We’ve been through the first five murders which Whitey is accused of committing. Martorano is the witness against him in all those. Writing of Martorano I have to say I’ll never understand why he did not just go off into the sun set and live the rest of his life thanking his God that he had the chance to get out of prison. Why when he’s free does he thumb his nose at everyone. He made a basket full of bad decisions in his life but the biggest is writing that book and walking around like he’s some type of super hero; we’ve seen batman, superman, spider man and now we have murder man.
I can’t figure how he got conned into thinking the book was a good idea. Nor why he’d think there is a smidgen of merit about shooting unarmed people, mostly in the back of the head.
Martorano spent 16 years hiding in Florida because of some penny ante race fixing charge — now facing even the outside chance he could again be charged with murder he is parading around like the late Dapper O’Neil on St. Patrick’s Day. I guess he never figured Whitey would be caught; that he’d be called back to justify and explain and possibly implicate himself in other crimes when he testifies. He might even have to take the Fifth. Won’t that make the prosecutors happy with its star witness clamming up?
I wrote how his involvement in the murder of John “Jake” Leary which occurred in Fort Lauderdale is still open. Whitey’s lawyer J.W. Carney will want to ask more about that. Linking himself into something like that will come back and bite him. It was totally unnecessary to telling his tale.
Those who follow Howie Carr tell me that he keeps calling Martorano and referring to him whenever some past crime occurs. Speaking of Howie, Martorano will have a chance to see if Howie is a stand up guy when he’s put on the stand by Carney and asked what Martorano told him about these events and others. I’m sure defense counsel will ask for a court order making Howie preserve his interview notes. Howie’s not going to be happy giving evidence against Martorano especially since it means he will be excluded from watching and writing about the trial.
Martorano’s book tells about murdering people. He admits to murdering Veranis. Doesn’t he know about the Massachusetts law on murders that goes something like this: “If a mortal wound is given, or if other violence or injury is inflicted, or if poison is administered, in one county, by means whereof death ensues in another county, the homicide may be prosecuted and punished in either county.”
He may have received his immunity deal from Suffolk and Middlesex Counties, but Veranis’s body was found in the Blue Hills, Norfolk County. If the DA in Norfolk does not signed off on it (and the AG does not) Martorano can still be charged in Norfolk. Morrissey might have let it go except for the bragging Martorano has done in his book. Carney will be sure to highlight it.
Martorano’s very real problem is that Carney knows all this thanks to his book. Add to that, Carney knows from Whitey the rest of the story about him. Connolly’s lawyers did not have the inside information on him that Carney does. Carney will stand in front of him with his book. Even without Whitey demanding it, Carney will do everything in his power to link him to other crimes.
When Howie conned Martorano to get into the book writing business he did him no favors. Howie’s continuing talk of his exploits is also doing him no favor. The talk about his movie contract doesn’t help. If he had half a brain, he’d return to the life he led back in Florida keeping a low profile, shunning publicity and hopefully not do any more hits.
He should know that in the world of cops, they’re willing to accept he got a good deal and let everyone go on with their lives, but when he comes back and taunts them, he should expect they’ll react. Nothing motivates a cop more than seeing someone suggest he’s a fool as Martorano has done. When Whitey comes to town to tell his version of the story, anything he tells about Martorano that does not come under the fed umbrella will be thoroughly pursued by the cops who Martorano is belittling. The feds won’t do anything because he is on their team sitting in their boat rowing along with them but they are not the only game in town.
I know Martorano likes his gold. He wears a lot of gold jewelry. He should remember what the nuns said about gold, “silence is golden.” He can’t take back what’s out there but he can minimize its effect by staying out of the spotlight.
thank you for your interest.
Your welcome, although I’m not quite sure what you are thanking me for although I have a feeling that I should know.
Matt, for many years I have been astonished at the quantity and poor quality of the perjurious testimony used to convict John Connolly. The astonishment arises from the fact that USAs Wyshak and Kelly would be so evil as to present testimony they knew was false. Further, that no federal judge would take them to task.
As the Bulger trial approaches and you put more pressure on the evidence, much of it cannot withstand the smell test, even by average citizens. To former prosecutors like you and I, it’s just astonishing how badly federal law enforcement continues to behave. The alleged misdeeds of the FBI in the 70s pale in comparison to the current misdeeds of the USA’s office. History is repeating itself in this regard. Twenty years from now, I predict we will learn how casually USAs encouraged perjury and manipulated cases and judges to achieve certain results all to avoid embarrassment to their ‘family’.
Today a CBS article obliterates the credibility of the USA’s star witness against Bulger. Kevin Weeks testified quite clearly in John Connolly’s trial that he had no idea who one of his accomplices was in the waterfront shooting. The very concept of this testimony is patently incredible, but the USA did not hesitate to present it in court. Weeks claimed the identity of his accomplice in the murder was obscured by a ski mask. Today, an FBI report on the incident has surfaced containing an objective, eyewitness statement that the accomplice did NOT wear a ski mask! This eyewitness was five feet away from the accomplice. Most astonishing is that the USA had this FBI report in its possession at the time Weeks was perjuring on this material fact! They did not address the obvious perjury by informing the judge, informing defense counsel, charging Weeks with perjury, or any of the other actions they are mandated to do by the law and ethical requirements of their office.
The implications of this eyewitness statement are extraordinary!
How did Weeks know it was completely acceptable for him to perjure himself during Connolly’s trial? His very life depended upon telling the TRUTH, yet he still chose to lie!!
The inescapable conclusion is that the USA gave him permission to lie as long as he gave them what they were paying him for.
Keep up the great work Matt! You are starting to get closer to the truth than any federal court ever will allow. The looming Bulger trial will long be a regret of the federal judiciary in Boston. The USA’s scattergun approach calls for filing many charges with weak evidence in the hopes of at least one conviction. Then they can delay the appeals process for years and Bulger will die in prison. That may satisfy their need to shut him up, but the legal result of his death prior to a final appeal would be that he would die an innocent man.
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/10/15/witness-to-alleged-bulger-murder-says-fbi-pressured-him-to-id-wrong-man/#respond
Thanks for the comment Patty. I really appreciate it. I’m hoping that I can get some people interested in these matters as to what is going on with the federal prosecutors who act as if they have no restraint on them (like the FBI). I’ve written before that there is no way Weeks didn’t know who was in the car. We’re supposed to believe he never asked anyone or thought about it.
I’ve guessed it’s Pat Nee because he wrote in his book what a great guy Weeks was which in Southie patois means he kept his mouth shut about him. It’s absurd to think the feds let him lie like that. They let Salemme testify against Connolly but his condition was he would not testify against anyone in the Mafia. I’ve read Martorano’s book and he has a guy in the back seat of a car machine gunning people who he won’t identify and his deal is that he doesn’t have to talk about his brother Jimmy.
You know the problem, once you bring these guys on the boat they control the destination. The feds made their bed with the worst of the worst who’ve lied over and over again but the feds hands are tied because they all all in the same boat and if one goes under then they all go under. They all get a vested interest in becoming buddies working together and they forget the type of people they are dealing with. They let them perjure themselves so that they don’t damage on their case. I’ve argued in my book that if the feds can pay witnesses to testify, as they do when they bargain down sentences, then they have a higher obligation to insure they tell the truth. Here, as you point out, they don’t even abide by the minimal obligation on counsel not to put on the stand a witness who will perjure himself. The federal judges turn a blind eye to all of this.
As for John Connolly whatever else may be said about him, he should not be in prison now. He needs some good lawyers to represent him. From what I can see he hasn’t had that and doesn’t now. Can you imagine a guy sentenced to 40 years in Florida for conduct done as an FBI agent and the appeals court affirmed his conviction without issuing a written decision. His lawyers, I’m told, are afraid to do anything about it because they don’t want to aggravate the appeals court.
But what is most egregious about Connolly’s situation is he was acquitted of the same charge in Boston that he was convicted of in the Florida court. Add to that, the case should never have been tried by a Florida court because the act complained of was done by him as a federal agent and the Supremacy Clause protects federal agents from a state court judging their behavior. Normally, the DOJ will intervene to stop such a situation from happening; here, they failed to do that but assisted the Florida prosecutors in going after a federal agent. I think that has never previously been done.
I’m posting tomorrow what I call a crime story. It’s about what I consider the great overreach in using RICO to charge the probation officers. Thanks for writing, As I was about to sign off the thought, “Speak Truth To Power” came to me. I Googled the term. Apparently RFK has an institute of that name that honors people in other countries for standing up to their governments. Perhaps the foundation ought to take a look at what is happening in their own country.