Carney’s Opening Statement – Throwing John Connolly Under The Train To No Purpose

A trainJ.W. Carney in his usual composed manner stood in front of the jury and immediately told it how much he appreciated the ”extraordinary sacrifice” they were making to serve on the case and how he would be eternally grateful for their service.

He then went into a restaurant analogy that went something like when you order your food at a nice restaurant and it comes to you it is arranged in a tasteful manner and appeals to your appetite but it took a lot of labor back in the kitchen to fix it up so that it came out so as to please you. The jury was to see the finish product of the government’s spending a lot of time with witnesses and its hard work making their witnesses look pretty.  I’m not sure it had the effect he intended to convey that somehow the government witnesses would not be telling the truth but rather a story the government wanted.

He then told the jury his opening was to be in two parts. The first he was going to explain how the criminal justice system operated in Boston from the 1960s to the mid-1990s. It all started when Robert Kennedy was AG and J. Edgar Hoover was director of the FBI. They decided that the national mandate would be to destroy the Mafia.  To ensure that was done, they gave out bonuses, rewards and promotions to the FBI agents who did well at it.

In this area the Mafia was in Boston and Providence, Rhode Island. The FBI used top echelon informants to go after it. One of the three primary witnesses against Whitey would be such a person, Stevie Flemmi. He then said FBI Agent John Connolly and Jeremiah O’Sullivan were active in going after the Mafia. Connolly had 20 top echelon informants and he and O’Sullivan indicted the Mafia guys. Connolly was the FBI “golden boy” whose awards went to his head and he became “greedy” and thought of himself as a “rock star” and listed Whitey as an informant when he wasn’t one.

That is because he is of Irish descent and the worst thing an Irish person could do was be an informant; and secondly, since he was not Italian he would have limited knowledge of the Mafia. He might pal around with Mafia types and be seen together with them but they never gave him access to their doings.

He said Connolly wanted “a lavish life style” and Bulger could let him live it. On occasion he gave Connolly $5,000, $10,000, and $50,000 dollars. Connolly “gladly accepted it.” On a modest salary he had two homes in the Boston area and a home on the Cape and a large boat.

Whitey never knew he was listed by Connolly as an informant. His informant file had none of the usual things like pictures, signed statements or fingerprints. But Connolly wanted people to believe Whitey was an informant so that he would have a reason to meet him and take money. He’d copy reports in other agents files and attribute to Whitey. Many in FBI wondered why Whitey was protected because he gave no information anyone was prosecuted on. The second in charge in the FBI Boston office knew after speaking to him for 10 minutes he wasn’t an informant and Whitey told him he wasn’t an informant.

Carney asked have you heard of informants paying money to agents. It just isn’t done. But greedy Connolly was just interested in that.  Bulger also paid other people because he wanted to get information on what was going on because Bulger was involved in illegal gaming, bookmaking, and lending money at high rates, loan sharking. He was also involved in drug dealings. To protect his businesses he needed information on wiretaps and searches so he could hide his property.

During all this time when Whitey was doing all this the U.S. attorney’s office did nothing about it; in fact the chief of its criminal section who was there during the time of Whitey’s “most prolific activity” said he was not aware of one investigation of him in his office. O’Sullivan also never bought a case against Whitey this is because of the depth of corruption in federal law enforcement and Whitey made “millions upon millions of dollars”.

Carney paused and took a drink before going on to part two. I thought this is all interesting but what has Connolly to do with the 19 murders. I figured I’d get the answer coming up.

Carney then told how Connolly. O’Sullivan and the chief of the criminal division left their jobs. A new crew came in and Bulger, Flemmi, and Martorano were indicted. Whitey wasn’t tipped off by Connolly to flee, it was because the feds looking for publicity announced it and he heard it on the radio as he was driving back from vacation. It was “something as mundane as that.” Then Whitey decided to live in California “living openly and in plain sight while FBI agents pretended to look for him.”  A knowing chuckle ran through the media overflow room at the con.

He said Flemmi was arrested and expected Connolly to rescue him but when Connolly took the Fifth Martorano could see the writing on the wall so he decided “to cut his losses” and went to be the first to give the feds evidence. He called Martorano “the scariest violent criminal psychopath in Boston” who’d murder people like anyone else would order a cup of coffee. Martorano knew the government wanted evidence against Connolly who he had never met but learned if Whitey had told him things that Connolly said then he could testify against Connolly by making up things Whitey told him. He knew the more corrupt he made Whitey and Connolly the better deal he would get.

Martorano knew how the system worked since his teacher was Joe Barboza who got himself and friend out of a murder by blaming 4 innocent guys. It took 30 years for the truth to come out. Martorano started bargaining for his testimony. Carney talked about a Ted William’s baseball but I couldn’t quite follow what he was saying but it boiled down to the more information you provide the better the deal. So Martorano admitted to 20 murders and got 12 years and got lots of money from the feds and was allowed to keep some property and not testify against his brother, another murderer, and Pat Nee his friend and fellow murderer. The government was so desperate to have him testify it threw up his hands (Carney threw up his hands to demonstrate) and said we’ll give you whatever or do whatever you want. He said under that condition the jury had to decide whether he would lie about Whitey.

Carney spoke about the great deals both Weeks and Flemmi got from the government for their testimony. He then went into three specific murders. Flemmi killed his young girl friend because she was making fun of him which is the worst thing you can do to a psychopath; he killed his step daughter because she was about to reveal he had abused her and had sex with her as a young woman. Whitey had no motive to kill either one.  He then talked about the murders of Roger Wheeler and John Callahan for the purpose of taking over his Florida business again suggesting Whitey was not part of the crew that was involved in murdering them.

He said Whitey had a lucrative business enterprise in Boston making millions of dollars and he was not going to “get out of his comfort zone” and go to Florida and get involved there. He said at the end of the day there is no way the jury can believe Martorano, Weeks or Flemmi, returning to his restaurant analogy by saying the “recipe is unreliable” and doesn’t produce the truth.

I know Carney doesn’t have much of hand to work with. But the recipe he seems to be following is leading Whitey off to ADX on the fast express. All right we’ll give him a break on those last four murders, but what about the other 12? Sure the feds are corrupt but what has that to do with the 6 bodies the investigators unearthed? You admit the drug dealing, the money laundering, didn’t contest the firearms, and are fighting a minority of the murders. A conviction on anything puts Whitey away for the rest of his life.

My feeling is Whitey is not going to testify, has accepted that there is no way in hell he can get acquitted, and just wants to – well I’m not sure what he wants. I get the feeling it would be best if he just went off quietly and stopped the charade. I’m sort of at a loss to figure out what this is all about.

 

27 Comments

  1. Matt, I have a lifelong friend, a BC grad, an Irish Catholic from Dorchester, who ended up having some problems in life and ended up stealing millions of dollars from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He did about three years in a minimum security prison;got out; turned his life around; got married; now is a happy responsible member of society, good father, husband, friend, neighbor etc.
    Let’s say we believe Jim Bulger—when the testimony comes I expect Jim will say he gave the money to Morriss which he expected Morris would share or give to Connolly—butlet’s say John took $20,000 a year for 10 years—John in Miami in court said in response to Fred Wyshak’s question “Did you take money from Bulger/Flemmi?” John said, “I never took a dime.” But hypothetically let’s say a cop took $200,000 over 10 years, how much Federal prison time should he get—Sal and Dick got about 8 years for 65,000; Morris Goldings, a lawyer, got 3 years for stealing millions; so should a cop get 50 years in prison? (10 in Boston for minor offenses; 40 in Florida for saying “If Callahan talks we’ll all be in trouble” and “Callahan’s a loose cannon”? Will Wyshak now attempt to try Connolly in a Massachusetts state court for taking $200,000 based on Whitey’s tale. Will Wyshak believe all or part of Jim’s testimony or only that part which the Boston Globe and Harvard Law School faculty tell him to believe and prosecute? Can we believe most of what a person says, without believing all of it? Are we naïve and gullible enough to give credence to anything the admitted serial killers Flemmi, Martorano,Saleme, Weeks, and suspected murderers (or attempted murderers) Morris and Weeks and Nee and Jimmy Martorano say. I go back to what the Troopers say:”Let all the killers tell their tales, and each of us can decide for ourselves what approximates the truth and facts.” It’s not like we haven’t been discussing these matters for fifty years since friends and relatives started being killed by gun-wielding felons in Boston. Let’s put all the pieces of this gigantic jig-saw puzzle together and figure out who’s corrupt or who’s most corrupt. Who let the dogs of drugs, the dogs of murder, out loose in our neighborhoods? Who’s responsible for allowing hard-drug dealers, serial killers and terrorists to flourish in our town over the past half-century since Vietam and who’s responsible for making matters worse these last two decades when Jim Bulger was a phantom on the run?

    • Bill:
      Whitey Bulger is saying he gave Connolly Fifty Thousand Dollars. He is not saying he gave it to Morris to give to Connolly. He is saying that along withe that 50,000 he gave him 10,000 and 20,000 on several occasions. You want to believe he’s not going to say that but he is. He will say Connolly made him an informant which he never was because he was greedy and kept asking him for money and by making him an informant he could meet with him to take the money. Don’t fool yourself and think that Whitey is going to say other than that. I don’t believe him. I believe gangsters are greedy. If Whitey ever gave Connolly money it was probably a few grand here or there and Connolly took it not because he felt it was wrong but to keep up the friendship with Whitey who had money coming out his ears and thinking that it would not compromise his ability as an agent to work with him.

      Your examples aren’t applicable because if Whitey was paying Connolly then he was paying him so that he would cover up his criminal activity. If Connolly was an active part of Whitey’s gang when he took that money and became allied with him, then you can say the sentence was justified because you can put many of Whitey’s crimes on Connolly because he enabled him to do it.

      And expect Whitey to say he gave Connolly millions – not that he did but Whitey wants to look like a big man – this trial is all about Whitey looking like a big tough gangster.

      I see you want to call Whitey “Jim Bulger.” I prefer to call him what the people on the street knew his as, “Whitey.” I just heard two bookies testify and didn’t hear the word Jim or James or Jimmy once, but I heard the name Whitey a hundred times and they told how much they feared him. Why did you switch from Whitey to Jim.

      As far as who is responsible for the drugs after Whitey left, I don’t see the relevance in that. Whitey’s lawyer in his opening said Whitey was the drug kingpin in the area.

  2. DEat Matt,
    A high-school dropout, age seventeen I was arrested for numerous drug-related crimes. I spent two years in Deer Island.
    Two weeks after my release, I was again arrested for drug-related crimes and faced a heavy state prison sentence. Instead, I was allowed to enter a rehabilitation program.
    Many times, I stole from Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1999, I self-published a book: Letter To Norman Mailer: From Jail To Yale, (ISBN: 0970180608). This book mentions me stealing blank prescriptions from Massachusetts General Hospital when a Deer Island school-release inmate (see page 76).
    After rehabilitation, I attended Hampshire College, twice attended Harvard’s Health Careers Summer Program, and was accepted to the Yale School of Medicine. I passed all required medical school courses, took courses at the Yale School of Law, and obtained a degree from the Yale School of Public Health.
    While a Harvard student, I undertook a pre-medical school internship at Massachusetts General Hospital. Having used this hospital numerous times for medical problems, and stealing from this hospital many times, I knew the security system very well.
    In 1982, my brother Jaime Parker, witnessed Whitey murder Brian Halloran. Earlier that day, I was with my brother. The FBI questioned my brother. A few years later, a female Boston FBI agent asked me for criminal information.
    Both my brother and I filed lawsuits against the FBI for conspiracy to murder: respectively 07-CV10863-RCL and 07-CV12165-RCL. My lawsuit was dismissed by the District Court for being filed too late. I timely appealed this dismissal. My appeal brief cited a 1st Circuit ruling that stated a victim should not be expected to know the criminal before the legal authorities. Since my case was in the 1st Circuit, I believed the U.S. Appeals Court would not go against this ruling.
    In 2005, former Boston FBI agent, John Connolly, was indicted for conspiracy to murder. Before that indictment, no other Boston FBI agents had been indicted for conspiracy to murder. My administrative claim was filed in 2006 and was thus within the required two-year statue of limitations.
    Former U.S. Attorney Jeremiah O’Sullivan testified to Congress, “[I]f you go against [the FBI] they will try to get you. They will wage war on you…”
    I simply could not live in United States and file such a lawsuit. The fear of death would be too great. In 2006, I moved to Brisbane, Australia. Several times, I visited South Boston. During one visit, the fear of being murdered created anxiety. In 2008, I visited Massachusetts General Hospital for FBI-related anxiety.
    On February 19, 2009, I again visited Massachusetts General Hospital for FBI-related anxiety. This panic attack lasted throughout the night. I took an early morning subway from South Boston to Massachusetts General Hospital and was seen in the emergency ward. It was still dark outside when I entered the hospital.
    My high blood pressure was very high. This caused the intake nurse concern and I was admitted as an inpatient. A junior doctor learned my anxiety was related to a lawsuit against the FBI. After some wait, I was brought to a locked ward. My computer and personal items were placed in a hallway locker. For hours, I sat in a small room being watched by a camera.
    The same junior doctor twice more questioned me. I gave family phone numbers, my Australia work details, and all the information requested. This doctor returned and said I was being committed to a psychiatric hospital. He said I was being done for my own safety. I replied this was ridiculous. In three days, I was returning to my family and my job in Australia. This doctor said it did not matter. The commitment to a psychiatric facility was being done for my own safety.
    When leaving for the toilet, I was met by a very fit man wearing a suit jacket and tie. Five to seven feet behind him another similar-dressed man. Ten to fifteen feet behind him a third similar-dressed man. The three men moved together as a team, staying in a straight line, none deviating to any side, as if not allowing any possible route for escape. Returning to the locked room meant the same procedure. I knew they were not Massachusetts General Hospital security personnel. Around noon, an orderly brought a small meal. This felt like jail. Although I had not eaten since the previous night, stress and the security camera made eating seem impossible.
    The doctor again came into the room, telling me he called my family members in the Boston area. Later, one of my sisters told me a doctor from Massachusetts General Hospital phoned her saying I was “crazy.” He said I suffered from some pseudo-diagnosis. Finally a senior doctor came and asked about an upcoming Massachusetts General Hospital appointment. I told her tomorrow I was taking a treadmill test for my professional boxing license.
    This woman responded, “Of course. You’re okay.” She said the junior doctor’s diagnosis was not fully accepted by the medical establishment.
    In Australia my rubbish, several journal notebooks, and important documents have been stolen.
    In short, living in Australia would make it difficult to contact Attorney Carney. Is there any way we can make sure he knows about the federal seal? My brother’s Boston Police Witness Statement contradicted Kevin Weeks’ under-oath court testimony. There can be only one reason a federal seal was placed on my brother’s information concerning the Michael Donahue and Brian Halloran murders.
    This could open a whole can of worms. Just like with Barboza, the government is using a witness they know committed perjury. Instead of being free and enjoying life (while his victims are rotting), Kevin Weeks should be in prison!
    If Attorney Carney ignores information about the federal seal, corruption in the Boston federal court goes much deeper than any of us could ever imagine.
    Thank you for considering this important request.

    • Afraid of FBI: Carney’s phone number and address are

      easily found on his website: http://carneybassil.com/team/carney/

      The poster’s 2007 lawsuit in federal court – with all the familiar names – is at:

      http://dockets.justia.com/docket/massachusetts/madce/1:2007cv12165/112734/

      Additional biographical information on this poster may be read at:

      http://medicine.yale.edu/publications/yalemedicine/summer2001//features/feature/54720

      The author neglected to mention his latest book:

      “Gaga”: The Real Whitey Bulger/Irish Mob Story

      “Francis X. “Gaga” Murray is a master storyteller. Gaga: The Real Whitey Bulger/ Irish Mob Story is written in a unique style with all sentences rising and falling in a sing-song manner. The book gives new information about Whitey Bulger, World War II, Boston Irish War, Great Brinks… Read More”

      The book is not available, however.

      • Henry:

        Thanks for all the information. I’ve been looking for that book. Hopefully it will be back in print soon.

    • Matt, I believe AFRAID accurately describes what our national-socialist FEDS routinely do to people. I know AFRAID personally and know how much he has sacrificed, dedicated his life, to helping people worldwide afflicted by serious illnesses, AIDs (he’s flown medicines to AFrica); Substance Addiction (he’s worked tirelessly lifelong on that front) and he’s even organized protests at the JFK against Kerry’s and Kennedy’s failure to do anything substantive to redress the drug epidemic in Suffolk County. Afraid also has personally helped countless of my friends and even took a VIET VET combat veteran from Savin Hill back to Vietnam to help him in his recovery and on his healing process. So, anything you can do to assuage AFRAID’s grief and predicament—he’s just seeking simple justice against the corrupt elements within the FEDS–will be deeply appreciated by brother Bill.

      • Matt, Henry, Afraid et al. For the sake of full disclosure, and to further rebut my nemesis Mr. JHG (who I don’t know and don’t care to know) I offer this copy of an email I recently sent to one of the volunteer lawyers whose helping John Connolly in Miami. None of us has all the answers; no one can predict the future nor how Courts will react. But here’s the advice given from a very wise courageous sage with gads of experience at every level of the legal system in America. And he’s not even Irish. He’s Lebanese-American. He is Chester Darling.

        “Dick, I have this suggestion. It comes, not from me, but from the very top of the legal profession. Chester Darling advises John Connolly to immediately file a Habeas Petition plea in Federal District Court in Miami. Page 1 is his petition “Pro-Se” for “Habeas Corpus” Page 2 is a petition to proceed in forma pauperis 3. Page 3 is brief of Statement of Fact and Memo of Law: FACTS timeline of conviction, sentence 40yrs, appeal, appeal court’s decisiion; motion for reconsid pending over 2 years blah blah that sort of stuff; (a) I was convicted of 2nd degree murder by gun;(b) trial judge failed to properly inform jury that to be convicted of that I had to have actually possessed the murder weapon; (c) the trial judge stated in open court that he knew the Statute of Limitations had run on the 2nd Degree Murder by Gun charge (4) My lawyers raised the SOL at the trial court level 5. The judge said Florida’s rules of criminal procedure prevented him from recognizing the SOL defense which my lawyers, he said, raised too late (6) my lawyers pleadedSOL, failure to prove esential element of Murder by Gun, and ineffective assistance of counsel issues BOTH at trial court and appellate court 7 Trial judge sentenced me to 40 years because in 1982 I allegedly said if JJohn Callahan talks we’ll all be introuble and allegedly said, Callahan is a loose cannon; for speaking (words I never said) I was sentenced to 40 years; 8. The appeals court (3 member panel) issued a one sentence decision; lower court ruling and sentence affirmed.

        At end have JOhn write words to this effect: I have been deprived of my fair trial, equal protection and due process rights by the Florida Court and also by the Federal Department of Justice which joined in my prosecution in Florida; DOJ AUSA FRed Wyshak was the lead prosecutor in Miami; his close colleagues tried me in Massachusetts on the same offense (leaking info that led to Callahan’s death) for which I was acquitted by a Boston federal jury, therefore on this plea for Habeas I also raise a Double Jeopardy Defense. Finally, I believe my Constitutional rights also have been violated under the Supremacy Clause, because a Federal Judge in Boston in a related civil case made a finding of fact and conclusion of law that I was acting at all times in my lawful authority as an FBI agent and was not in fact acting “ultra vires”, and therefore the Supremacy Clause should have prevented the tandem prosecution for the same offense in both a Federal Court in Boston and a state Court in Miami.

        If john has to file this using a pen and paper, have him do it immediately. You can help him polish it up and put it in the correct form.

        You cann continue doing what you and the univ, of Miami are doing on the state level.

        It is imperative that Chester Darling’s counsel be heeded and put into action immediately.

        Thanks for all your help and perseverance.

        Bill” THIS WAS SENT SEVERAL WEEKS AGO BY EMAIL.

        • Bill:

          The problem is Whitey is now saying he paid Connolly for information with payments running fro 5,000 up to 50,000. Whitey is supposed to be his friend and he is killing him. If you believe whitey when he says John didn’t tell him to flee, don’t you have to believe him in this matter of paying Connolly.

          • Jenny Peckenpaugh

            Can’t they use forensic accounting to prove/disprove that? Whitey’s money can’t be traced as it’s not legit but if Connolly’s money came from his salary, rent, selling his home, there should be regular deposits in the bank (salary, rent), deeds recorded as he bought & sold homes, registration for his boat.

            I can see $1,000 or even $5,000 bribe over many years being hard to prove or disprove. But the fruit of the “bribes”-from what I’ve read recently & when Whitey was arrested-seems to be the boat & homes that John Connolly owned. Those assets have records.

            No one has said that John Connolly drove flashy cars, had a Rolex, wore lots of jewelry, right? So…his properties have been searched, where did that $50,000 go? Obviously there’s no burden of proof where Whitey’s defense has to show it, they can say he had a huge boat & vacation home which leads most people to the conclusion that’s where the bribes-$10,000, $50,000 went.

            • Jenny:

              Good points. In the John Connolly trial in Boston the closest they came to the monwy was one person who worked with him said she had his pay check and asked him where she should put it and he said leave it in the center drawer on his desk and when she put it in there she saw a bunch of other pay checks. That led to the influence that he had no need to cash his pay checks. I understand they tried to prove he had extra money that could not be accounted for based on a type of forensic review but that testimony was all messed up.

              You are right that if he had been receiving the outlandish amounts Whitey said he was giving, and as I’ve said gangsters are cheap and don’t give money away freely so I don’t believe there were enormous sums, the federals should have been able to show it, especially since the land trasactions are involved. Connolly both brought and sell houses. The records on the boats should be available.

              John was known to be a flashy dresser in expensive suits and wore a lot of gold jewelry. He was called Canoli by those who didn’t like him among the agents becasue he dressed more like gangsters than the off the rack suited agents. As far as what Whitey will testify, he may very well say he gave Connolly $50,000 or a total of $100,000 a year — he can make up anything he wants since there is no one who will contest it. The higher he makes it the happier the prosecution will be.

          • You don’t think Whitey Bulger has been preparing for this moment for the past 16 years and has been studying what to say in the event he’s caught? His only “out”, after all, is claiming he was working under the direction of the government. So I would think Whitey would of course try to show cash payments, showing a sort of employment scheme with John Connolly.

  3. Dear Matt,

    Thank you for sharing your expert insights and predictions; we are all along here for the ride, and more than anything your play-by-play illustrates for us all what is happening.

    This method also sets the stage for your own analysis, while also providing plenty of room for the Reader to engage jointly as well. This is a very effective technique, and I express gratitude for opening up a window into that courtroom for the benefit of those who are unable to be there.

    In addition, today, I’ve posted about the media coverage and William Bulger: http://thefirmestpillar.wordpress.com/. Would it be acceptable to you if I linked my blog to your blog, Matt?

    Sincerely,
    Jason

  4. It’s painful to see John Connolly thrown under the bus, especially for accusations he’s already been acquitted of. I’m hoping credible evidence arises in this trial from Bulger or elsewhere proving John Connolly had nothing to do with any murder and certainly not the Callahan murder that these same mercenary witnesses pinned on him.

    • Well so much for Connolly’s assertion after WB was arrested that Connolly’s attorneys had learned that in his interviews with FBI agents WB had exonerated him.

      After two trials that ended with two convictions and with the Hail Mary of WB not panning out, perhaps it is time to consider the fact that Connolly was in fact a crooked FBI agent. Yes there had to be others and yes they have escaped prosecution but that does not lessen his culpability.

      • The first trial ended with one conviction for John’s 23 years as an FBI agent: that conviction was for John handing a case of wine with a $1,000 envelope in it from Jim Bulger to John Morris. That’s what you call a corrupt cop? Acquitted of taking anything of value for himself; acquitted of leaking any information that led to anyone’s death. The second trial was a total sham travesty violating every principle of Constitutional fairness and John was convicted in Miami on a count for which the Statute of Limitations had run plus for which the prosecution failed to prove an essential element of the crime plus for which my erudite friend Chester DArling said, “The Trial Judge in Miami failed to properly instruct the jury on what the law required.” So, no! It’s not time to throw the towel in on John Connolly just because the accused serial killer and admitted career criminal has spoken out of both sides of his mouth with a forked tongue about John Connolly being a good or bad cop. What if Jim Bulger says JOhn Connolly had nothing to do with any murder, will you then trumpet and insist he be immediately released from prison in Florida?

        • Actually I was commenting upon one of your earlier posts in which you were trumpeting the alleged WB statements as the great exoneration of Connolly which as we’ve seen didn’t work out. You have stated that you knew Connolly personally and you like him. As a result, I guess, you can’t credit any evidence your friend was a crook. It is sad but he was and you need to get over it.

          In Boston Connolly was convicted for a number of actions that would not have been committed by an honest person. Sending false, anonymous letters trashing honest officers? He also leaked confidential information to Flemmi’s counsel secretly to help Flemmi. See Fishman’s testimony in Miami. Flemmi is a horrible human. Yet Connolly secretly helped him. Or is Flemmi’s lawyer, now a judge lying too? Also, He lied to agents about his contact with Flemmi’s attorney. Why?

          Connolly was not wrongly or illegally convicted in Florida. He was convicted after a full, open, public trial. He had his appeal heard and denied. The SOL was not violated. I have explained in several previous posts why clearly the SOL had not run on the charge Connolly was convicted of.

          The only appeal available to Connolly now in Florida is a 3.850 motion re ineffective assistance of counsel. You have stated in previous posts that you know this was argued and adjudicated in Connolly’s appeal. Perhaps. Yet Florida law requires a separate hearing by the court on such motion and for the court to enter a written order as to why the motion was denied. These motions are typically held upon a second appeal after the direct appeal has been denied.

          The newspaper coverage of the arguments on Connolly’s appeal make no mention of any argument on ineffective assistance of counsel. The court records show no hearing re such a motion.

          I think Connolly is right where he should be. I have no interest in helping him but, If I was a Supporter of his I would first call the Florida 3rd DCA and have them send me the briefs re his appeal so I would know what was argued and what was not. This would cost about $300. I would then call his attorney of record and ask why a rehearing before the entire 3rd DCA was not requested after his direct appeal was denied. This would cost nothing. Finally, I would take personal responsibility for contacting and rallying the hundreds upon hundreds of retired FBI agents with their fat pensions and cushy post FBI jobs who have rallied around Connolly to get them to put up a measly $1000 each to hire a top notch appeals attorney to do anything that can be done in the Florida courts and then seek redress in the federal courts via habeas corpus. I hope these former agents really meant they support Connolly and didn’t just sign some BS petition because otherwise they may be reluctant to pass the real test of support, digging into their own wallet.

          If I believed in someone, what I would not do is sit back, rant about his innocence on the Internet but do nothing constructive to help him.

          • So, you convict Connolly “It was sad he was a crook” without a trial. You ignore the jury’s verdicts and want to call him “a crook”. That’s how you treat your fellow man. Assassinate his character. No fair trial. No presumption of innocence. Screw the law and the facts. No prosecutorial over-zealousness. Everything in Miami was tapioca, so you continue to trumpet the integrity of this corrupt federal system, while, I, you are right will stand by my lifelong friends. I suppose you’d throw your family and friends under a bus if the FEDS accused them of wrongdoing or if a Serial Killer said they “took money” and “said bad things like ‘if x talks, we’ll all be in trouble.’ You stick with the FEDS; I’ll stick with my lifelong friends. “Time will tell who has fell and whose been left behind.” Bono fortunate! CIAo!

            • William:

              Connolly had two trials. It’s not me but his great friend Whitey who has done it to him.

          • JHG, we know John Connolly was convicted of five actions (four actions sounded under two separate federal statutes: RICO and Obstruction.) What you will never explicitly admit is that four out of five of those actions occurred four to nine years after John Connolly left the FBI, while he was a private citizen. We’ve all commented ad nauseum on those four belated actions, two of which no one believes ever happened. EVen your present-prop man, Jim Bulger, whose words you believe are gospel, as does the press so far, even Jim Bulger says words to this effect: “John Connolly did not tip me off to flee; I heard it on the radio that indictments were coming down and Flemmi was arrested.” Now please admit for the record that at John Connolly’s 2002 trial in Boston before a Federal jury he was acquitted of all the serious charges (See Shelley Murphy’s contemporaneous front page Globe story), was convicted of five minor charges, and only one those charges occurred during his 23 years as an FBI agent, as I’ve describe it. It’s not hard to to tell the simple truth. As for Miami, we proundly disagree; your view of the US Constitution is an unbreachable chasm wide, an unfathomable depth away from my view. By the way, how often were you a co-counsel on a case that reached the US SUpreme Court and resulted in a unanimous victory. I hate to pull rank, normally I never do. But there are exceptions!!!!

          • JHG, I was in the Courtroom. I read the briefs. I know what arguments were made verbally and in writing. You are wrong! You don’t know what you’re talking about when it comes to the law. Let me be kind: I’ll take Supreme Court litigator Chester Darling’s view of the law over yours any day. Chet agrees with me! He told me so. He’s a friend. He happens to be the most humble, erudite, brilliant, eloquent lawyer in the country, and he’s given little credit because out of the public eye he represents those little guys who are being crushed by FED-like power brokers (including some wayward jurists.)

          • I followed John Connolly’s first trial with great interest, since I had first learned of the situation on 60 Minutes. I’ve gone through hundreds of pages of documents and transcripts. I retired a few years ago from the NYPD and know a thing or two about investigation. I have always had a problem with not only Connolly’s conviction but the prosecution itself. It seems they had a problem in the Boston Field Office, so to gloss it over they threw FBI Agent John Connolly under the bus. By doing so, that made the rest of them look good. “Look! We caught our own!” I felt this way back in 2002 as I do right now. Then, the conviction down in Miami….what evidence was there? At all times, it was Steve Flemmi. A guy who murders his girlfriend then pulls out her teeth is truly a sick individual. He’s above committing perjury? Who else? John Morris, the FBI Supervisor? I’m still trying to get my head around that one: they give the supervisor a pass in order to get the subordinate? I don’t know what organization you work for, but I can assure you, the supervisor is held to account above all else. The fact that they would give the boss a pass just to get the subordinate shows me that they had a special animus for John Connolly.

    • Patty and Matt,
      Carney is accusing Connolly of talking money. Right? Not murder. Connolly was already convicted of taking money I believe and served his time.
      If Whitey had nothing to do with Oklahoma and Florida murders it reasons that neither did Connolly.
      Whitey may throw Connolly under the bus by saying he paid him for info re: bugs and warrants. Not who was snitching which Connolly would reasonably believe could cause a homicide. Perhaps one step backwards for Connolly so he he can get two forward. Connolly is in a prison limbo right now for a crime he either didn’t or if he did is illegally being imprisoned for 40 years.
      BTW, Kevin Cullen is the only person in all of this that admits to informing wise guys that Bulger was an informant. Kevin admitted on NPR recently that he expected it to result in Bulger being “hit”. He even asked mafiosos why they didn’t “whack” him. They told him they didn’t believe it. More evidence that Whitey was not informant btw.

      Kevin will asked about this by Carney/ Brennan BTW. Who was the mafia guy that told him this?

      • Ernie, not only was John acquitted of taking anything of value (not guilty on taking a ring), he was never ever “ever!” even charged by Wyshak/Durham/Kelly et al with taking a dime’s worth of money.
        As for the posts about Connolly’s alleged wealth, he lived completely within his modest salary and the rental income he got from his duplex in Southie. He lived like many 50 year old divorced or single guys with no children; he had a duplex in Southie, a cottage on the Cape and a 26 foot Yacht. He accumulated these things after being an FBI agent for over 20 yEARS. HE SOLD THE DUPLEX AT A NICE PROFIT TO GET HIS HOUSE IN LYNNFIELD, and by 1993 or so, he had three young sons, have married late. THE FEDS and CARNEY CONTINUE TO SPIN THE LIES: ONCE AGAIN JOHN CONNOLLY IS REPRESENTED BY NO ONE; WHAT A GREAT COUNTRY; CONTINUALLY SCREW AN INNOCENT, UNREPRESENTED MAN TO THE WALL!!!

        • What have you done for John Connolly today?

          • JHG: What do you do daily for your pals in the FEDS?
            You know, when we were representing the VEterans for four years running int he St. Pat’s Day Parade case, we encountered scowls and mockers like you. “They mock scars who never felt wounds!” Keep on scowling! Any other needles you want to poke at people. Get a kick out that, do you?

  5. from your lips to the ears of G-d

  6. Matt, I hope everyone including Jim Bulger testifies so that each of us can decide for ourselves who is telling the truth. Trooper Bob Cerra wrote that same thing in the Newton Tab. Let’s air out everyone’s laundry and see who stinks to high heaven. Let the cards fall where they may. Read ’em and weep for America riddled by corruptions.