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A singular hoax was displaying the agent wearing a paper bag mask, posing as an informer. “There’s no doubt that they think we have a rat-snitch fingering them,” Richards rejoiced.
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Selwyn Raab (Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires)
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Since the country was too poor and the power supply too unreliable for electronic surveillance, state security relied on human intelligence—snitches. The newspapers would occasionally run feature stories about heroic children who ratted out their parents.
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Barbara Demick (Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea)