Betrayal: Whitey Bulger and the FBI Agent Who Fought to Bring Him Down (37 page)
Read Betrayal: Whitey Bulger and the FBI Agent Who Fought to Bring Him Down Online
Authors: Robert Fitzpatrick,Jon Land
“Aren’t these our guys?”:
As confirmed in
Black Mass
(page 186).
This was further articulated by Michael Zuckoff writing in the
Boston Globe
on July 23, 1998 (“FBI in Denial as Bulger Breaks Drug Pact in Southie”):
In April, former Boston FBI agent Rod Kennedy testified that in 1984, a high-ranking Washington FBI official was told of DEA plans to bug Bulger and Flemmi. Troubled that another federal agency was targeting FBI informants, he called the Boston FBI office for an explanation. As it happened, Kennedy testified, the only person in the squad room was Connolly, who by answering the phone received advance knowledge of DEA bugging plans.
In an internal FBI:
Quotes from internal FBI Performance Appraisal Report in author’s possession and can be found in Appendix 3.
CHAPTER 22
These charges and the determination that they were ultimately baseless are on record and file, along with a complaint author filed with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board to regain his status accordingly.
“As described”:
Entire quote:
As described earlier, in this period the Attorney General’s Guidelines, which had been incorporated in the FBI’s Manual, required that the SAC himself make certain decisions, including, after consultation with the United States Attorney, whether to authorize extraordinary criminal activity involving a “serious risk of violence,” and reviewing all such criminal activity at least every 90 days.” Ex. 274 (Under Seal), Manual § 137 F. (2) and (3) (1-12-81). Greenleaf’s approach, however, had the practical effect of delegating these responsibilities, among others, to an informant’s handler and his supervisor.
http://www.thelaborers.net/court_cases/United_States_v_Salemme_Decision.htm
.
Part Four: After Boston
CHAPTER 23
“On 8/5/80 Colonel O’Donovan”:
Internal FBI memo from ASAC Weldon L. Kennedy to Boston SAC Lawrence Sarhatt, August 6, 1980. Contained in Appendix 2.
Castucci, he believed, had been ready to give up Bulger and Flemmi:
As supported by the
Boston Globe
’s reporting on June 12, 2009, by Shelley Murphy and the
Globe
staff:
After years of legal maneuverings by Justice Department lawyers and a three-day nonjury trial, a federal judge ordered the government to pay $6.25 million to the widow and children of Richard J. Castucci, a Revere nightclub owner whose slaying was orchestrated by two of the FBI’s most prized informants, James “Whitey” Bulger and Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi. Last year, a judge found that the FBI was to blame in the 1976 killing.
The tapes, as I detailed earlier:
Allegations against Miami Police Department and ultimate prosecution of the Miami River Murders supported by a series of articles appearing in the
Miami Herald
on December 27, 28, and 29, 1985. (See quote pages 305–306.)
Weldon Kennedy … wrote a memo:
Internal FBI memo from Boston ASAC Weldon L. Kennedy to Boston SAC Lawrence Sarhatt, August 6, 1980. Contained in
Appendix
.
a report from Attorney Rogers:
Report of Attorney Rogers from the Office of Professional Responsibility and response of William Webster were entered as evidence in legal complaints I filed against the FBI, including at the Supreme Court, for releasing records they had agreed to expunge.
“An indispensable informant”:
From “Cases Disappear as FBI Looks Away,” by Shelley Murphy,
Boston Globe,
July 22, 1998:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/1998/07/22/cases_disappear_as_fbi_looks_away/
.
CHAPTER 24
“a killer and crime boss”:
“Whitey Bulger’s Life on the Run,” by Shelley Murphy,
Boston Globe,
January 4, 1998.
“… something called St. Botolph Realty Trust…”:
As also covered in
Black Mass
, pages 353–55.
75 State Street:
An investigation into corruption charges against Billy Bulger was testified to by author in U.S. District Court and depositions, and summarized in a
Boston Phoenix
article by Seth Gitell:
Bulger’s law partner at the time, Thomas Finnerty, became involved in a real-estate deal with developer Harold Brown. Brown was putting together a project to construct a first-rate office building at 75 State Street. Then, as now, such projects didn’t happen without the backing of political muscle. The pair allegedly made an agreement in which Brown would pay Finnerty $1.8 million through a combination of cash and equity in the building in exchange for Finnerty’s assistance to move the project forward. Brown paid Finnerty $500,000 but made no more payments after that. Finnerty brought suit in Suffolk Superior Court, claiming that Brown had reneged on a legal agreement. Brown responded with complaints that Finnerty and Bulger were trying to extort him.
http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/top/features/documents/02585299.htm
.
“Billy got a free pass”:
Quote from Alan Dershowitz in
Boston Magazine
, May 15, 2006:
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/oh_brothers/
.
shortly after the Bureau:
Author’s account confirmed in
Black Mass
(pages 236–37).
Spotlight Series:
The series in the
Boston Globe
ran in four parts between September 20 and 23, 1988.
Globe
article from September 20, 1988:
The article said in part:
In the bitter aftermath, many who were planning the DEA’s 1984 probe of Bulger were convinced they should not even tell the FBI, circumventing the policy that the FBI be notified of targeted figures. Despite the nearly universal feeling that no agent had or would intentionally warn Bulger about electronic surveillance, the fear of a leak persisted. But to avoid a feud, William F. Weld, then the US attorney in Massachusetts, and Robert M. Stutman, then the DEA special agent in charge, went to see James Greenleaf, then FBI special agent in charge of the Boston office. The FBI, according to federal sources, was offered a role in the Bulger investigation if it wanted one. Several days later, Greenleaf declined.
From “Law Enforcement Officials’ Lament About an Elusive Foe: Where was Whitey?” by Chistine Chinlund, Dick Lehr, and Kevin Cullen,
Boston Globe
, September 20, 1988.
http://www.boston.com/news/packages/whitey/globe_stories/1988_the_bulger_mystique_part_3.htm
.
“We had no evidence against them”:
From the September 20 segment of the
Boston Globe
’s Spotlight Series.
CHAPTER 25
John Morris would suffer a heart attack:
Also referenced in
Black Mass
(page 275). Morris would testify to this in the Wolf hearings.
Among the “perks” of his retirement package:
Also referenced in
The Brothers Bulger
(page 9).
Then a new “sheriff” came to town:
Chronology involving Fred Wyshak covered and confirmed in
Black Mass
(pages 251–56).
“The court has reviewed the defendant’s”:
Quote from Judge Wolf’s decision also appears in
Black Mass
(pages 283–84):
http://www.thelaborers.net/court_cases/United_States_v_Salemme_Decision.htm
.
“You had a good thing going”:
From transcripts of the Wolf hearings.
CHAPTER 26
“Did you ever report”:
Testimony from transcripts of the Wolf hearings.
During subsequent trials:
Referenced memo can be found in Appendix 5.
“In an effort to protect Bulger and Flemmi”:
From Wolf’s Memorandum and Order:
http://www.thelaborers.net/court_cases/United_States_v_Salemme_Decision.htm
.
As for the bombshell I’d lobbed:
United States v. Flemmi
, 195 F. Supp 2nd 243, 249–50):
http://www.thelaborers.net/court_cases/United_States_v_Salemme_Decision.htm
.
His voluminous opinion went on to say: United States v. Flemmi
, 195 F. Supp 2nd 243, 249–50:
http://www.thelaborers.net/court_cases/United_States_v_Salemme_Decision.htm
.
Wolf aptly summed up the entire fiasco:
F.
U.S. v. Salemme
, 91 F. Supp. 2nd 141, 181–82:
http://www.thelaborers.net/court_cases/United_States_v_Salemme_Decision.htm
.
Shortly after Judge Wolf issued his ruling, John Martorano struck a deal in which he admitted to killing twenty people:
From Matorano’s own admissions in a 1998 plea agreement in which he admitted to killing ten people for Bulger, including Roger Wheeler (“Ex-Mobster Reportedly Strikes Deal,” by Shelley Murphy,
Boston Globe
, September 9, 1999):
http://www.boston.com/news/packages/whitey/globe_stories/1999/0909ex_mobster_reportedly_strikes_deal.htm
.
“Prosecutors want to believe”:
Wyshak quote from “The Avengers” by Dick Lehr,
Boston Magazine,
May 15, 2006:
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/the_avengers/
.
CHAPTER 27
“I’d learn later that the FBI’s legal counsel”:
Corroborating document in author’s possession.
The Wolf hearings would:
Allegation against Morris affirmed by Judge Wolf in his ruling: “In addition, the fact that Morris accepted $7000 from Bulger and Flemmi does not render…” (
http://www.thelaborers.net/court_cases/United_States_v_Salemme_Decision.htm
).
During much of that same period:
Author’s assertions supported by court documents. Results of polygraph test in author’s possession.
Part Five: Vindication
CHAPTER 28
a bespectacled, ordinary-looking special prosecutor:
Accounts of John Durham drawn from discussions with David Boeri for his article “The Martyrdom of John Connolly,”
Boston Magazine,
September 2008. NPR has also covered these accounts in detail.
“Maybe way back. Many years before”:
Billy Bulger’s testimony before the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, 2002. Also referenced in
The Brothers Bulger
(page 20).
“It wasn’t that I wouldn’t shoot”:
From article by Shelley Murphy and
Globe
staff,
Boston Globe,
March 13, 2006.
In May 2002, Connolly was convicted:
As reported by Shelley Murphy, in the
Boston Globe,
May 29, 2002:
http://www.ipsn.org/characters/connolly/connolly_convicted.htm
.
“Nobody in this country is above the law”:
Associated Press, January 2, 2008:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22474868/
.
“The 1979 Ciulla race-fixing prosecution memorandum”
: From “Everything Secret Degenerates: The FBI’s Use of Murderers as Informants”:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5997413/Everything-Secret-Degenerates-The-FBI’s-Use-of-Murderers-as-Informants
.
This was further affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in affirming Judge Lindsay’s decision in the McIntyre trial: “Bulger and Flemmi were removed from a 1979 indictment charging a scheme to fix horse races, and listed only as unindicted co-conspirators, after a request by Connolly and his then-supervisor, John Morris, because of their value to the LCN investigation” 447 F. Supp. 2d at 80.
“I must tell you this, that I was outraged”:
From “Everything Secret Degenerates: The FBI’s Use of Murderers as Informants”:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5997413/Everything-Secret-Degenerates-The-FBI’s-Use-of-Murderers-as-Informants
.
CHAPTER 30
“And as a result”:
Drawn from trial transcript in the author’s possession.
CHAPTER 31
“During the course of the interview”:
Drawn from trial transcript in the author’s possession.
CHAPTER 32
“Okay … I’d like to ask you”:
Drawn from trial transcript in the author’s possession.
“Stephen Flemmi, the homicidal maniac”:
Peter Gelzinis’s quoted column appeared in the
Boston Herald
on Friday, June 23, 2006.
Lindsay quotes taken from his decision issued on September 5, 2006.
“because Connolly”:
From the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in ruling issued October 16, 2008 (document can be found in Appendix).
Figuring there might be something of value:
This version of events supported by materials furnished from attorney Doug Matthews himself and in author’s possession.
“Aren’t these our guys?”:
As confirmed in
Black Mass
(page 186).
There was Stephen “the Rifleman” Flemmi testifying:
As also reported in the
Boston Herald
on September 14, 2008.
“When you give us information on one person and they got killed”:
As also reported by Shelley Murphy in the
Boston Globe
on September 24, 2008.
“If John Connolly and the FBI had done their job”:
Associated Press, September 19, 2008, and the
Miami Herald,
September 20, 2008. Author has the articles in his possession.
Writing in the
Boston Globe: Joan Vennochi’s column in the
Boston Globe
can be found at:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2000/01/25/if_connolly_is_so_guilty_can_the_fbi_be_so_innocent
.
“Well, I know”:
Transcript is in author’s possession.