A New York mob lawyer facing charges he transmitted assassination instructions reportedly has agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors.

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The New York Post reports Thomas Lee, 38, who represented members of the Bonanno crime family, has been absent from his Bronx law office and his Westchester County home for about a week.

The Post quotes sources as saying Lee has agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors in Brooklyn and was placed in witness protection after he was confronted with secretly taped conversations that included coded messages about killings and other violence.

"This is quite extraordinary," retired NYPD Detective Sgt. Joseph Coffey said of the defection. Coffey twice locked up John Gotti and also arrested Gotti's predecessor, Paul "Big Paul" Castellano.