On a cold February night in 1989, a dedicated law enforcement officer's life was tragically cut short on the streets of Staten Island. Everett Emerson Hatcher, a 46-year-old Special Agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, was meeting with a man he believed to be a contact in a significant narcotics investigation. This meeting on February 28th, however, would be his last. During the undercover operation, Hatcher was shot multiple times with a.
357 Magnum and killed, a violent end to a distinguished career spent serving his country, both in the military and in law enforcement.
The man responsible for Agent Hatcher's murder was quickly identified as Costabile 'Gus' Farace, an associate of the Bonanno crime family with a history of violence, including a prior conviction for murder. Farace was the subject of Hatcher's investigation into a cocaine trafficking ring. On that fatal evening, during their third meeting to discuss a supposed drug deal, Farace turned on the undercover agent without warning. The brazen killing of a federal agent sparked a massive and intense manhunt for Farace, who immediately went into hiding.
The search for Costabile Farace became a high-profile case, drawing national attention and was even featured on the television show 'America's Most Wanted.' Despite the extensive efforts of a joint task force, Farace managed to elude capture for months. The manhunt came to a dramatic and violent conclusion on November 18, 1989. Farace was found shot to death, execution-style, in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. It is believed that he was murdered by members of his own criminal organization, silencing him before he could be brought to justice by the law. While the man who pulled the trigger on Agent Hatcher was never arrested by authorities, his own violent world ultimately delivered a final, lethal judgment.
