Martorano inundates us with his stories of how he murdered twenty people. Like all thugs, he justifies all his killings. You see he was mostly killing and testifying against rats. Martorano tells us he did this because he learned from the nuns at St. Agatha’s school in Milton that the worst person in the bible is Judas Iscariot “who sold out his Savior for forty pieces of silver.” So as Martorano figured it “it was his obligation, dammit” to kill these people and testify against them.
He suggests the nuns at St. Agatha would have understood. Most if not all of those nuns have now passed on. Knowing Martorano he would have tried to make a deal with the feds to give them up as accessory before the fact to murder. After all Connolly was prosecuted for putting the suggestion in Whitey’s ear that Callahan would not stand up to FBI questioning and when Callahan was murdered Connolly was convicted of murdering him; it follows that the nuns put the bug in Martorano’s ear that rats killed his Savior so whenever Martorano killed a rat they stood a chance of being convicted of one or more the Martorano’s many murders.
Howard Carr his biographer does his darndest to put a shine on a sneaker by explaining how Martorano’s really a nice guy who is misunderstood. Right off the bat in his prologue to his fawning book on Martorano, Carr starts his litany of misrepresentations. He tells us that Martorano is under cross examination in Connolly’s Florida trial and indicates that the defense attorney for Connolly is having a hard time getting anywhere. He notes that back in Boston at the Connolly trial Martorano was the “prosecution’s chief witness.” He writes that Connolly’s attorney “hadn’t been able to lay a glove on him.” That’s funny. Martorano must have gone down for the count after Connolly’s attorney Tracy Miner sneezed. The Boston jury believed nothing of Martorano’s testimony. It’s inconvenient to the telling to mention that fact.
One thing I’ll never be able to figure out. Carr for years has been telling us that Billy Bulger is corrupt without really giving any evidence to support his statements. He’s now hanging around with one of the most corrupt persons who ever walked the streets of Boston and one of its only serial murderers. There is plenty of evidence to show Martorano is corrupt.
Maybe the sight of more money flowing in blinds Carr to that truth now that he made his bed with the worst of the worst. Carr seems all puffed up about his friendship with Martorano. He is continually boasting about it. When something comes up about organized crime in New England he immediately Googles Martorano to find out the answer.
It’s interesting how one will stoop to any level to put some money into ones pocket and earn a little extra by living off people who commit crimes? It seems Carr’s always wanted to be a big tough guy so he lives the life of a gangster vicariously through Martorano. He condemns the crimes of Whitey but befriends a man who is equally as bad, if not worse. As far as I know Whitey never ratted anyone else which puts Martorano in one of those lower circles in Dante’s Hell. I wonder if the nuns taught him about that.
Carr tells us how in Connolly’s trial in Florida “Martorano was wearing the most expensive shoes in the courtroom: $700 alligator loafers, custom-made, imported from Italy.” Carr is impressed by this and hopes we have the same reaction. He doesn’t seem to understand how grotesque it appears that this serial killer is so flush with cash a year after getting out of federal prison after doing 12 years for 20 murders that he can afford the most expensive shoes in the courtroom.
I had to wonder when reading Carr’s book how the government attorneys feel knowing that the guy they gave such a gift to is bragging about his exploits, dressing to the nine, proclaiming in answer to the question “so you put one over on the government”, referring to the fact that Martorano agreed to testify to a list of people that he didn’t know, that “Í didn’t put one over. My lawyer made a good deal.”
Martorano after making that remark probably turned to his cop friends who are now handling him and smiled like he did during the Connolly case. They would smile back encouraging their new friend to continue with his wise guy act. The sordid show would go on.
I wonder if the prosecution team has figured out how Martorano was flush with cash a year after getting out of prison. When he testified in the Connolly case while he was in prison he said he had no assets. That by the way was another little fraud. He was supposed to have forfeited things as a result of being arrested and making a deal with the government but in actuality he forfeited nothing even though the government produced a list of things he forfeited. He gave away or hid everything before the government got it.
You see the problem with making deals with guys like Martorano is that you become complicit in their criminal lives. Martorano probably had lots of money stashed in safe deposit boxes. The government may know about it but can’t do anything because it needs Martorano as a witness against Whitey. It has to tip toe around him with soft slippers to keep him happy. Martorano now has carte blanche to do whatever he wants since there is no way the government would ever do anything to hurt his reputation.
I’m sure one thing the government did not expect was Martorano would be out telling people he put one over on it or spelling out his criminal adventures for all to see. I guess Martorano never expected Whitey would be caught so he could tell his tales of fancy and keep his ill-gotten goods while the governments hands were tied. I’ll bet the nuns didn’t know how lucky they were that Martorano wasn’t caught sooner.
Do you mean Jimmy Flemmi? Never heard Jimmy M called “The Bear.”
Above: “They also knew he put others into the Deegan killing to protect Jimmy “the Bear” Martorano. I think everyone (well almost everyone) agrees on that. Read what I have to say about Connolly tomorrow. We disagree on his culpability.”
I do. I meant Vincent Flemmi who was known as Jimmy Flemmi or Jimmy the Bear or just The Bear. My mistake. Martorano was hanging around with the Bear and was also buddies with Barboza. Thanks. I should hire you as my fact checker. Appreciate it.
The Feds look foolish in the Martorano deal. They let him hide the killings of his 6 murderous friends in the Winter Hill gang.( contrary to standard co-operation deal agreements). Wyshak and Wolfe permit him to profit from the murders and he gets 6 months per killing. Did Dimento hypnotize Wyshak during the negotiations? 2. The Feds blunders here are similar to what Myles Connor extracted from them in the theft of the Rembrant. Gabriel and Twomey had to drop charges for its return. The Feds looked like the Keystone Cops. 3. The teenage boy and girl who witnessed a murder were not rats. Neither was Veranis. He killed so he could have Gucci loafers. 4. If you grew up in the city (Southie Charlestown, Dot) you saw the gangsters and some of their groupies. The groupies were usually the least tough guys in the neighborhood.But they could be strong by association. A prep school dink from Maine would be a typical groupie. 5.Fitzpatrick says Whitey was a psychopath but Martorano wasn’t. He too was impressed with Martorano’s satorial splendor. Had Whitey shopped at Burberrys would he have been less of a psychopath? Whitey’s kingdom was lost for want of a good outfit. 6. Naimovich was framed by the Feds but with the active assistance of the State Police. Could Schneiderman have influenced others in the State Police to target Naimovich? Of all the State Police Naimovich was the one getting closest to the top levels of organized crime. Similarly Rico, Condon and Connolly are portrayed as bad cops. Yet it is those three who recruit the TE informants ( Barboza, Flemmi and Bulger) that penetrate LCN and result in the Patracha and Anguillo gangs being imprisoned. Is this just a coincidence or an active disinformation campaign of the Mafia? Without Flemmi there is no wiretap of Prince St. But for Bulgers partnership with Flemmi no action is taken.
Thanks for writing. Martorano all but said DiMento picked Wyshak’s pocket. Myles was up there with the guys who knew how to bargain for a good deal. Speaking of him on July 12 the Globe reported the former art thief was arrested noting “”But his latest alleged caper was a far cry from artful. Connor, 69, was arrested Thursday night on charges of robbing two women outside a convenience store in Woonsocket, R.I., during a drug dispute, police said. The weapon he brandished, which appeared to be a 9mm firearm, was in fact a pellet gun, and he got away only with a cellphone.” Neither were Roger Wheeler or John Callahan rats. There are stories of Mr. Carr being called Howard the Coward in his youthful years. To get away from them he went to school in North Carolina. Read what I have to say tomorrow about Fitzpathetic. Naimovich could not have been framed without active help from the state police. Schneiderhan was capable of doing that and much worse. Disagree with Flemmi’s input on 98 Prince Street — Quinn said the affidavit was already done without Flemmi’s help when Morris told him to put Flemmi into the mix. Rico was a bad cop. He died in prison awaiting trial. He was intimately connected with Wheeler’s murder. Condon was his partner. Barboza was a Mafia killer which they knew. They also knew he put others into the Deegan killing to protect Jimmy “the Bear” Martorano. I think everyone (well almost everyone) agrees on that. Read what I have to say about Connolly tomorrow. We disagree on his culpability.
I notice I said Jimmy “the Bear” Martorano.. It should be Jimmy “the Bear” Flemmi a friend of Martorano’s. Henry Barth rightly pointed out that error. My mistake.