The dark side came about because of the manner in which the FBI operates. Just as Whitey did not know he was listed as an informant there was another guy kept in the dark by Connolly. That was Whitey’s brother Billy.
I read an FBI report that was being filed in response to a request from Washington, DC inquiring about Whitey’s status as an informant. Near the end of the report the writer felt compelled to advise the person in DC that Whitey’s brother Billy was a powerful politician in Boston. It had no relevance to the inquiry but the Boston agent felt the need to advice headquarters of that.
Within the FBI in Boston it seemed that Whitey was kept open and protected because of Billy’s position as a powerful politician. Billy was oblivious to all of this. No one has produced any evidence to show he knew Whitey was an informant while there’s a plethora of evidence showing it was well-known in the FBI
Billy’s name was bandied about by the Boston agents. Agent John Connolly was worried about a state calling a grand jury looking in to the leak of the Lancaster Street attack. On October 30, 1980, he filed a memorandum saying the State Police believe he was Flemmi’s handler and speculate he “tipped off Whitey Bulger through his brother, Senate President William Bulger.”
The deviousness of that is striking. If the state police believed he was Flemmi’s handler why would they think he’d have to tell Whitey through Billy rather than him telling Flemmi directly? That was Connolly’s way of reminding his fellow agents he was friends with Billy.
Then he says the State Police have it out for him for what he did in another case. He says because of that AG Bellotti who is a close friend of DA Delahunt would do a grand jury because Bellotti hates Billy Bulger and some other people and he could embarrass Bulger. All of this is made up out of whole cloth and attributed to no one.
This is the type of stuff that lurks in FBI reports. To protect himself, Connolly has no trouble maligning other people among his fellow agents. Like with his opening a file on Whitey, all of this was done behind the back and without the knowledge of the people he wrote about.
The tragedy of it is that the FBI agents in Boston sought to curry favor with Billy in the hope that by doing so he would help them out down the line. Therefore they wrongly thought by protecting Whitey even though he had no value it was to the FBI agents benefit to do this. Unlike the State Police, the Norfolk DA, and others who had no thought of Billy as I’ve shown, the FBI let politics into their decision making.
Billy, without his knowing it, was being played a sucker by the FBI. He knew nothing about how his name was tossed about. Billy a law and order guy held the FBI in high respect; he would be willing to do whatever he could to help out any agent. It was beyond Billy’s comprehension that Connolly would be using his friendship with Billy to protect himself in the FBI and to keep Whitey as an informant.
Whitey benefited greatly from it. Connolly tipped him off about things that may cause him problems. Connolly also did well gaining in prestige and freedom. Billy suffered greatly for without his knowledge the FBI agents were using his name as a reason to keep up their relationship with Whitey and were of the belief that by helping Whitey they were pleasing Billy.
The FBI with its ill-conceived and evil Top Echelon program and its agents who worrying more about where they will get a job after retirement than doing the job before retirement abetted the career of Whitey and undermined that of Billy.
Billy went along as the music played. He stood on the bandstand listening to it with the assurance of the FBI that the bandstand was sound. It was actually being undermined by the termites who by helping the bad brother brought down the good brother.
Matt and Declan: I’ve read all of Matt’s posts. We all know Florida was a travesty; many of us have condemned the Florida fiasco long before Matt began his posts. Matt’s analysis of the Florida prosecution is correct. OTHERWISE, his analyses of John Connolly’s motives and actions are oftentimes incorrect and sometimes way off base, far afield. 2. It’s easy to belittle and demean and ascribe the worse motives to persons; rationalizations are easy; it’s easy to build cases on thin reeds. This is what Wyshak does. Pointing the guilty finger is easy. 3. John Connolly is defenseless. 4. They have a rule in football about targeting defenseless players. It’s wrong to target defenseless players; it’s wrong to pile on; it’s wrong to kick a man when he’s down. 4. If you’ve played the game fairly most times, and fouled only once or twice, the flag is still thrown. In other words, Declan, to say that Matt has treated John fairly most times is no defense to occasional unfair treatment. 5. Declan says I blather. I unapologetically do. “Blather” is of the ear and oftentimes chimes true. What rings true to me, may not to you. 6. John Connnolly is a good man, wrongly framed and persecuted by the Feds, Globe, Herald, et al. 7. John Connolly and Bill Delahunt did cross swords. 8. Delahunt was on the Congressional Committee that wrongly grilled Bill Bulger. Delahunt suppported Bellotti; Bulger supported Silber. Bad blood brewed in the Delahunt-Bellotti camp. It took years for the wounds to mend. Because of those festering wounds, some resentments lingered. Bulger and Bellotti have long since mended fences.
Matt: This is gibberish. The Feds catered to a State Senate President???? They sought to “curry favor” with a State Senator??? The Feds believed that “by helping Whitey they were pleasing Billy”??? You’ve forgotten the Feds have indicted State Big Wigs (Finneran, Flaherty, e.g.). 2. John Connolly innocently mentions the well known Bulger-Bellotti feud (Bulger opposed Bellotti’s run for governor) and mentions that some State cops “believed” Billy may have been a source of leaks and you turn those innocent observations into a federal offense? 3. The Feds were not afraid of the Senate President and John Connolly was not afraid of his fellow FBI agents. 4. John Connolly was proud of Bill Bulger, as we all are. We all admire Bill Bulger. 5. I admire John Connolly. I don’t like seeing him vilified by innuendo, loose threads, flimsy speculations. 6. Please publish the entire October 30, 1980 memorandum. 7. I may be wrong but it seems to me you have been conducting an unwarranted crusade against John Connolly ever since John, in his official capacity as an FBI agent, most likely under orders from his superiors, interviewed your friend and boss Bill Delahunt. That Delahunt’s feathers’ were ruffled is no cause for a jihad. 8. In other words, you are making mountains out of molehills. 9. John Connolly, an innocent man, has been punished enough; he’s serving life in prison on false charges. 10. The “termites” who have attacked Bill Bulger can be found at the Boston Globe, Boston Herald and among political liberals who envied his erudition and despised his conservatism. 11. In the end, Bill Bulger stands tall, undaunted; the termites crawl grubby and small. 12. Be bigger minded than this. 13. An anonymous person I know calls this “pettifoggery” and “nitpicking.” 14. In summation, like most disputes in life, this is a tempest in teapot. We’re all fallible. 15. My final verdict on John Connolly: A good man. Not quilty!
Bill:
1. Far from gibberish – there are FBI reports going from Boston to Washington DC talking about that relationship. Keep in mind FBI is a political outfit also. Fitzpatrick tells how it was customary for all SACs and ASACs to be introduced to political leadership. Agents always looking for jobs after retiring in 50s.
2. Connolly had no business implicating Billy into a valid investigation of the Lancaster Leak by the state. Saying it was innocent is gibberish. It certainly was not that but it was stupid to toss his name into something he had nothing to do with and with which Connolly did since it was the FBI that compromised the investigation.
3. Connolly was intent on keeping Whitey as an informant – he had no qualms about doing whatever was necessary to do that. The FBI was not afraid of Billy but it did know his influence would be helpful in getting jobs.
4. Sure John liked Billy Bulger but he was highly indiscreet in suggesting a legitimate investigation was motivated by a desire to get Billy by getting him. His whole thesis was fraudulent which probably did not occur to him at the time because he was in a panic.
5. and 7. Perhaps you are blinded by your admiration of Connolly so that you impugn my motives suggsting I have a crusade against John Connolly. As far as him interviewing Delahunt I have no knowledge of that ever happening and as far as Delahunt is concerned that has no impact on anything I have written. I do know this though – Delahunt was a thorn in Whitey’s side as judged by the reports Connolly filed saying that was the case. Connolly did cause a specious investigation of Delahunt by the U.S. attorney’s office which could only have been for the purpose of protecting Whitey just like he and Ring went ahead and investigated Naimovich so that the guy who was providing information to Whitey and Flemmi would be protected. Whitey had one real foe in law enforcement and that was coming from my actions against his organization which he attributed to Delahunt. You don’t find it strange that Connolly and Whitey had the same foe.
8. The Naimovich prosecution was not a molehill. The protection of Whitey was not a molehill. The impugning of the good name of Billy Bulger was not a molehill. The FBI keeping an eye on after retirement jobs is not a molehill.
9. I agree Connolly should not be in prison in Florida as I have said all along. In fact I have been one of the foremost advocates of that position.
10. True, Billy Bulger’s foes are in the media and other places but it does not help him to have his name bandied about in FBI reports relative to his brother Whitey when he had no knowledge of Whitey’s involvement with Connolly as best I can tell but connecting him to him in reports tells another story.
J. Edgar Hoover created a monster in two ways – he made the FBI into a poltical police because he had to serve the whims of the presidents to keep his job and knew that keeping good relationships with politicians was essential to the FBI’s survival; also he instituted the Top Echelon Informant program which maked FBI agents partners with top criminals which is a real abomination.
Bill,
You may want to go back and read some of Matts previous posts before blathering on from a position of ignorance. Matt, while not wearing blinders to some of JC’s mistakes, has been MORE than fair to John…I would say he’s probably one of his few supporters outside of close friends that has written extensively on his case. I too believe that John has been the sacrificial lamb in this whole mess..it’s despicable what has been done to him. While there are different levels of support, I think you are absolutely barking up the wrong tree here. Go back and educate yourself and tell me I’m wrong.