"He didn't want to make an announcement to the world," said one person with knowledge of the case who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the dangers facing Mr. Mormando. "He wanted the judge to know what risks he took - why he wasn't just your average cooperator, someone who had simply broken the code."

Mr. Mormando's hearing was, in fact, cloaked in secrecy, listed on the daily court calendar under the name "John Doe." The documents in his case are under seal and even Pacer, the online federal court archive, has been scrubbed clean of anything related to the matter.

"He's in an absolute state of fright," said the person with knowledge of the case. "You have to understand that his partner is totally freaking out. His partner has no connection to any of this. You can just imagine how fraught the whole thing is."

Even worse, Mormando was a close personal friend of the Gotti dynasty of Gambino family fame so now the mob hit man will have created, "an intolerable stain on their name." My God, I feel for his partner especially; I'd be a jittery twitching mess right now. Wouldn't you?