Break for lunch. Morris was the highlight today. By now whatever happened with Marra is long gone into the recesses of the memory. Maybe it’ll come back some day.
I found several things that were interesting in Morris’s testimony. One was the information surrounding the Halloran murder. I never knew before that Agent John Connolly was not around the office much during the time that Halloran had begun cooperating with the FBI. This is according to Morris who said that because he was attending graduate school at Harvard he was not there often.
Morris had opposed Connolly going to that school. The reason is unclear because if Connolly was his best friend as he asserts, why would he not have supported it?
Halloran decides to cooperate and the FBI wants to get him into the witness protection program. We heard about efforts made in that direction and one involved Morris doing a threat assessment which was an attempt to determine what threats existed to Halloran from the criminal element. We’ve seen reports from which we are supposed to infer that Whitey is laying the ground work for doing a hit on Halloran. Connolly is filing information wherein Whitey is telling him about the many people who have grudges against Halloran like the Mafia and people from Charlestown.
I guess while Connolly is at school he is still filling reports from the information he is getting from Whitey. It’s hard to see him taking the time to make this stuff up as the defendant is alleging. That’s probably the best evidence to show Whitey is giving information.
But Morris today tells us that during the time this information from Whitey about Halloran being a target for other people is being written, from which we are supposed to believe Whitey is turning suspicion from himself and is planning a hit, Connolly knew nothing about Halloran being an informant.
So how is it that we are supposed to believe the idea which the prosecutor has asserted time after time and which is the common belief among those who pass them off as experts on this case that the reason Halloran was murdered was because Connolly tipped Whitey off that Halloran was informing on him when Whitey is laying the groundwork for the hit before Connolly is aware Halloran is an informant
That’s one of the big problems with understanding this case. Everything that the gangsters picked up on the street about what was going on is ignored. I’ve noted this before that we’re supposed to think what the gangsters know about the people they interact with on the street only comes from government sources. But here we see clearly that Whitey knows Halloran is cooperating long before Connolly knows.
And the whole Halloran story about Whitey and Stevie asking him to kill Wheeler is nonsense. Halloran was known as a coke head and drunk and a guy who couldn’t be controlled. He’s under indictment for murder which everyone knew. Would they take a chance and put their crime careers at risk by bringing him in to hit a guy in Oklahoma? Halloran probably didn’t know there was an Oklahoma.
Another thing of interest was Morris talking about the Pallatta case. Pallatta was a guy giving information out about Winter Hill. Morris said that Connolly approached him and asked him if he could use some information from that case to approach Whitey Bulger to see if he could flip him. That is apparently the genesis of the relationship between Connolly and Whitey.
We’ve been told stories about Connolly knowing him from youth, or Connolly meeting him in a car at night near a beach where Whitey sneaks up on the car like Batman, and have read in quotes the conversations that were supposed to have occurred, such as Connolly telling him we’ll both work together to take down the Mafia. I Morris is to be believed, they are all made up. It was a mundane situation of going to Whitey with a file and saying I’ve got this information and would you like to work with us.
There’s so much fiction in the FBI that it is constantly bumping into reality. FBI files tell us Flemmi is not an informant until he was opened in 1980. Yet we hear Morris telling us that in 1979 he went to O’Sullivan and told him Flemmi is an informant and he shouldn’t indict him. We also hear of him doing other things with Flemmi before he is listed as an informant. Flemmi tells us he was an informant all along since he first signed up in the early 1960s.
It’s a sad state of affairs when we have to go to the gangsters to get the truth. #Bulger
It sounds like the FBI was creating their own cheesy 1980s crime drama.
F.B.I. – Forming Bogus Information
D:
The FBI has been doing that since its creation. You ought to read some books on it. It had four divisions in DC and one was dedicated to propaganda. Hoover liked his good press. ~~
Everyone on the planet knew Halloran was co operating with law enforcement. He got caught red handed killing Pappas in Chinatown. Then he was let out on bail. Almost no one makes bail on a first degree murder charge. Especially an OC figure. They had a stronger case on him than they do on Aaron Hernandez. The Superior Court judge described it( Hernandez) as circumstantial but very strong. WB’s case is the opposite I. e. direct evidence from incredible serial killers with a great incentive to lie. Much less compelling. The Boston jury found Connolly not guilty of this patently false charge. 2. Where is the justice when the corrupt boss walks the street and the underling is framed and imprisoned. After Connolly’s trial in Boston his lawyer appeared on Channel Two with Emily Rooney who congratulated her for her victory. Remember the Globe reported he was found not guilty on the serious charges. However a biased, dishonest judge ignored the juries findings and sentenced him to ten years for the minor charges. After his Fla. trial his lawyer appeared on television in an upbeat mood. He got an NG on the first degree murder and Conspiracy charges and on the one conviction the judge agreed the Statute of Limitations had expired. A second dishonest judge sentenced him. No matter how well your lawyers do if the judge is a crook you are in trouble. ( See Boston School Committee vs. J. Garrity)
N:
1. I have no trouble believing that everyone in the wise guy community knew Halloran was cooperating. The problem with the prosecutions or any law case is there is so much of “the street” that is left out of the cases. I’ve said before that we act that the gangsters are sitting in chairs on the decks of three deckers waiting to find out from the feds what their friends are doing.
2. What can I say?
Matt you wrote that Morris opposed John Connolly going to Harvard; Morris also in writing opposed any promotions for Connolly; He wanted to keep Connolly under his foot!!
William:
It’s not so much he wanted to keep him under his foot it’s just that Morris was infected with one of the cardinal sins, he envied Connolly so he tried to destroy him. Morris told how he was upset in 1980 or 81 at how far above his means Connolly was living.
Matt, in 1980-81, John Connolly was single again (divorced in 1970s), forty-forty-one years old, and just brought his very first house, a duplex in Southie, from which he got rental income. The sad sack Morris apparently strapped with a wife he was notoriously unfaithful to and a mistress he was wining and dining, envied Connolly’s bachelor’s lifestyle, freedom and easy going, good natured ways. Connolly got along with people; Morris didn’t; Connolly had friends; Morris none. We’ve always maintained John Connolly lived well within his means and have offered our proofs on your blog previously.
William:
Good points
Which one of Bill Bulger’s sons was in the courtroom today?
B345:
I don’t know his kids so I can’t tell you. Chris once worked for the DA’s office but I don’t know if I’d recognize him now.I did notice in the family row a group of people I had not seen before.
the truth! easier to catch the wind in your hands or pass a camel through the eye of a needle.
LOL, well said. Please don’t get me confused with a JJ Bulger sympathizer, I am just pointing out that in this one case, what he said is true. Morris IS a fluffing liar. Listening to the blistering cross right now an I wonder how on earth this testimony will have any impact on the verdict. I hope they have showers in the jury room. Those poor people…..
Except for the 1980s case of wine with cash deal, the Boston jury in 2002 rejected almost everything Morris, Martorano and Salemme said. The only person to believe these liars and their lying pal Flemmi (who said Connolly was securing C4 for the IRA and getting Boston Edison to give the Boston Globe free electricity or cut rate electricity); the only ones to believe these known serial killing liars are the Boston press: Cullen, Gelzinis, Carr, McNeil and Lehr, who take their word, when convenient, and repeat it verbatim, when it suits their slanted stories: the viler the lies, the better, as far as the media/press is concerned.
William:
You’re right But they also pick and choose from the evidence putting in only the parts they like.
Another:
Brennan is doing a good job making Morris look bad. Spoke to him briefly later today. He looked exhausted – he’s been under the gun with all the heavy cross-examination lately. He said he won’t take up the 4 hours tomorrow. We’ll see – I’ve figured out the defense’s strategy, I think.
Hopalong:
Aboslutely right – when you can change reality in your mind and assert one thing as truth one day and the exact opposite the next day and believe you spoke the truth each time then you know you’ll never find it
Apparently, around the time of this testimony, Mr. Bulger said to Morris during a break (without the jury present), “you are a (fluff)ing liar”
Preach the truth, Brother Whitey?
Another:
That line was spoken when the jury was present. It was heard by counsel sitting three persons away from Whitey to his left. The jury is beyond that. The witness was closer to him, separated by only one lawyer. I don’t think the jury heard him. I noticed no reaction watching Morris.
I stand corrected, please mind you that the closed circuit doesnt reach down to Texas so I rely on twitter feeds. Perhaps Robbert Duvall’s people can get me a seat? Regardless, Bulger did identify the witness correctly.