort of people who pursue that kind of career tend to be very dedicated to it and don't abandon it readily. What's more, it takes 20 years of service to earn a pension, but Grimm washed out less than halfway to that goal. The only public explanation he ever offered was that he was "tired of the long hours."
That never added up, though, and the persistent stories about Grimm's hotheaded and ethically questionable ways made you wonder what the rest of the story was. So what exactly did Grimm do to earn his spot on the bureau's wall of shame? Weiss offers some tantalizing details:
Sources said Grimm, 44, was under internal scrutiny before he quit over allegations that he told a woman he met during a probe that he worked undercover—a violation of FBI protocol.
The FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility was also questioning so-called "voucher" expenses he submitted in connection with his undercover roles.
The sources believe the pressure of the inquiry played a role in his decision to exit the FBI—an agency he often professed to love, his colleagues noted—without getting a pension because he didn't serve 20 years.
Filing questionable paperwork related to business expenses? Where have we heard that before? Oh yeah—Grimm's
20-count indictment for tax evasion and wire fraud. How fitting that this pattern should repeat itself. If Grimm gets convicted on these charges, though, there's at least one silver lining: The FBI will finally be able to take down his photo, because hey, it's not like he'll be able to pay them a visit anytime soon.