Philip Arthur Thompson

Philip Arthur Thompson, also known as PAT or Jason Smith, was an individual involved in government drug-sting operations and had connections to Michael Riconosciuto and Patrick Moriarty. He worked as an undercover informant for FBI agent Robert Barnes at the San Francisco Bureau.¹

Thompson was originally hired by Patrick Moriarty at $10,000 per month to bodyguard Michael Riconosciuto. Moriarty was unaware that Thompson was an undercover informant for Robert Barnes. Thompson was arrested on June 16, 1983, for an unrelated murder and is incarcerated for life in a California prison.¹

Involvement in Drug Operations and Murders

Thompson was involved in a methamphetamine operation. Michael Riconosciuto's statement from February 16, 1984, detailed how John P. Nichols directed Riconosciuto to have PAT recover Ben Kalka's assets, which included amphetamine production chemicals and acid. Thompson, along with Steve Finley, drove vehicles containing these chemicals from the Oakland area.¹

Thompson was suspected of involvement in the murder of Paul Morasca. Detective Eddy Erdelatz investigated Morasca's homicide and placed a comprehensive report within the "Paul Morasca Homicide Investigation File" relative to Thompson's suspected connections to the murder. Robert Booth Nichols and Peter Zokosky claimed that Thompson was not creative in his killing style, preferring to use a gun for quick kills, implying he was not responsible for Morasca's torture. However, they also stated that Michael Riconosciuto was responsible for Morasca's torture and death, and that Thompson worked for the FBI under the code name "Jason."¹

Thompson talked to Detective Sue Todd in prison about "kick-backs" to powerful people being handled by Michael Riconosciuto on his computer. He also told Todd that he had withheld one of Michael Riconosciuto's computer coded cards for himself, which were allegedly connected to the deaths of Paul Morasca and Mary Quick.¹