(Ken Silva, Headline USA) It’s well-known Jeffrey Epstein canon by now: His former butler took his address book, tried selling it for $50,000, and wound up being busted in an undercover FBI sting operation. The butler, Alfredo Rodriguez, was charged with obstruction of justice and infamously received the same sentence as Epstein did for sex crimes.
The address book, widely known as Epstein’s “black book,” was eventually leaked to journalist Nick Bryant and published on the now-defunct site Gawker.
Now, thanks to the Justice Department’s recent disclosure of 3 million new Epstein files, Headline USA can add a new element to this story: the likely identity of the undercover FBI officer who purchased the book from Rodriguez as part of the sting operation. According to the Epstein files, that person’s identity is likely Paul Bruno, an undercover Jupiter Police officer who worked on an FBI task force for more than a decade.
‘TFO Bruno’
Headline USA was able to piece together Bruno’s identity by comparing two identical FBI memos that have redactions in different places. One memo says that a “TFO [Task Force Officer] Bruno” was the undercover cop targeting Rodriguez, while a duplicate memo with different redactions says that the undercover cop worked with the Jupiter Police Department in Palm Beach.
When read together, the duplicate memos state: “[REDACTED] will contact Rodriguez to collect criminal conversation and to arrange for a face to face meeting where the evidence can be reviewed and the money can be given to Rodriguez. [REDACTED] and Rodriguez will meet face to face in a hotel room controlled by the FBI where the transaction will be completed.
“TFO Bruno has been Safeguarded and has applied for the Undercover Certification School. TFO [REDACTED] is a seasoned City of Jupiter Police Officer with many years of undercover experience.”
🚨NEW: I can reveal the likely ID of the undercover cop who bought Epstein's 'black book' in a sting op.
Duplicate FBI memos, redacted at different parts, name "TFO Bruno" from Jupiter Police. A cop named Paul Bruno worked undercover for Jupiter and FBI at the time
STORY BELOW🧵 pic.twitter.com/lK2MkfCrFF— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) March 3, 2026
After reading the duplicate FBI memos, Headline USA conducted an online search, which shows that a Jupiter Police officer named Bruno worked undercover on an FBI task force for over a decade—including at the time Rodriguez was trying to sell Epstein’s black book.
For instance, a Palm Beach County law enforcement newsletter touts Bruno for participating in an undercover FBI operation in July 2009.
“Agent Paul Bruno, while assigned to the FBI task force, conducted an undercover operation posing as a narcotics dealer,” states the newsletter, which includes a photo of Bruno. “He was then introduced to a subject responsible for substantial narcotics distribution throughout the U.S. He was ultimately able to seize $50,000 cash and shut down a major U.S. supply chain between Connecticut and California.”
Another article shows that in August 2005, Bruno shot and killed someone during an undercover sting operation. The person shot, Donovan Brooks, was unarmed, but Bruno reportedly thought he was reaching for a weapon. Bruno was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing.
An FBI affidavit from 2023 shows that Bruno was still on the bureau’s “safe streets task force” at that time, though it’s unclear whether he was still doing undercover work.
Neither the FBI nor the Jupiter Police Department responded to Headline USA’s request for comment on the matter. The FBI memo identifying a “TFO Bruno” was removed after this publication emailed the bureau about it. Headline USA had already downloaded the memo, which can be found here.
Bruno, for his part, could not be reached for comment.
Sting Operation
As has been widely reported, Rodriguez was Epstein’s house manager until he was fired in 2005. He took Epstein’s black book, but held it for several years.
At one point, Rodriguez was contacted by Palm Beach law enforcement during its initial investigation of Epstein in the mid-2000s. He turned over some papers at the time, but still withheld the black book.
It wasn’t until he was subpoenaed in a civil lawsuit against Epstein in early 2009 that he decided to do something with the black book. Rodriguez contacted an attorney for the alleged victims, Bradley Edwards, and offered to sell the book to him for $50,000.
However, instead of accepting the offer, Edwards contacted the FBI and became a cooperating witness against Rodriguez. The FBI then set up the sting operation with the undercover cop, likely Bruno.
When the FBI arrested Rodriguez and interviewed him in November 2009, the former Epstein butler provided more details about his boss’s alleged crimes.
“RODRIGUEZ explained that there were photographs of naked underage girls arranged in collages in the hallway or stair case of EPSTEIN’s home and in EPSTEIN’s closet. He reported seeing naked girls he believed to be underage at the pool area of the home. In addition, RODRIGUEZ described seeing pornographic images of girls on computers in the house,” a Nov. 6, 2009, FBI memo states.
“RODRIGUEZ explained that JEAN LUC BRUNEL (ph)would also bring girls to the house and would sometimes arrange for girls to be flown in via commercial and private planes.”
Despite the info provided by Rodriguez, the DOJ decided to charge him with obstruction of justice.
He was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment in June 2010—the same sentence as Epstein, who only served 13 months—and given another 48-month concurrent sentence in August of that year. He reportedly died from cancer in 2015.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
