Carney and Brennan (C&B) wrote to Wyshak and Kelly (W&K) a letter on May 10 (May letter) with the greeting “Dear Brian, Fred, Zach,”
It was a letter seeking discovery of some more material. I’m sure W&K are happy to be still involved in the discovery aspect at this late date.
Earlier on April 22 (April letter) they wrote to W&K asking for other discovery. In that letter they set out the list of potential witnesses the prosecution intends to offer, around 50; and set out the number they will bring in in their case-in-chief which is 21. Here’s a look at that letter.
Within these letters we can gather hints of where the team of C&B are heading in preparation for the trial. The first request in the May letter is for postcards Joe Murray reportedly sent to Jeremiah O’Sullivan “detailing criminal involvement of Pat Nee and Steven Flemmi relative to the Barrett, McIntyre and Halloran/Donohue murders.”
Murray is the guy whose wife called Bill Weld, who was then in charge of the Department of Justice’s criminal division, telling him among other things that Joe knew who was involved in Halloran’s murder. He was interviewed by FBI Supervisors Ed Clark and Ed Quinn. Quinn is on the defendant’s witness list. Their report left out what Murray said during his interview about these matters.
Pat Nee is the gangster from South Boston who wrote a book alleging he was Whitey’s partner. He is on the list of witnesses for the defendant. You read that right. The guy who said he was Whitey’s partner in South Boston from 1972 on is not being called as a witness by the government.
Now why would it be that the person who sat down with Whitey at a peace meeting at Chandler’s in the South End that was overseen by Howie Winter and some North End wise guys that put an end to the Mullin/Killeen South Boston gang dustup and who thereafter split all the criminal proceeds with Whitey be called by Whitey rather than the government? It would seem he’d know a lot more about Whitey’s crimes than anyone else.
Apparently, the rumors of Nee having a special relationship with the FBI might be true. Here’s what the talk on the street is. I remind you I can’t say it’s true but some have said that Nee was the person in the back seat of the car firing a machine gun when Whitey murdered Halloran and Donohue.
Remember Kevin Weeks (crucial government witness) has testified to an absurd story that the man in the back seat had a mask on and he couldn’t identify him. But civilian witnesses said the man had no mask. It seems Weeks is covering for his pal.
In the April letter in paragraph 4 C&B pointed out that a confidential government source told the government that Weeks and another “sent messages to various people that, although they were cooperating with the government” Weeks and the other “would not harm them.”
In the patois of the street that means they’ll lie to the government to protect their friends. That’s what Joe Barboza did. He told his buddy Jimmy Flemmi who helped him murder Teddy Deegan that he wouldn’t harm him. He put an innocent Joe Salvati in the murder car rather than Jimmy Flemmi.
What Weeks told Nee is I won’t dime you out and if I have to I’ll put someone else at the scene rather than you. This seems to give credence to the story that Nee was the man in the back seat.
Here’s one of the government’s big, big problems. Both Weeks and Nee have written books about these things. They never thought Whitey would be captured. Now they are going to be confronted with the many tales in their books.
For instance, they both put themselves at the scene of the murder of John McIntyre. Weeks got a deal from the government so he admits his involvement; Nee pretends he only drove McIntyre to the murder house owned by his brother and returned after he had been murdered to bury him. Reading the story of Weeks and Nee together, one could conclude Nee was a lot more deeply involved.
Smelling my way through these matters I get the scent that Whitey is going to suggest he was not involved in the Halloran/Donohue murders. He’s going to pooh-pooh the idea there were two cars involved; he’ll suggest there was only one: it was driven by Weeks and Nee was in the back seat. Or if he goes with the second car theory then Flemmi was driving the murder car.
As for the McIntyre murder, the one with the best motive to murder him was Nee. Nee was the main person behind sending of the Valhalla with the arms for the IRA. He had close ties with John McIntyre who could tie him in with planning and financing the job. McIntyre dealt with Nee, not Whitey.
The strongest murder case against Whitey is the Halloran/Donohue murders. It looks like he’s going to go right after that and try to get himself out of it. If he does, and he can show Nee was part of the murder and the government was hiding that through a deal with Weeks, then there might be a great jury nullification of everything put forth against Whitey. Remember Whitey doesn’t need a not guilty, one juror with a reasonable doubt will keep him in Plymouth where he wants to stay.
Matt, Whitey fits that bill also…we’ve had some insight into his self-image, with some of the jailhouse letters. Everyone from Charlestown to Savin Hill, to Quincy knows the guy was feared and respected, but I changed my opinion when Stevie exposed the house of cards. I for one , can’t wait to to read the handwritten manuscripts that were found at the late Ms. Stanley’s home, and the Santa Monica apartment, or better yet hear it straight from the mouth of Whitey himself, on the stand. Side thought- Kevin O’Neil ( mentioned previously, and a longtime fixture down the Lower End ) is very rarely mentioned. Yet he has been described, “as Whitey’s money-man” in the past, ( he owned Triple-O’s on paper, and a bunch of rooming houses ) He did short time, and is still lurking silently in the background around Southie. Can you fill in a little more background on where he fits into this case? thanks. At least he didn’t jump the gun like Martorano, Weeks, and Nee…and write their books knowing the last chapter could never be really written until Whitey was caught or found dead. Brain surgeons, they are not. They left themselves wide open to future scrutiny of their versions. Martorano, apparently not the brightest bulb on a tree of very dim bulbs, even bragged about lying afterwards. I am stronger in now my conviction that life is indeed stranger than fiction. I can’t wait for, as Whitey calls it….”The Big Show”.
Rather:
I’d love to see what Whitey wrote myself; I wonder if it’ll ever come out other than in a book by some favored reporter who will give the government slant on it. I’d think that Whitey would want to request those materials be returned; or, hopefully they’ll be introduced at trial and we can all get to see them. I suppose C & B must have a copy of them. Maybe Whitey will authorize them to release his story.
Big Kevin O’Neil joined the government’s team and made a deal for himself. He is on the list of witnesses for the government. Another bad decision by Whitey trusting him. Can you imagine that no one around Whitey had the courage to stand up and shut up; what a bunch of losers he associated with. At least Whitey can say he never cooperated with the government if we accept his suggestion he was never and informant; the rest of the crew caved like one of those sink holes in Florida.
It’s true O’Neil didn’t write a book. Maybe Whitey got caught before he had a chance to get it published. The others who wrote them, especially Weeks and Nee and Martorano, took literacy license with their description of things. You’r right they were to dense to figure it would be challenged and they almost got away with it.
The big show will be something – if Carney can do the job he should do and I expect him to do. Brennan’s new to the game so we don’t know how he’ll stand up but from what I’ve seen he’ll also do well. The train is being loaded up for the trip to Boston and we’ll see if the ringmaster Mr. White will come through.
Matt, N, et al: The mutated gene for red hair comes from the Vikings (Scandinavia), who once upon a time visited havoc upon vast stretches of the world: from Finlandia to Kiev to Britain and Ireland, and as Doctor Strangelove described the fluctuations wrought by exchanging “bodily fluids”, the Vikings flocculated and spread “redness” and “frecklation” far and wide throughout the lands. Biologically speaking! If you meet on the street a mixed blood person, of say French-English-Byelorussian-Brazilian descent from Dorchester, with red hair (light, dark, flaming red or gingerish in coloration) you know he has Viking blood in him. The Vikings were pro-life, or at least, pro-procreation. 2. Weld was a very good governor and a very good man, who liked people, and put principles over profit and power, but for my blood, he was too liberal. 3. Previously the question was posed “Who decides what the Constitution means.” I propose that every informed American citizen does, not just judges. As Marines are required to follow lawful, moral orders, their conscience always must be their primary guide and guard. The Church calls that “the primacy of conscience.” I remember a Viet Vet friend who turned his rifle on his commanding officer and said, “Repeat that order, and I’ll shoot you dead.” The order was on the line of a Mai Li (sp?) order to massacre innocent civilians. So, to take an extreme hypothetical to illustrate the point, if a high judge ordered that Irish Catholic children could be killed lawfully on the spot for high crimes or misdemeanors, I’d say that Judge should be executed summarily and anyone prepared to follow his patently unconstitutional immoral order depriving citizens of their inalienable right to life also should be summarily executed. I mean the Civil War was triggered in great part because some judges thought some men were not men, but property. Each informed adult must decide for himself what is wrong and right. The principles of self-defense and defense of others, especially innocent children, precedes and supercedes any egregiously erroneous judicial decrees to the contrary. And in America’s history, we’ve had some flagrantly egregiously horrible judicial decrees and executive practices which we the people have deemed so intolerable that we’ve taken the muskets off the walls. 4. Many see the judicial systems and spy systems and prying eye systems in America as having some minor faults, some wrinkles which good fallible men will in time recognize and iron out. Others see systemic pathology in need of major surgery and reform. Some see the system as good! Others see it as “Good” in the sense that C.P.Taylor’s play “Good” foresaw the evil wrought by relatively “good men” acquiscing in deaths by a thousand cuts.
Bill:
I go around looking for people with Cro-Magnon appearance which is shown by the forehead that sloops backwards. Recent studies have shown that the more severe the slope, the closer one is to the pre-homo sapiens. The research shows the Cro-Magnon people were anti-procreation and that’s why they died out but they did through force interbreed with the Homo sapiens. Their descendants still carry their gene and its effect on homo sapiens is still not understood.
2. Weld has claustrophobia which a lot of people did not know.
3, If every American citizen decided what the Constitution meant you would have total anarchy. Marines are required to follow orders except those that are unlawful and no Marine officer or non-commissioned officer has ever given an unlawful order. If you substitute your “high judge” with Commander in Chief you have President Obama ordering people suspected of terrorism to be killed summarily including those associating with them (young children and women) yet no one seems bothered. I’ve yet to see any time in our history where people have taken arms up against a judicial decision. The Civil War was not caused by a judicial decision, in fact, that decision by the first Catholic justice to sit on that Court was a sop to the South in the hopes the war would be averted.
4. Usually great evils are brought about by men who think themselves good. Exhibit number one, John Martorano. I’ve yet to meet or read about a person who committed great and heinous evils who did not think deep down he was acting for the good.
Didn’t our founding fathers protect Religious Freedom first? Even before speech? Your and Patty’s assessment of the local media is precise. They either toe the party line or they are denied access. A national sports reporter pointed out the same flaw in local sports coverage. If you don’t portray the Bruins, Celts, Sox and Pats in the most favorable light then the team denies you access and inside information. The critical non cheer leader reporter becomes a liability to the newspaper or tv show and is thus replaced. One ends up with only the corporate version of the truth. No dissent is tolerated. All sports programs should come with a disclaimer that all information is provided by the p. r. arm of the team. The Globe and Herald should provide the same disclaimer that all reporting is based on leaks fro the DOJ. 2. Why isn’t Nee a government witness? Did he ever meet WB? If the prosecution is calling 50 witnesses they must all have closer ties to WB than Nee. Maybe Nee made up everything in his book. Maybe Weeks book is a fabrication. How does the defense compel Nee’s testimony? Can’t he assert his 5th Amendment rights? Or has he waived them by authoring his book? 3. C and B best defense may be to show the enormous strength of the Mafia and the comparative weakness of WB. Show the Mafia’s reach into the unions, Hollywood, Las Vegas( gambling), law enforcement( Schneiderham, Flemmi etc.) and drugs. Portray it as the multi national, multi billion dollar enterprise it is. Ask the jury if WB gave orders to the Anguillos, Patriarchas, Gottis, Calabreses, Gambinos, Columbos and Lucheses. Or was he small potatos? Did all Mafia activity emanate from South Boston? Show how LCN framed Ricco, Connolly and Naimovich. Ask what side the prosecution is on . The Mafia’s or America’s? 4. There is a recent book about Coolidge that is a good read. During the 1920 Republican convention a boomlet for the Mass. Governor arose. The top political figure in the state at that time was the Brahmin, Aristocrat Henry Cabot Lodge. When Lodge heard of the movement he said” a man who lives in a two family house for President? Never.” That is almost identical response Bob Quinn got from the Globe when he asked them if they would back him for Governor. The Globie said you’re just three decker Irish from Dorchester. It was out of the question. 5. Coolidge was a red head. Why were our best Presidents red heads? Reagan, Coolidge, Jackson, Jefferson and Washington. All five presided over substantial economic growth and avoided foreign wars. Would that the non red heads followed their example.
N,
You are right about red heads and Bob Quinn.
Perhaps things would have been different if he had a flaming top.
However, Savin Hill may have learned the lesson and has been nurturing the answer for the past forty years. (Revenge is a dish best served cold0
Marty Walsh, Dorchester’s new and improved (red hair) weapon.
How can the Globe say know to a mayoral endorsement of Walsh?
And, I’m not so sure he grew up in a three decker. It may have been a two family.
Soo, Walsh and Quinn are apples and oranges.
Right?
N.
1, I stand corrected, they did mention religion first. Do you dare suggest that all those puff pieces on the little short fat guy who owns the Patriots are only done so the reporters won’t be shut out? That’s a little bit of heresy.
2, Nee met Whitey more times than Ted Williams’s bat met the ball when he swung. They were gangster partners. The only two with closer ties to Whitey than Nee are Weeks and Flemmi. Nee makes a horrible witness that is why the government doesn’t want him. His testimony runs as straight as Grampian Way. Nee probably did make up most of his book; that means he is eminently qualified to testify. He may claim the 5th but what are the crimes for which he can be liable. Haven’t the statute run on all of them.
3. That’s what is so weird about all of this stuff involving Whitey and Flemmi, they don’t get any credit for what they did in destroying the Mafia. The prosecutors and the judges would still be happy if the Mafia was in full bloom.
4. You can’t blame the Globe for opposing poor people gaining higher office. If all those poor people got employed the Globe’s Santa fund would have little appeal and I’ve heard the money it raises in that fund covers a lot of its operational costs.
5. Our best governor was a red head, Bill Weld. James Joyce had a particular fondness for red heads. Jackson was the only president that served with a couple of bullets in his body. Kennedy had a red headed girlfriend while president. Eisenhower was also a red head. Little Georgie Bush had a red headed pony. Obama’s grandfather landed on Red Beach. Bobby Spring had a tattoo “better dead than red.” Red McDonough went off to join the Marines Saturday night and was seen a the 9:00 mass at St. Margaret’s church, Red O’Brien used to go around saying “better read than you.”
Dear Matt,
And last but certainly not least, let us not forget that all of the aforementioned players likely watched RED SKELTON on at least one occasion with the exception of Old Hickory. See Red Skelton’s Pledge of Allegiance, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEGqunhpYEs
Sincerely,
Jay
Jay,
Thanks. Red Skelton really brought me back in time. That’s a great video talking about old fashion patriotism. The Pledge of Allegiance is unique since we are saying we will be faithful and loyal to the USA which stands for liberty and justice for all. That is for all in the world and not just for Americans. Obviously we can’t as history teaches us bring our version of government to others but we can insure that at least within the 50 states all, I emphasize the word all and not just citizens, are to be afforded liberty and justice.
There’s an interesting article on liberty and freedom. http://www.lewrockwell.com/stromberg/stromberg14.html
It is our liberty that is preserved by justice.
Matt,
I believe there is a minor factual issue with the last part of your point number 2: “The only two with closer ties to Whitey than Nee are Weeks and Martorano.” It seems to me that Martorano was put out to pasture in the late 1970s and remained in Florida for the next 16 years until 1995 when the FBI finally “found” him. That would make it difficult for him to have “closer ties” to Bulger than Nee had.
Had he wanted Martorano around, I suspect Bulger could have arranged that with the DOJ. During that same 16 years, Pat Nee was in and out of jail for the Valhalla and the Abington armed robbery.
It’s interesting to note how many of the alleged murders occurred while Martorano was around in the early 1970’s. There is not that same level of violence again until the early 1980s with Nee’s involvement in the Barret, McIntyre, Donahue and Halloran murders.
It’s also interesting to note that Martorano, who killed 21 people, spent 16 years as a fugitive until the FBI “found” him. Sounds very similar to another guy who spent 16 years on the lam and had 19 murder charges. The big difference seems to be that one of the two was designated public enemy #1.
Patty:
I stand corrected and have made the correction. I meant to say “Weeks and Flemmi” for the reason you mentioned but more importantly I don’t see Whitey had much of a relationship with Martorano at all so he’d be one of the last people he trusted. I hope Carney uses Martorano’s book to go into Martorano’s lack of closeness with Whitey. Whitey, of course, didn’t want Martorano around. He’d have been to ostentatious plus he’d have to give him a fair split of the dough.
Pat Nee got 18 months on the Valhalla. 10 months after being released on that sentence he was arrested for an attempted armed robbery on Wednesday, January 9, 1991. I’d figure he was in Danbury from the middle of 1988 to February 1990. That gives him plenty of time to interact with Whitey from 1972 through and into 1988; those are critical times in this case.
The early murders Whitey is accused of being involved in were done strictly by Martorano and Simms on behalf of Angiuolo. You note Martorano’s 16 year flight. He lived fairly openly in Florida with his family visiting him and going to Disney Land. If the FBI wanted to find him it could have. I don’t attribute any FBI malfeasance to this. He was either an FBI informant, which I don’t believe he was, or else of minor concern. He was only indicted for race fixing and his brother got 2 years.
Keep in mind all these guys pretty much operated under the view of everyone for a long time. No one knew about Whitey’s murders until Martorano started talking; no one knew he had killed those people until he did. The Wheeler trilogy of murders I don’t see Whitey being involved in two of them – perhaps he was involved in Halloran’s murder because Halloran was trying to implicate him in the Wheeler murder to get himself out of the murder charge on Pappas. Callahan was strictly a Martorano deal; the Wyshak imagined involvement by Connolly is all out of the mouth of murderers and makes no sense.
The more I think of this I think of Whitey as a Saddam Hussein type – a lot of bluster put out there to enhance his reputation which had nothing to do with reality. As Saddam learned, how you portray yourself, even if false, may come back and bite you.
Whitey became public enemy # 1 for many reasons; the other gangsters using him to get deals not thinking he’d be caught; and the FBI’s willingness to pretend the Top Echelon Informant program is on the level.
Sorry to move backward, but it got stuck in my head that Pat Née only served 18 months for smuggling several tons of assault rifles, grenade launchers and ammunition for the benefit of the IRA, an organization our ally Great Britain considers a terrorist group.
That sentence is fishy.
He was arrested for the armed robbery with a machine gun in 1991. He was tried, found guilty and sentenced to over 30 years. The verdict was overturned and the machine gun charge dropped. He instead pled guilty in 1994. He was released in April 2000.
That sentence is closer to reality, but still awfully generous for a career criminal with a prior firearms conviction.
It is also interesting to note that Née was still in the can while Martorano, Weeks, O’Neil got pinched and made their deals to cooperate. How were they able to communicate to the incarcerated Née that they would they would protect him and cut him out of homicides? How was Née able to communicate back to them that he would also protect them? There’s an enormous disconnect here. It seems logical to me that the only people who had access to all these men to effectuate this conspiracy are in law enforcement. Prison phones and visits were recorded so the agreement wasn’t made by someone outside.
N., I think JFK was a redhead, too.
Dear Matt,
To contribute to the discussion, I concur with you that it is odd that Pat Nee would be on Bulger’s defense witness list and not on that of the Government. On The National Geographic documentary, Nee expressly states, “I regret not killing Whitey when I had the chance, and of course I regret getting caught for anything” in addition to “My regrets are few..” and “I love being a criminal, and I do miss it.” He also added, “I wish I had made more money and stashed it, but I didn’t…” followed by a wide grin. Given that state of mind, I find it interesting he would be called for the defense. In the film, he is billed as an “Ex-Bulger Enemy.” Here is the link for those who have not yet viewed it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoFCtpj12Xc
I agree with your analysis that it seems one prong of the defense will be to impeach the credibility of the Government’s witnesses; how could the Government made a deal with a man like this is quite extraordinary, and you have suggested that the gravity of offenses by the other players in this drama are much greater and calls into question the very administration of justice itself. These are weighty issues, and I am eager to experience their unfolding with you and the other commenters here.
I also have a question; we have discussed in a prior post the role of victims and victims’ attorneys. I am aware that there were previous settlements for victims’ families. However, could the outcome of this trial have any impact upon potential civil litigation claims against the Government, in your humble opinion? Moreover, could that be an added reason why the Government sought so vigorously to get the immunity issue thrown out of the arena — not only due to the impending James Bulger trial, but because of a potential for evidence to emerge would plausibly could be used in new litigation against the Government if it formed any cognizable basis for liability? I understand that the statute of limitations has likely passed, but I am aware that there are certain tolling exceptions such as the discovery doctrine, for example, in which no reasonable person could have had access to evidence any time sooner. Given James Bulger’s unknown whereabouts for the 16 years preceding his apprehension in June of 2011, could new civil litigation be possible?
I am aware of the slew of claims leading up to and following the trial of John Connolly; this was also the genesis of events which precipitated the series of congressional hearings dating back to 2001, even before 9/11. It all began with the victims’ claims for justice and, in part, to bind up their wounds by means of monetary compensation. Given these past events, do you believe there would be any potential for the Bulger trial to result in the filing of any new civil litigation against the Government and its agents, in their official and unofficial capacities?
Just curious to hear what your take is on that possibility. If it is possible, then that may be an additional consideration guiding the Government’s litigation strategy.
Sincerely,
Jay
Jay:
The civil trials have been concluded. Much of the worst that could be imagined has already been used by the civil complainants to get relief and the judges have chosen to accept the most outlandish portrayal of events as true. (Totally overlooked is the results of the FBI defeating the Mafia in the war against crime with the help of guys like Whitey and Flemmi.) Nothing that has been done or will be done in the criminal matter that will have any bearing on the civil cases. It forms no part of the strategy in this case.
Nee’s big regret now is Whitey came back. His worst nightmare is having to come in and face him after all the things he said about him in his book. He’ll probably try to take the Fifth but that in itself will be the subject of a lengthy hearing. For him to have the protection of that statute he will have to point to some criminal liability he could face with his answers. To do that he’ll have to admit his roles in the prior murders which will make Weeks look like a liar and perhaps Flemmi.
Dear Mtc9393,
In response to Jay’s post, could you please double check for me the status of the victims families – all of the victim’s claims? In particular, and if I am not mistaken, the claim handled by Attorney Hinchey on behalf of the Donahue or Halloran family is still pending against the FBI agents as the courts allowed it to continue under a narrowly tailored decision back in September 2012. I don’t believe that was part of the others that were suddenly paid off earlier in 2012 for low-dough.(the Hussey and Davis families).
To that end, what do you make of the “social event” Shaheen and Gordon are planning to hold later this month talking about their roles in representing the family of one of the victims vis a vis up coming movies?
Oops, I guess Shaheen and Gordon aren’t necessarily talking about up-coming movies – they are having an event at Red River Theaters on May 23rd, they’re going to be having a recepion, and the Globe folks that recently wrote books are going to be there, and they are going to show “the Departed.”
Alex:
Shaheen and Gordon whoever they are seem to be just hustling for business and they involve themselves with the usual characters and, of course, are going to show that dreadful movie. It’s an event you’d want to attend if you’ve got nothing else to do and there’s a “hide in” declared in your neighborhood.
Alex:
I’ll think you are right about the status of the civil actions but I will see if I can check further on it.
Shaheen and Gordon is the law firm out of New Hampshire that represents the Halloran family – specifically, attorney Bill Christie in that office. Shaheen and Gordon were supposedly ultimately UNsuccessful.
I, of course, do not plan to go to such an event. Not my style. If I hate magic shows, I am certain to hate paying big dollars for a movie I’ve already watched, and quite frankly, I was never impressed with those who advertise things with the use of the faky words like “reception” suggesting a high class event when all they offer is the little square pieces of cheese on a cracker. Okay, fine, if they are really fancy they’ll be tucking a little sliver of pepperoni under the cheese – but, in my opinion, that doesn’t make it a “fancy hors d’oeuvres” warranting a high price of admission. More importantly, and I maybe I can’t put my finger on the right words to articulate it, but it seems to me in poor taste at this time as this “pre-trial party” sort of comes across as all who are there are sorta “Ho-in for Hollywood” a bit. Doesn’t seem rightm especially – when those lawyers, well, lost. Is the potential for “fame” for them, more important than the family/families they represented? Shouldn’t they as Jay said, be looking more closely at this case,keeping their eye on the ball, still looking for some “Civil” avenue which may exist, rather than partying about it already? Gee, Mtc9393, I think you said it best of all – The Fat Lady Hasn’t Sung yet! Unless of course, like another article of yours, the final curtain has already come down and the decision is already made…and if the decision is already made? Then can it be argued – why have the trial? Couldn’t Bulger in turn then argue that the outcome of the pretrial was pre-determined and could use this little soiree as a circumstantial evidence of that? In my opinion, the lawyers for the victim’s families should have thought that through a bit more, maybe there would be no real legal consequences/effect of the pre-trial party, but to me the PR effect of having and hosting a pre-trial party is not good.
Thank you for looking into the status of the victim’s families cases a bit more – I think there needs to be a bit more exposure on that end and possible consequences due to the intersection between the criminal and civil claims. You have a great way of cutting through the muck.
Alex:
With attorneys it is all about trying to separate themselves from the mob. You’d probably get more than cheese and crackers if you attended, but if not, you’d still get a chance to rub elbows with some of the people who think they are the movers and shakers. You must understand that this is the prime time to call attention to oneself in the world of Whitey. At the end of the summer the world will move on, Whitey will be off living in Colorado.
Whitey Bulger knows the outcome is already determined. Speaking of the victims, how do you think they received any favorable judgments at all? The Court of Appeals has agreed with the district court that Bulger murdered the family members of those who sued. You don’t think Bulger can be acquitted after there are so many decisions stating he carried out the crime. Bulger was tried years ago in absentia in the press and in civil cases where he was not present. We could probably do without the trial, as you suggest.
Whitey could argue anything he wanted but the people he will be arguing to have already decided the issue so what good will it do. Have you ever heard of a person going to trial for a crime where the courts have already declared him a murderer?
Which brings me to one final thought. The victims are suing and have sued the government based on the idea that Whitey would not done the killings except that he was protected by the FBI. I suggest this is an absurd theory. Whitey was neither encouraged or discouraged from murdering people because of that association. Neither was Flemmi or Martorano or Weeks. It is fortuitous that Whitey was an informant and the FBI had this absurd program called Top Echelon informant program and the people like Martorano were worried that their friends, killers like them, would turn on them so they told stories of murders. Had that not happened the victims would receive nothing. Think of all the people Martorano admits to murdering and the other he murdered but hasn’t told us about. They received nothing. The idea that Whitey would not have murdered except for the assistance of the FBI makes no sense.