Brian Halloran was gunned down within a few hundred feet of the courthouse in which Whitey is now on trial. Few doubt that was the case. That was back on May 11, 1982, long before the South Boston waterfront became the Seaport District and when Northern Avenue was the main thoroughfare from there into Boston over the old draw bridge where my uncle worked as a bridge tender.
We have been told who did it. Brian Halloran and his companion Michael Donohue were gunned down by James “Whitey” Bulger and a man in a mask. We have been told that by one man, Kevin Weeks. There is no other witness to this other than Kevin.
We know Kevin has lied about the incident. I’ve pointed out that he had to have known who was invited to go to the murder with him and also he’s given two different versions of the car he was driving. Kevin’s lied about other things also, a lot more than I even know, and J.W. Carney will make that clear when he takes on Kevin.
We also know why Kevin lied. Kevin for all his bravado and toughness was afraid of doing time. You can’t go around in prison thinking you’re going to be protected by everyone’s fear of Whitey. There are thousands of Whiteys in prison, each one tougher than the next who’d like nothing better for a tough guy like Kevin to strut his stuff. Kevin suggested as much in his prior testimony when he said he’d do anything not to do hard time.
In Southie Kevin became known as Two Weeks. That’s how long it took him to start telling the prosecutor he was interested in making a deal. He was in active negotiations seeking to placate the prosecutor’s team so that if he did time, he’d be able to do easy time in one of those camps for stoolies, one of the little Ratvilles the federals maintain in the resort areas of the country.
Now don’t think Kevin’s a dummy. He’s actually very smart. Watching him testify on cross-examination I could see his mind working very actively to figure out what is the best answer to give to a question. “If I answer X, where will that take us? Or, if I say Y, what will be the result.” He’s a clever man, always scheming and conniving as befits a highly intelligent criminal mind. Every answer he gives is part of a plan.
That’s why when Kevin sat down with the prosecution team he already had a store of knowledge upon which to fashion his stories. True he failed a lie detector but after that the federals decided not to put him on the box again. Kevin would listen to the questions, figure out what the answer was the prosecutors wanted, and feed it back to them with ruffles and flourishes.
He knew, as we’d later learn from Prosecutor Wyshak who blamed Agent John Connolly’s fall on “the Bulgers and South Boston,” that the prosecution team would do just about anything to get things on the Bulgers. He had nothing to give on Billy Bulger, so that left Whitey. Kevin had been Whitey’ side-thug for years so he could give us personal insight into how he and Whitey beat up other people.
He could also put Whitey into crimes. He said Whitey and a mask man murdered Halloran. He said he was there as a lookout and tipster, he’d tell them by walkie-talkie when Halloran left the barroom. We’ve figured he put the mask on the man because he was a friend who was still alive and he didn’t want to identify him.
But there could be a more significant reason. He did it because neither he nor Whitey was there. He’d have learned there were two gunmen who murdered Halloran. That was because casings from two separate machine guns were found there and the slugs in the bodies told of two men firing. Witnesses also said there were two gunmen.
If Weeks was there, we know he’d know who else was there, whether the man was masked or not. However, if Weeks was not there, he’d have difficulty coming up with the second man. He could always add in Whitey, after all Whitey was on the lam and no one ever thought he’d be captured. But to identify the second man he’d have caused the federals to want to verify that. In doing that, the federals may have found he was lying about that man if he wasn’t there. That would cause Weeks problems. So his only alternative was to not know that man and say the other one was Whitey.
There is no proof Weeks was there other than his word. There is no proof Whitey is there other than Weeks’s word. Weeks needed to put Whitey there to get his deal. He knew he could put himself there in a more passive role almost like a bystander and he could still get the deal. Perhaps, we’ve all been wrong in accepting that Whitey murdered Halloran. That may just be another one of Weeks’s scams.
Carney’s cross-examination on this issue will tell us all we have to know about the strategic plans of the defense team. It may give us a clue as to whether Whitey will testify. We’ll be in good shape to predict the outcome of the trial when Weeks finishes.
Where is John Connolly?
Anonymous:
He is in prison in Florida in his second or third year into a 40 year bit.
Brian Halloran’s sister told me Whitey murdered her brother. His own sister believes Whitey did it and she despises Howie Carr due to the comments he wrote in his column after her brother was killed. She did continue to express an affinity for Stephen Flemmi which is bewildering to listen to, bewildering why the victims seem to put the totality of things on Whitey yet seem to let Flemmi slide despite the fact that he figuratively murdered his step-daughter when he began molesting her as a child, long before he conned her with a shopping trip just prior to luring to her death by strangulation. It is indeed a tangled Webb.
Jan:
It’s hard telling people what to believe and not to believe. Her attitude toward Flemmi is strange. If Weeks is to be believed Flemmi was upset because he did not have the chance to kill Halloran along with Whitey. I don’t see how she feel one way toward one and the other way toward another.I believe Flemmi murdered both women and did it with Weeks’ help. I have to hear the cross-examination of Weeks before I put Whitey into it. Clearly Weeks was involved but he has minimized his role.
Is it possible Weeks truly does not know who the second “masked” gunman was, as absurd as that sounds Weeks could have easily named Stephen Flemmi as the second gunman figuring Flemmi was already being charged with umpteen other felonies anyhow and one more wouldn’t effect any case against Flemmi for the most part, thereby protecting the second gunman if he (Weeks) did/does know who it was. Naming Flemmi who was already toast would have been a much easier and more effective strategy for Weeks as opposed to merely saying the person was masked and unknown.
Jan:
No it’s not possible he did not know. He could have named Flemmi but since Flemmi was in custody he’d have problems if Flemmi flipped and denied it, which he eventually did. What’s amazing is the government never asked him who it was by saying Kevin didn’t you ever ask Whitey who was there? One thing we know, if Whitey was there he knows who was with him. I don’t suppose he drove up East Broadway and saw a guy walking along with a ski mask and said, “hey, buddy, want to help me kill someone.” So we should find out more on cross-examination.
It seems by the time Weeks was officially giving his version of the Halloran murder, it’s likely he could have easily picked one of the then deceased cohorts who had still been alive at the time of the murder and named him as the 2nd gunman thereby protecting the “masked” gunman.
Anonymous:
He could have but he’d have had to connect him to Whitey. Too risky. The guy might have been somewhere else like in prison. Weeks was already caught lying about the extortion of Stippo, he didn’t want to be caught again. Best pretend there was a mask and no one con contradict you.
Matt, why did my post above come through as anonymous? I’m referring to my post that states “it seems by the time Weeks was officially giving his version of the Halloran murder”….in any case, it also seems Weeks knows people, including the general public and the family want the name of the second gunman and they consistently blamed their own crimes on others, therefore by the time of Weeks testimony he could have easily come with one of many deceased cohorts names connected to their crew, putting the whole issue to rest, keeping in mind that in the past, they had blamed their own crimes on people still alive, what’s to have stopped Weeks on falsely attributing this to one of the dead cohorts who could easily be connected to their crew.
Jan:
I don’t know the answer. One person who commented noted the same problem but he said it happens when he uses his iphone rather than however else he communicates. When it comes to how this site operates, I’m at kindergarten level.
I did respond to your post earlier.
Howie Carr has been profiting from the VICTIMS’ FAMILY MISERY for a long time now. Carr made a crack about Tommy Donahue not being smart enough to realize that John “Coward” Martorano helped Tommy and his family out by testifying against the people who did it. That’s what happens when you have a degenerate bastard like Carr realizing that he can’t be a street guy so let me try to buddy up with the most putrid of them, get them a cut, and let Carr go National Enquirer mode on the story. He sucks at life and is a miserable trashbox
Doubting:
Carr has to look at himself in the mirror each morning. That’s enough punishment for him. He has wrongly hurt a lot of people and that’s one thing I would never like to be known for. His god is money so nothing else matters.
Howie Carr “sucks@life”.
Fantastic Thomas. I hope u don’t mind but I will be using that. Alot
Ernie:
Some things suffer more by being ignored.
U r right on that Matt.
Ernie:
It makes no sense for him to testify unless he’s going to deny all the murders. At least that’s how I see it now.
Ernie- Please do it fits so nicely
Is it true that there are empty seats in the courtroom which are reserved for the public? You mentioned that cops are filing in the seats, do they stay for the whole day? Do they line up outside the courthouse at 6:00 a.m. to write their names? What happened to the public trial?
Anonymous:
The people show up at 6:00 to get into the ten public seats. I got into the court on one day using them but felt badly because I was keeping the public out and I could see it in the press overflow room where I’m just as happy. Another person in the media who I talk with told me of going upstairs to get on the list and finding five cops had taken the public seats. I think the cops can get in the building early and they take the opportunity to sign up then. The list should not be kept outside the courtrooom but should be down at the entrance so the people from the public who do arrive first can get in. There is an overflow room for the public but the court really has little concern for the public since I understand that is quite crowded. I did talk to two women who hung around outside the courtroom the trial was in and about a half hour before the end of the day two seats opened up and they got into the court.
Matt: I read all your Blogs etc, I/C Don’t Embarrass the Family” Keep up
the good work. I just wanted to let you know that the Worc. Telegram & Gazette had an article on 7/5 re our friend Ivan. Tom Foley was interviewed re same. It was an interesting article. I got some good “Sniff” stories re Ivan. Hope to talk with you soon, I know your busy. Give me a call when your not busy I can get your e-mail address.
Bob:
I got your message at my email and I responded with my telephone number but it came back that it couldn’t be delivered. Would you try to send me again at [email protected] or [email protected]. I’d like to get together with you when we can make the time.
Matt, What to make of Weeks testimony? Is he done? Very fragmented. No confrontation between former mentor and mentee? Dissappointingly anti-climactic. Any new thoughts on whether “Boots” will take the stand? It’s about the only thing exciting left to hope for, in this trial. Unless maybe there’s a surprise witness like Pat Nee.
Matt- Was Brian Kelly really dropping handguns today in court?
Doubting:
Kelly was showing a picture of an M-16 to Weeks. It had the stock of the barrel removed in the picture. Weeks said he had to remove it because it would not fit in the trunk that was left at his buddy’s house. Kelly picked up the M-16 and walked over to the stand near Weeks with it. He said is this the gun with the stock on it. Weeks said yes. He said now I’ll remove the stock and as he was doing it the stock fell on the floor. Kelly was a little embarrassed and Weeks found it quite humerous as Kelly was holding the gun in one hand and trying to pick up the stock with the other.
Pat Nee is on the defense’s witness list.
Jim:
If the defense puts on a case and calls him he will take the 5th. Now if he did that with the prosecution it could then give him an immunity letter and force him to testify. The defense can’t hand out those letters so it will be out of luck.
Matt- was pat nee involved in the burial of Deborah Hussey? Wasn’t it in his house aka house of horrors?
Doubting:
I don’t know about Nee being involved in the burial of Deborah. It was in his brother’s house. He helped with the burial in the basement of the house with John McIntyre – he was there at the time of the killing if you compare the story of that killing told by Weeks and by him in their separate books – it’s hard to rule out that he didn’t have anything to do with it but I don’t know that anyone has put him there.
Rather:
Weeks started slow but is getting in the grove. He sped through the killing of Halloran and Donohue. Maybe they are laying a trap for Carney to walk into, I can’t tell. I don’t know what Carney’s defense is going to be but I’ll soon find out. Weeks is still on direct examination. Kelly will have him another two hours, I’m guessing. He has yet to tell us of the Bucky Barrett, John McIntyre and Deborah Hussey murders. Then he has to tell about Connolly’s visit to the liquor store, Whitey’s flight, getting fake IDs for him, and his involvement with Flemmi. So there’s a good two hours work there depending on Kelly. Kelly can go fast or slow so as I said I’m guessing the cross-exam will begin at 11;00. The fun is about to begin so don’t get discouraged that nothing has happened yet.
Don’t know about Boots – I think I’ll have a better feel for it when Weeks steps down from the stand. We still have Carney vs Flemmi and the defense’s case, if they put one on. That’ll be a difficult call. I’ve said before that you can’t have a jury nullification case if you present a defense, or, it’s more difficult to have one after the prosecutor beat up your own witnesses.
Matt: I am just a messenger from down here in the whisper stream
but did you catch the New York Times piece a couple of days ago about
New York City FBI agent Lyndley DeVecchio collaborating with the
Mafia in New York City in the murders of over 100 people?
see http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/nyregion/the-mob-and-angela-clemente.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
I appreciate your efforts and point of view regarding Bulger and the Boston FBI office. If your writing has any weakness it is in your refusal to look at the larger picture of how FBI agents collaborated with organized crime in most major cities. It was systemic. We now have strong evidence for FBI agents agents working with Memphis Mafia soldier Liberto to assassinate Martin Luther King .
see http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/prober-fbi-held-back-mob-info-kennedy-assassination-article-1.349264
There is also evidence the Mafia helped in the assassination of President Kennedy. see http://archive.lewrockwell.com/orig12/douglass-jim1.1.1.html
Msfreeh:
Thanks for the articles. I read the NY Times article. You are right that I haven’t looked much beyond the Boston office but I have recognized and said it is a national problem with the FBI and its informants. I have pointed out that we know about Boston only because the Boston office was put on trial before Judge Wolf. No other judge has been willing to take on the FBI – even Wolf, for all his courage, testified in the Connolly case in 2002 and I sensed fighting the FBi took so much out of him that he questioned whether it was a smart thing. He frustration has to be that nothing has changed. My cry has been that if it can happen in Boston it can happen and is going on everywhere in the country.
I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to go much beyond Boston although I’d like to do it. The big problem is the FBi answers to no one. We don’t even know why they killed a guy 7 weeks ago. When someone can be murdered in America and no one will tell us why or how it happened, how can you say we have an effective democracy. I know about the Kennedy matters in fact I’m reading a book about the road to dallas right now that talks about the Cuban/Mafia connections to the murder. As for MLK, I know there were no tears shed by J.Edgar when he learned of his assasination. If any good ever came out of any death it was that of MLK – he became a national hero – well deserved with a holiday dedicated to him – no other person in America has a national holiday in his name – that’s quite an honor.