Lost Identity

Going too far under cover

Last November at Bacon's, a department store outside Louisville, the store detective nabbed a man she thought was about to steal $157 worth of clothing. He said his name was Pat Salamone and produced a driver's license as identification. Louisville police booked Salamone and discovered that he was actually Patrick Livingston, a local FBI agent.

As part of an FBI sting operation from 1977 until 1980, Livingston used the alias "Pat Salamone" while masquerading as a Miami pornography distributor. He hobnobbed with gangsters, buying their smut, counterfeit Hollywood films and even 50 submachine guns. The sting ended in 54 arrests, but for Livingston the charade had become muddled with reality. He kept bank accounts in his pseudonym and introduced himself regularly as Pat Salamone. According to Fred Schwartz, the Assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuting the sting defendants, Livingston has "psychiatric problems that make it difficult for him to distinguish between his real identity and his undercover identity."

Livingston, 37, realized during the undercover operation that he had submerged himself into the fantasy, and went to a psychiatrist. His friendships dissolved; he separated from his wife.

An FBI agent for twelve years, Livingston was especially adept at undercover work, frequently risking death. Says William Brown, his attorney and an old friend: "Anyone who lives the extremely stressful five years that Pat has lived will manifest the stress in some manner. The FBI has had no program to prepare agents for living a schizophrenic life."

Ten of the sting's targets have been convicted so far. Some of the other defendants cite Livingston's seeming mental problems in their defense. The shoplifting charges against Livingston were dropped, and he is now posted to the FBI office in Chicago. He returns periodically to Miami to testify against his dupes.

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