At the library I picked up Howie Carr’s latest book Rifleman – The Untold Story of Stevie Flemmi, Whitey Bulger’s Partner. The first sentence in the introduction contradicts the title of the book it reads: “This is Stevie Flemmi’s own story dictated to the cops in the presence of his own lawyers.” If Stevie’s already told the story how can it be untold?
Contradictions like that never bothered Howie, he doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a happy-go-lucky entertainer. If slipshod work like that gets by the eyes of his adoring group of begrudgers so much the better as long as the coins keep jingling into his pockets. He’s found himself a good schtick, he’s good at what he does, and he works hard at it. I don’t wish him anything but the best even though some of what he says I find not to my liking.
What I find surprising is his basic lack of understanding of how the criminal system works. His book basically reproduces a document called a DEA – 6 which is a 146 page report of a debriefing of Flemmi around the time he was making a deal to save himself from being executed in Florida or Oklahoma. Flemmi pretty much laid out as well as he could what he knew of the criminal scene in Boston during his years and his involvement in it.
Howie wrote early on in his introduction: “Once they have flipped, “top-echelon” organize crime figures are routinely debriefed . . . .” The term “top echelon” is a designation for an informant not an organized crime figure; on top of that, everyone who flips is routinely debriefed not just the people Howie attempts to describe.
Later in the introduction Howie will write: “Some what of Stevie says here is plainly untrue. For instance, he takes credit for recruiting crooked state trooper Richard Schneiderhan as a source. He didn’t. Johnny Martorano did, at the old Enrico’s in the combat zone. When Johnny went on the lam in 1978, he turned him over to Flemmi . . . .”
Howie concluded that based on Martorano’s story that he and Schneiderhan were together in a bar having a drink. Schneiderhan got into a beef with some bikers who were going to beat him up. (How come it’s always bikers in bars going to beat someone?) Martorano went to his rescue so Schneiderhan decided to become a source for him.
The story is absurd on its face. One thing bikers don’t do is beat up state troopers. But since it is a common trait of all gangsters to lie, Howie goes with Martorano, who as we know is his buddy having spent many Sunday mornings with him writing their book, “Murderman” “Hitman.”
When Flemmi says Schneiderhan is his source, he is telling the truth. You are probably wondering how I know this since I just said all gangsters lie. The answer is that I attended the trial of Richard Schneiderhan that state cop who was the source. He was charged by the federals for obstruction of justice for advising Whitey’s brothers that the federals had a pen register on their home phones which would trace their calls. During the trial Scheniderhan testified that he and Stevie Flemmi grew up in Roxbury and were life long friends. It makes little sense that Martorano would be introducing life long friends to each other.
I don’t blame Howie for being wrong because anyone who reads him should know he’s in the entertainment business and is just throwing things out without checking on them. I found his book useful because he did a lot of work getting the photographs of the gangsters and setting them out. Before I learned to read well I liked comic books with all the drawings and that is essentially what Howie is good at producing. His works appeal to the great illiterati (as Khalid would say another neologism), that is those barely weaned from the comics.
He gets the photographs from his sources. And, by the way Howie has a ton of sycophants cozying up to him all the time. He uses them well to get him things so he can fill his pockets with duckets. He can get things, like the DEA report that is his book, that others trying to get would be turned down flat.
Reading that DEA report with our background knowledge gives us the opportunity to show how many lies have been spun out by the leading three degenerate cooperating witnesses in this story: Flemmi, Martorano and Salemme. One wonders how the federals could decide who was lying the least.
An insight into the lies is when Flemmi was debriefed in 2003 and 2004 he said FBI agent Dennis O’Callaghan directly leaked to Whitey that the police had the license plate number of the car that killed Halloran and Donohue. Howie in an aside notes Flemmi in 2005 backed off that claim during a deposition. I’m sure Flemmi learned between the time he first tried to impugn the integrity of O’Callahan and the deposition that Halloran’s murder occurred in 1982 and O’Callaghan didn’t come to Boston until 1988 so he couldn’t be the leak.
Howie’s book shows how much misinformation is put out by these gangsters and the authors accepting stories without a critical examination of the facts. What has been missing and where we have been betrayed is a close examination of these matters based on common sense, an understanding of the gangster, an appreciation of what’s to be gained by lying, and an overview based on no preconceived notions or biases.
That’s what we’ve been trying to do in studying these matters is to use these matters that others seem to neglect to come up with the true story, or at least a story closer to the truth than we’ve been fed by the keep-in-step media.
Guess so. Has all what you just said above been proven?
Dave:
What are you wondering about? I’ve been away a bit and just picked up the comment.
While I don’t really give much credence to what Howie Carr writes….all you do is write a blog post that the writers in the Globe and of the 2 whitey books have spun lies….but then never give your own version of what happened? That’s like telling a kid his math problem is wrong but never helping him find the answer.
Hi,
I’ve read a lot about what actually happened.
I think that may be why the blog is still going strong after the trial.
It matters.
Firefly:
Thanks
Dave:
I’ve explained my reasons in the past. You can go back over the posts and find them.
I have given my own version. I wrote about the life of Whitey as I saw up until the time he met Flemmi. Unlike the others who said he was an informant when he was arrested for the robberies, I pointed out that was not the case. There is a difference between confessing to a crime and being an informant. They suggest that he turned in the guys who were with him. They have no evidence of that. What Whitey did was to confess so that his girl friend would not be charged with the robberies. He then told her to cooperate with the FBI so that she would not get jammed in.
The others also said Whitey was an informant in 1972 when Dennis Condon of the FBI listed him as such. I wrote that it was unlikely that was the case by examining the circumstances. At that time we did not know what we learned later that the FBI set up informant files on people without telling the people they were creating the files. I pointed out that no one becomes an informant in May or June and three months later is closed out as unproductive. Condon opened the informant file on him hoping he would become and informant and whether he did or not Condon would get credit with having him as an informant. Condon’s action back fired on him when headquarters in DC asked him to get more information. He they had to slowly spin out a cat in on the roof story and close him out.
I’ve said Whitey was never and informant prior to the time he got involved with Connolly. As to whether he was an informant for Connolly which all the others have said he was, I’ve held another view point by noting there is not definition of what it means to be an “informant” and unless we have an acceptable definition it is hard to say that he was one. It is clear the opening of an FBI file suggesting he was an informant means nothing. It was also shown that many reports in Whitey’s informant file were copied from reports in other files that came in earlier.
The others have repeatedly said John Connolly was instrumental in having John Callahan killed. I suggested that is the height of naivete to think Connolly had to tell Martorano the only one who dealt with Callahan and who commmitted the murder that Callahan could jam him in. A brief glimpse of Martorano’s book shows how many people he killed because he thought they might be informants.
These books talk about a mysterious meeting a Wollaston Beach where Connolly was enlisted as an informant or some meeting at a restaurant in Newton. They suggest somehow Flemmi was not an informant in 1974 which is absurd since he was brought back by the FBI which cleared up a murder case and assault to murder case for him so that he could go back informing for them. They point to the FBI records to show when and where people were or were not informants when the evidence is clear the records are lies.
I could go on. I’ve been posting for over a year and much of it around the latter part of last year when I was telling Whitey’s life tale showed other matters of disagreement. Dich Lehr according to Dave Boeri said something to the effect that Father Drinan was part of Whitey’s gang or that Whitey was recruiting him when he was in prison. I said that was non sense. Drinan’s relationship with Whitey was as a priest to a young prisoner and there is no way Drinan knew that the robber Whitey in the late ’50s would become the gangster that he became in the Seventies.
I’ve pointed out how they contradict themselves in their writings – basically pointing to Whitey as the great master mind criminal on one hand and then on the other suggesting everything he knew he learned from Connolly. It doesn’t hold. Those are just things I recall of the top of my head. If you are realling interested go back and read some of the other things. There are many of them and as far as me not giving my own version of things, that sort of misses what this blog is all about.
Thanks for writing. By the way I would mention that Howie could not figure out how Whitey became an informant so he wrote the FBI agents in Boston made him one because they knew his brother Billy who had just been elected to the senate would some day become the powerful politician he became and he could get them jobs after they retired. I suggested that the last I knew the FBI did not have crystal balls in their office.
Dave- You have to be new on the scene… If you do not know the gist of this man’s blog and what he thinks.
Matt- That is the sensei I know!!! I definitely understand you will never wish ill will on another person, You have too much class for that game. I think we both know we would not throw him a cinder block if drowning!! Hope you are enjoying the Grandbaby and everything is all well with the family.
Doubting:
Now I take back every hint that there was a spec of redeeming value in Howie Carr. He’s now perpetrated another fraud on the public with his new book Ratman – next book will be his autobiography – title should be “Conman.”
Matt- You shouldn’t wish the best for him. You should wish that he stops trying to befriend serial killers and stop printing old federal documents and calling then an untold story. It is a loophole for media sloth like him to make money on misery. Giving away free t-shirts at signings and stupid hats that have Stephen “The pedophile” Flemmi. Who would wear a shirt representing anything to do with that? Not this mick.
Doubting:
Even I have weak moments. He’ll never stop what he does and will continue as long as he has the loyal following of begrudgers and the type that made up the anti-immigrant parties of the 1850s that wanted to kick all the micks out of the country. I guess my wish was predicated on the idea that I see a man who is very unhappy who is running from demons and headed for a sad future; what will all his wealth do for him when he realizes in his life he has done little more than sow ill will among people and once he falls out of favor his fall will be great.
Matt- Got some underworld figure in the city aligned with my mayor. Do you recognize the name Joseph Ruggiero. Boston/RI faction. Luigi Mannochio’s is his only documented involvement, never been arrested and has unlimited finances. I believe he got caught on a wire that R.D was wearing RD = Robert Deluca, about giving baby shacks his credit card to purchase property in Italy. Ruggiero is now been put on the economic development board. Fall River is dying more and more everyday.
Doubting:
Fall River reminds me of one of those small cities that is off everyone’s map and the gangsters are able to have a great say in the way it is run. You’d think the FBI would have been there years ago but apparently it is too dangerous for its agents.
Matt, you wish Howie Carr “nothing but the best” and I wish that he receives what he’s spent a lifetime dishing out: mud, grime, ill-will, disrepute, vitriol, hate, public humiliation. He is not a benign entertainer; he is a malicious reputation murderer. He is “the corrupt fatso”, an unctuous slimy chronic character assassin. He demonically mocks murder victims, and befriends serial killers. He is an unkind, wordy bully boy who abuses our federally licensed airways by constantly engaging in commercial speech (the sale of his deceitful books). He is a lowlife. I hope he gets his just deserts; I hope more and more people recognize the dirty bum as the pansy, the weasel, the mouthy rat-boy tattletale that he is; a loud mouth braggart who delights in others’ sufferings: a vile sadist: When Sal Dimasi was convicted Howie Carr said on his radio show: “This is the happiest day of my life!” On his radio show, he runs a daily “death pool” and celebrates when celebrities die. He gives “prizes” to his listeners who correctly guess who dies next. He laughs at families losses and hurts. “They mock scars who never felt wounds.” Howie Carr mocks scars. He’s befriended the serial killer who killed my friends and my friends’ relatives. He’s mocked their deaths. He attempts to burnish the mass murderer Martorano’s reputation. He laughs when he tells us Martorano is enjoying a “fine meal” in the North End, while minor pols like Councilman Chuck Turner are imprisoned. He mocks the imprisoned. He’s glad his killer friends are free. He makes cash off them, selling murderer’s lies. A vile man. I wish more people saw through the corrupt fatso and his pseudo-friends in the media. I wish “the best” to good people. In my book, Howie Carr is a vile evil man who has brought public humiliation and misery to many families. No one I know has aired so much trash and dirty laundry. (Talk about sins of calumny and detraction and outright dishonesty: “Thou shall not bear false witness.”) He’s a living lie. He’s befouled our federally licensed airways with witch-hunts and personal vendettas and trash, and his newspaper columns epitomize yellow journalism, trash. He proudly jokingly calls himself “the trashman” and he laughs about it. Throwing trash at families: big joke. He’s not just a clown; he’s a vile vector of viciousness. BUT, everyone’s entitled to their own opinions. I remember a man who thought Howie Carr was funny until Howie Carr came after his family and friends.
I got the book for my Kindle. It was great for the pictures, at least. Did you ever get the impression that a lot of those guys were just some sort of mutant strain of humanity?
I’m not sure if it was the camera or the way it got reproduced for the book but a lot of those guys were just plain odd looking.
Of course, Barboza really was a mutant freak & it was interesting to have a few of his hideous mugshots staring back at me.
I don’t know why that whole FBI debacle isn’t more of a known story now, given the recent Whitey scandal. That story is begging for some sort of TV documentary.
Jeff:
I did find the photographs showed an odd collection of individuals. Maybe because we know they are gangsters they all look like gangsters but they certainly didn’t look like the run of the mill Joe. Barboza was scary; lots of people said that. As I said the photographs are the best part of the book.
It’s hard to find anyone willing to take on the FBI. Look around and see how few people you see doing it. Those agents know how to set the dogs on anyone with influence who dares cross them.
Matt, hey hope you are well. I have greatly missed this blog (Whitey stuff) since the trial has ended but i appreciate you going into similar subject matter as you have done with this entry today.
I am actually reading this book now and all the “black out” names and sources in it are a real turn off for me. I want specifics and being that the person is still alive or whatever why do they have to black that out?
Also, you think Whitey’s 25 million will ever get found and if so how can they force him to tell them every single place he has cash hidden?
Thanks as always and keep going!
SJM:
I also found the black out off putting but since I read anything these gangsters say with a skeptical attitude I’d suggest you just fill in the blanks with any name you like especially if you don’t like the person. Howie is afraid of a libel action if Flemmi is lying so anyone who is alive he avoids naming. It shows you how little confidence he has in his source and you know, of course, you can’t libel a dead person so Howie is safe using those names.
If Whitey has 25 million which I doubt – the federals just pulled a figure out of the hat – it will never end up with the federals. The federals are using that to keep the victims families in line with the idea that if they just go along and not complain about all the atrocious deals the federals made there may be a big pay day at the end of the day. If they complain, they may be cut out of the big check.
Whitey can’t be forced to tell them anything. There’s nothing they can do for him to entice him to talk. If he has cash hidden in safe deposit boxes it will never go to him if he is the only name on the box. I suspect Catherine Greig’s name on some of those boxes and when she gets out she’ll be able to get access to the money if she can do it secretly. If he has money under an alias then it will eventually escheat to the state.