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    FBI informant known as 'Captain America' helped target corruption — then it all unraveled

    by Joel Rubin and Matt Hamilton, Los Angeles Times Nov 14, 2017 6 minutes

    LOS ANGELES - The evidence seemed overwhelming.

    A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy was caught on video stealing trim from an impounded vehicle. Another deputy was captured taking cash after a motorist was shaken down to avoid his car being towed. A third was caught on tape rummaging through an SUV at a tow yard and accused of pilfering designer sunglasses from it.

    The case was built around an informant who had worked for the FBI - a tow truck driver given the code name "Captain America."

    The secret recordings he made were enough for local prosecutors to bring corruption charges against three deputies and a sheriff's parking enforcement officer, alleging bribery and theft.

    But, last year, when the first case went to court, the star witness dropped a bombshell.

    "Captain America," it turned out, wasn't the man sheriff's investigators thought he was.

    Albino Mendoza's instincts were to steer clear when an FBI agent approached him in 2012.

    The tow truck driver was living

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