According to a report by the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform, an F.B.I. policy to protect Boston informants who were known murderers resulted in the Bureau allowing at least two innocent men to be sent to death row. Investigators noted that the policy “must be considered one of the greatest failures in the history of federal law enforcement” and had “disastrous consequences.” According to the report, the F.B.I. was so intent on protecting guilty informants that it passed up opportunities to try them for murder. On at least one occasion, this policy resulted in the Bureau knowingly allowing four men who had nothing to do with a killing to be tried and convicted of the crime. Two of the men were sentenced to life in prison and two were sentenced to death. Two of the four men died in jail, and the remaining two had their sentences commuted and were freed after serving 30 years behind bars. (New York Times, November 21, 2003) See Federal Death Penalty and Innocence.