History Main / TheInformant

** Early in the series is [[spoiler:Jimmy Altieri, who returns after being apparently bailed out from an FBI bust. [[TooDumbToLive He immediately starts asking incriminating questions about the Columbian drug money Tony hijacked]], making Tony immediately suspicious. Tony's suspicions seem to be confirmed when Jimmy calls in a meeting of the capos just to discuss stuff they already know, as even the usually adversarial Junior immediately agrees with Tony after the meeting. For his punishment, Jimmy is lured into a hotel room, has his brains blown out, and his corpse has a dead rat stuffed into its mouth for added poetic measure.]]
** More significantly is [[spoiler:Big Pussy, one of Tony's closest friends. A dirty cop on Tony's payroll pegs him as the informant, but Tony comes to the assumption that he mistook Pussy for Jimmy due to their similar appearances and being caught in the same FBI. He gradually comes to the realization that Pussy is ''also'' an informant, although it's seen from Pussy's perspective that he was forced to be a rat, as he was otherwise facing a life sentence for heroin deal, giving the FBI as little useable evidence as possible and lies about meetups with Tony, basically providing them nothing worthwhile. Nonetheless, Tony eventually realizes the evidence is undeniable and considers it a deep betrayal. Tony, Paulie, and Silvio trick Pussy out onto a boat, get him to confess, simultaneously shoot him dead, and then dump his body in the ocean.]]
** Christopher's [[spoiler:fiancee Adrianna is coerced into being an FBI informant by a friend who turns out to be an undercover agent. When the FBI pressures her [[SadisticChoice to find more info on Tony or get sent to jail for 25 years for cocaine smuggling]], she actually ''confesses'' becoming an informant to Christopher, in the hopes that he'll abandon his criminal life and go into witness protection with her. Unfortunately, given the difficult choice, Christopher ends up reluctantly siding with the family, and Adrianna pays the ultimate price.]]
** [[spoiler:Jack Massarone is a construction company owner who was manipulated into a protection racket by Tony. He eventually gets fed up and becomes an informant, although Tony quickly becomes suspicious when one of his soldiers informs him an FBI car was staking out one of his meeting with Jack. [[SpottingTheThread His suspicions turn to apparent confirmation]] when Jack asks if Tony lost weight in their next meeting, something he never would have dared to ask before. Jack is last seen as a corpse in the trunk of a car with a golf club cover stuffed in his mouth as a message to the FBI.]]

** [[spoiler:Eugene Pontecorvo is a minor character, who gets some focus after receiving a huge inheritance from a deceased relative. Seeing no more reason to keep up his criminal life, his wife pressures him to quit so they can move to Florida. He asks Tony if he can retire, but Tony refuses his request because he took an oath, and this is compounded by the revelation that he was a government informant, and the FBI also denies his request to retire, because they require more evidence on Tony now that their main informant, Ray Curto, died. [[TrappedInVillainy Feeling there's no other way to escape]], [[DrivenToSuicide Eugene kills himself by hanging]].]]

* Subverted by Nick the Nose from Donald Sobel's ''Two Minute Mysteries'' series. He ''wants'' to be this, but his leads are always phony - he just wants the rewards from the police for case leads, and Dr. Haledijan always spots the discrepancies in his stories.

* Nick the Nose from Donald Sobel's ''Two Minute Mysteries'' series.

* The Cohdopian embassy in ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' has a slight problem with their employees wanting to snitch and then winding up dead.

** "10-8 Agency" sees confidential informants being killed all over LA, which the Sheriff's Department starts investigating.

** In "Firestone" Hollister runs into Valeria, a woman who once had been informant when he worked narcotics. They were also involved, as he admits to his wife while assuring her it's long over. Valeria's now a money courier for criminals and gives him information about human trafficking that she knows of. She gets a new life in WitnessProtection as a result, and they have a bittersweet farewell.

** In "Firestone" Hollister runs into Valeria, a woman who once had been informant when he worked narcotics. They were also involved, as he admits to his wife while assuring her it's long over. Valeria's now a money courier for criminals and gives him information about human trafficking that she knows of.

* ''Series/{{Deputy}}'': Daisy, a kind transgender inmate in the LA County Jail, gives information to the cops about her ex-boyfriend Villalobos, a gangster. After he learns about it and ends up in the same jail, Villalobos nearly kills her for doing this.

Informants fear prison, since they probably become a PariahPrisoner, fearing PrisonRape or lethal violence. Compare BakerStreetRegular for a more sympathetic version of the trope.