"Rev. Al" is a long-time FBI informant, he even tried to explain it away once, but the facts remain that he can never, ever be trusted! This Newsday piece came out 11/98, there have been others since, will do a quick search. BRB.
OK, this blip is from *his own site*!:
James Brown was another of Sharpton's father figures. In the early 1970s, a disc jockey introduced Sharpton to Brown. The Godfather of Soul took a liking to the teenage Rev and invited him on "Soul Train." A few weeks later, they went on the road.
For the next few years, Sharpton was the kid who would pick up the money box at night's end. It was a rough world. He met a lot of men who had no clear means of income and knew them well enough that he was persuaded to wear an FBI wire. "People complain I dealt with unsavory characters," Sharpton says. "Well, what you want me to say? 'Excuse me, you a mobster?' I remember the most notorious guy sponsored the B'nai Brith dinner every year. This was our life.
http://www.sharpton2004.org/index.ph...essStory&id=10