Ivan Revealed – A Russian in an Irish World

Ivan is John Zannon Naimovich.

23 years he spent as a Massachusetts State Trooper.   He died in November 1991.

On February 3, 1988, he was arrested by the FBI in a manner designed to highly embarrass him, at his office in front of his fellow troopers.  (The FBI lacking class gets it kicks out of these puerile tricks like demeaning people in front of their friends, family or co-workers.  We tried to treat people with dignity.  Almost always if we had a warrant on a person who we did not expect to flee or be in possession of contraband, we’d ask the person to show up in court.  Unlike the FBI, we thought the idea of the presumption of innocence meant something.)

Judge Mark Wolf famous for bringing to the world’s attention the unsavory connection between the FBI and Whitey had this to say about Naimovich.  He was talking about the 1980 leak of information to Whitey from which he learned that the state police had a bug in the Lancaster Street garage — “Flemmi initially received information about the bug, through an associate, John Naimovitch(sic), a Massachusetts State Police Trooper.

Wolf mentions him again in relation to an affidavit filed by a DEA agent Steve Boeri for a wiretap on Kaufman — “Massachusetts State Trooper John Naimovitch(sic), who had tipped Flemmi to the Lancaster Street Garage bug, was the source of some of the additional Title 18-related information on which Boeri relied.

The last time Wolf mentions him is while he is still talking about the Kaufman wiretap — “It is also likely that Flemmi had access to any information known to Naimovitch(sic), who, in 1980, had alerted him to the bug at the Lancaster Street Garage, and was later convicted on charges of corruption.”

Wolf writes as if by repeating something it gains strength.

Naimovich is indicted in 1988.  In 1999 Judge Wolf is finding he tipped off at least two electronic surveillance operations.  Wolf used as a basis for his findings that Naimovich was corrupt two things:  Flemmi said Naimovich was his source in the state police, and, Naimovich was “later convicted on charges of corruption.”  

Naimovich faced a problem all cops faced — once indicted their careers are pretty much in the trash can.  Did you ever hear that a cop was found innocent?  Usually not, what happens is you’ll hear the talk as, “he beat the wrap” leaving the idea he did it but got away with it.

I’ve got a few questions to ask.

Why then do I say Foley is haunted by Ivan’s ghost?  If Judge Wolf is right then his investigation of Naimovich took a bad cop off the force so his conscience should not bother him about that.

Do you believe that Judge Wolf  who couldn’t be bothered to spell Naimovich’s name correctly could be wrong?

Why would Flemmi throw his long time informant  Naimovich under the bus?  It’s true Naimovich was dead over a half dozen years at the time Flemmi testified, but if he was his source these many years and a friend, as he told one FBI SAC, why speak ill of him now?  Why not take the Fifth on that?

Do you think  Flemmi and Naimovich communicated through some medium holding seance sessions?  If Naimovich died in 1991.  Flemmi’s state police source continued to provide him with information up to his arrest on January 5, 1995.  In late 1994 Flemmi told Weeks he wasn’t going to flee because had his guy on top of things.

I’d like you to ponder the answers to these questions.  If you’re reading this then you’ve got that ability to look beyond the surface and are seeking a better insight into what happenings during these years.  Consider it like your homework to work these questions out.

I’ll get back with answers to the questions next Wednesday which is Ivan’s day.  I’ll also tell why I believe the Naimovich case is important to understanding Whitey.

 

3 Comments

  1. Interesting articles and I especially like your inclusion of Tpr. Naimovich, unfortunately this trooper wasn’t the only one persecuted in the Bulger melodrama. MDC Lt. Richard Nazzarro was indicted and imprisioned around the same time frame as the case against Naimovitch in the so called Exam Scam. Nazzarro had uncovered information about the Callahan homicide in Miami which implicated Bulger and others, he shared the info with Miami authorities and then shortly thereafter was visited by the FBI. Nazzarro was quickly placed under investigation by FBI SA Newton, Connolly’s partner, and then via perjured testimony convicted and imprisioned. Nazzarro fought on his own for over twenty years and was eventually able to gain a Motion to Vacate in federal court which through his conviction out due to the governments use of perjured testimony, forged documents and the witholding of exculpatory evidence. The government has opted to do nothing now although Nazzarro wants an open trial to completely clear his name. The entire case against Nazzarro was created to protect Bulger and the FBI. Now that the truth has been partially uncovered regarding Bulger and the FBI I find it interesting that there’s is no mention of the Nazzarro witch hunt in the media. Most of the Nazzarro case is publicly available on PACER except for what the government has archived. This may be a Bulger chapter worth pursuing although there are some important people who just want this to go away like the rest of the saga.

    • I’m not familiar with Nazzarro. I’ll try to look into it. Newton – called Agent Orange – was close with Connolly. Whitey sometimes met a Newton’s house with Connolly. He remained an FBI agent in good standing until it was brought out at Connolly’s trial that he had received something from Weeks which the FBI knew about before hand but until it was made public it didn’t act against him. Naimovich was a trooper for 23 years not that it mattered to the FBI. Thanks for the information. I’ll see what I can find out about it. I appreciate your interest in the matter. I’ll be in contact.

      • Appreciate your response. I may have some other info for you if you’d like to contact me privately by my e-mail address.