The big problem with our jury system is that we allow known liars to testify. There is no way for judge or jury or prosecutor to know the truth from these people. Everything they say is self-serving lies intended to make them look good. The justice system is wrong to allow them to testify without substantial corroborative evidence from others which it usually will not have.
No matter how well they are known to be liars they can still testify against other people. Many people have had their reputations ruined or been put in prison because a liar looking to save his own neck hooks up with a credulous prosecutor with a predetermined goal and they orchestrate the lie. It is impossible for a jury to tell when a person is lying.
One of the biggest murderers and biggest liars ever to have existed is John Martorano. He was abetted in his lies at trial by federal prosecutors and by a Boston bigoted columnist in a book that he wrote. For example:
THE LIE
IN his book he wrote: “In May 1965, [Jimmy “the Bear” Flemmi] was ambushed by two McLaughlin gunmen as he left his apartment in Dorchester. The Bear was struck by nine bullets, and the shooters were walking toward him to administer the coup de grace when the wound Bear managed to pull his .38 out of his coat and began wildly firing in the direction of his would-be killers. They fled, and Flemmi was taken to Boston City Hospital (BCN).
A couple of days later, against his doctors’ orders, the Bear checked himself out of BCH. Johnny Martorano was waiting for him in a car. They would drive to Vermont, where an undertaker friend of Johnny’s wold rent them a cabin in which the Bear could recuperate in peace and quiet — and safety.
In addition to guns, Martorano had stocked the car with booze which they got into as soon as they hit the road. Once they got drunk Johnny and the Bear began talking about how much fun it wold be to pull into their campground with a dead deer strapped to the hood, as they’d seen so often during hunting season in northern New England.” The story goes on about how they mistaken a cow for a deer and shoot it. A typical John Martorano braggadocio story as are so many of his lies.
THE TRUTH
A newspaper reports that on May 3 that “Flemmi suffered on gunshot wound in his thigh, another bullet nicked his arm and five others penetrated his torso. Police said the would-be killers waited for Flemmi behind his apartment house at 699 Adams st. When he emerged from the building at 10.30 p.m. the two gunmen were lurking in the shadows.” (The Bear would later say that three men had attacked him. One, was Punchy McLaughlin. At the time he told that story Punchy was dead. He refused to name his other two attackers.)
Joe Barbosa in his book would write that he was waiting to meet the Bear that night and he received a call from Peter Poulos who said Bear got shot at his house. Wimpy Bennett and Stevie Flemmi, his brother, arrived. They went to the hospital and the doctor told them he might die.
I suppose that makes John Martorano’s story of taking the Bear out of the hospital and going off to Vermont more amazing considering how injured he appeared to be. That’s where the Big Lie comes in.
On June 25 an article tells of the tight security at the Dorchester District Court for the arraignment of the Bear. It notes he “was brought in for arraignment from City Hospital under heavy police guard. Flemmi has been in the hospital since the night of last May 3 when he was ambushed and shot seven times by two gunmen outside his apartment at 699 Adams St. ”
He was escorted into the court-house by the officers who had been guarding him at City Hospital. He was guarded because he was under arrest for possession of the gun which he used to defend himself from the attackers. One of the officers who was guarding him said: “Flemmi gladly agreed to sign himself out of the hospital and go to court “to get you cops off my back.”
Martorano’s trip to Vermont was made up. Why? He’s a gangster and gangsters can’t help lying.
Martorano testified at John Connolly’s trial that he never killed a woman. Too bad Margaret Sylvester is not around to tell us who killed her. She was knifed three times in the stomach while in a joint owned by Martorano. If you wonder if John Martorano carried a knife, Jack Bannon who he knifed to death by Martorano could have answered that question. I’ve written how he lied about murdering Tony Veranis.
There’s no doubt John Martorano lies even when he doesn’t have to. Why do prosecutors depend on such people to give evidence at trial? Shouldn’t society have some safeguards against such happenings beyond the lame instructions of a judge?
Matt
Are you referring to the rare and hard to get autobiography by Joe Barboza?
Have you read RIFLEMAN by Howie Carr yet? Will you be pointing out the lies in that book too?
Jerome:
Some of the information I have from the book Barbosa written by Barbosa and an other guy.It fills in a lot of blanks but like all gangster stories has to be taken lightly unless it fits.
Rifleman by Flemmi I think I read but it is more a debriefing of Flemmi after he turned state’s evidence. I have to go back and read it again in light of my other research but of all the people in the world I have difficulty believing Flemmi is one. As I’ve written before Flemmi testified in front of Judge Wolf that his informant on the State Police was John Naimovich; Wolf believed him finding that was true. Wolf went on to say Naimovich was convicted of corruption in his court. The truth was Richard Schneiderhan was his informant and Naimovich was acquitted in federal court.
And That’s the Old Ballgame .
Whatever fabulisms or facile Fed fabrications Johnny has loomed over as he worked the Shuttle Off To Eternity, the Tapestry is wine dark and bloody and encrusted with Johnny”s favorite Impasto of Gold Signet Rings .
A Tapestry
There are no Box Scores on it .
Just the Hits .
Great!
Kerry:
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT
“In Hitman The Untold Story of John Martorano” by Howie Carr,
Martorano claimed that Earl Wilson’s no hitter, the first by an African American in majors, was in the first game of a Sunday double header and that Wilson had been partying all night. Martorano claimed he gave him a ride to Fenway and Wilson “tumbled into the gutter.” But Wilson actually pitched the no-hitter in a Tuesday night game.
https://books.google.com/books?id=UEF_bSx6IkoC&pg=PA60&lpg=PA60&dq=martorano+hitman+howie+carr+earl+wilson&source=bl&ots=B7ZI33NqYv&sig=zCzwHaiSty6IP0tWG9z4Os70hUk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj5ucTnk-bbAhWjx4MKHVqyDfkQ6AEIOjAD#v=onepage&q=martorano%20hitman%20howie%20carr%20earl%20wilson&f=false
David Shribman: “That no-hitter, the first by a black pitcher in the American League, came 50 years ago Tuesday night, on a sparkling Fenway evening. I knew that without looking it up, just as I know, without going to the Internet, that the last out in the top of the ninth was an outfield fly, and that Wilson dropped to his knees in prayer while the ball was in the air. I know all that because it was the very first time I attended a baseball game and how could anyone forget a night like that?” John Martorano could.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2012/06/25/remembering-earl-wilson-hitter-years-ago-fenway-park/MY6WxnTSDCPY3Sp1UzgfwM/story.html
Kerry:
Good research as usual.
Understand that the book Black Mass was written substantially on Federal Civil Trials where both parties were throwing supposed Rogue Agents under the bus, and nobody was defending them.
I’ve seen corrupt lawyers and judges in my years working on the St. Pat’s Parade Case, and Paul Walkowski and I, two Savin Hill guys, Paul’s also a Marine who taught me how to write better, and a longtime friend and neighbor from Savie . . . .Paul’s book, Affirmative Action/Affirmative Discrimination is highly recommended for anyone interested in the busing controversy.
Yes, there are intellectually and morally corrupt prosecutors, judges, attorneys, administrators in Mass and D.C., and I, as a humble researcher/writer, have encountered many of them in three piece suits and black robes.
We need a house cleaning. Prosecute the Persecutors who Abuse Federal Power.
We know that the FEDs combined with the MEDIA (the Globe and CARR) and Academia to go after Senate President Bill Bulger and his allies . . .some coincidence that Bill Bulger’ son Chris worked for the Probation Department subject to the phony persecution by federal prosecutors on the phony charge that they hired “not the most qualified” . . .anyone could be phonily charged on that phony charge . . .
So the corruption runs deep. Read all nine of my books if you’re interested. The latest, a short novella-length factual work is titled Spiritual Glue: The Tao Ties Taut; a Christmas Carol, A Song of Joy. It alludes to the depths of corruption in government, federal government especially. Spiritual Glue should be available as an e-book and on Barnes & Noble and Amazon, soon.
NC’s and Matt’s comments are correct. The depth of corruption in the FEDs and the MEDIA is deep.
That’s good enough for me William !!!
I am convinced to a high degree of moral certainty that the Federal Prosecutors, including Sterns, Durham, Wyshak and their cohorts and successors, knew that John Martorano and Steve Flemmi were bold-faced lying.
I’ve laid out all the facts and all the arguments in four books: 1. Three Billboards Outside Boston, Massachusetts; Prosecute the Persecutors who Abuse Federal Prosecutorial Power. 2. Character Assassins II. 3. Character Assassins; Carr, Dershowitz, Mudd, Who’ll Live in Infamy? and 4. The Fix: the Corruption of Mass Courts and Agencies.
Additionally, read the book RICO, which blames Carr, Fed Prosecutors and Media for Rico’s false arrest, and read the book review of RICO in my book Three Billboards.
It was the higher ups in DC that greenlighted the phony “Rogue Agent” theory, in order to save the FEDS money in civil suits. They threw good men like Connolly and Ring under the bus to “save face”. Muellar was head of the FBI then and greenlighted the witchhunts.
Matt :
In the land of the blind the One eyed man is Carr .
You don’t have the dereliction of your senses to spit out what you want about John because we all know, or Johnny knows critically, what the Big Picture is .
The BIG PICTURE has everything in it . And every one .
Ticket Price : Your Life .
Give a wave
I am up here in the Balcony . Front and Center .
W. Bush got it wrong when he listed his Axis of Evil. The real A of E is the Mafia, the Media and the Feds, both prosecutors and judges. Only a naive newspaper hack from Florida would fall for Martorano’s lies. H. Carr is typical of the press. Bob Novak said one always has to examine a reporters source because that reporter will just shill for his source and vilify everyone else never having a clue that the source has an agenda. When Carr was recently asked about FBI agent Rico he defended his assertion of a corrupt cop by claiming ” he was indicted in Oklahoma”. He never was . Carr lied. A stupid local cop got a complaint from Family Court based on Martorano’s false story. There was no indictment. Mueller the head of the FBI should never had let a 15 year retired agent be arrested under those circumstances. He embraced the Mafia’s bogus story in addition to withholding Fitzpatrick’s exculpatory evidence in Connolly’s Florida case. He along with Obama and Comey lied about the Boston Marathon bombing. A person of bad character.2. Carr recently wrote an article in the Herald that denounced a probation officer indicating that the Federal prosecution of the Probation Chief had merit. None ever existed for that case . A completely manufactured case. Not close to a criminal act. Yet Carr pretends it was real What a liar. What a smear artist. Just a shill for the Federal prosecutors. We need a Grand Inquisitor to clean up this mess.
Janet :
Therein lies the truth .
Matt, you are absolutely right. Seems that many prosecutors just want to win. Truth has nothing to do with it. (Blind Injustice by former AUSA Mark Godsey gives great insight in this matter).
We know that criminals lie to prosecutors to get their get out of jail cards (and especially when headed to the electric chair, as Martorano was).
Question is: Why do people want so desperately to believe the lies that they will attack anyone who tries to reveal the truth?