(Continued from part I)
After having the mysterious reference to George McLaughlin thrown into the case, we heard the oft told tale of the murder of Halloran and Donohue and the man in the mask that reminds me of one of the Legends of Sleepy Hollow. That lasted about 10 to 15 minutes to tell: someone told them Halloran was on the Southie water front, Halloran had been telling the FBI lies about Whitey, Whitey sent Weeks down to the water front to wait, he came down later with the hit car, a masked man in the back seat sat up and waved, Weeks went and watched Halloran until he was leaving the Pier Restaurant, radioed Whitey it was happening, Whitey and the masked stranger mowed him down with lots of bullets.
Maybe it was me, or maybe Weeks has told it too many times, it seemed to lack some spark. Like it was he was reading from a book someone else had written and he wasn’t part of what happened. It may be new and exciting to a jury to hear this so I can’t really be a judge of its impact.
Afterwards he tells us he goes and has dinner, meets Whitey and Stevie at Stevie’s mother’s house in Southie, let’s Stevie and Whitey talk about the hit in the kitchen while he goes off into the living room (probably because in telling the hit Whitey identified the masked man and he wasn’t curious to find out) and watches television.
He then told a story, I think the word non sequitur fits here, about meeting Jimmy Manville at breakfast the next day. Manville said he took care of Halloran. Weeks didn’t answer because he didn’t know Manville????
He told about Whitey going to see the ‘cook’ (Johnny Martorano) at some airport in New York. This meeting is happening because Connolly told Whitey that Callahan would not stand up in front of the grand jury if he was asked about the murder of Roger Wheeler in Oklahoma.
I have to digress for a second. This is the pretend world we are supposed to live in. We’re supposed to believe that unless someone in authority tells these gangsters something they would not have known it. I think it’s fair to say that anyone who grew up on the street and hung around with wiseguys, if not one himself, (sorry ladies it’s usually a male world) would know that Halloran with a long criminal record being out on $50,000 bail on a first degree murder charge (unlike Bob Kraft’s former employee Hernandez who like most first degree murderers is held without bail) is cooperating and should be avoided. The same thing would apply to Callahan who arranged for Martorano to murder Wheeler. If the gangsters couldn’t figure out in a New York second by themselves he was the weak link in the chain, I’d be shocked.
Sorry for the rant. Now back to Weeks’s testimony.
He then said something very interesting. He said Jimmy (Whitey) told him that Martorano and Joe McDonald murdered Wheeler. He said Jimmy told him he wanted nothing to do with Wheeler’s murder because he was politically connected. The way I heard it he seemed to put Whitey out of that murder and it would seem also Callahan’s. J.W. Carney should be wise enough to leave this alone
Having just gone through the murders of Halloran and Callahan I’m thinking “come on Kelly keep pushing them.” I thought we’d hear of Bucky Barrett being murdered next. It was time to hammer home the theme of the case, “Whitey is a murderer.” But Kelly like a traffic cop put up his hand and slowed everything down.
He went into some of the acts of extortion. Weeks called them targets of opportunity. We heard how Weeks, Bulger and Flemmi extorted (through threats of violence) money from Michael Solimando, Richard Buccieri, and Raymond Slinger. Then Weeks tells an odd story about Kevin Hayes who he extorted in 1984 with the OK of Whitey. He says how he brought him to the basement of Pat Nee’s house and threatened to murder him.
Wow, I thought. How’s that helping the prosecution,s case when Weeks starts telling the jury it was Whitey who was killing people in Pat Nee’s basement and burying them there. Weeks seems to be the one using it. More so, these extortions show Whitey the guy capable of scaring people, not Whitey the killer.
From that we went the tale of taking over Stippo’s (Stephen Rakes) liquor store. I had no idea it was only in operation three weeks before they took it from him. Weeks played down the idea of extorting it telling how Whitey was bouncing one of Stippo’s beautiful daughters on his lap and remonstrated with Weeks when he took out a gun telling him to put it away. Weeks said Stippo wanted to sell the store and was trying to hold them up for more than the $100,000 they agreed to pay for it so he had to take out the piece to emphasize a deal is a deal.
Weeks told us he didn’t like Stippo. He said he made sure after Stippo got the money to get the keys to the store from him because if he didn’t Stippo would clean out half of the inventory over night. Leaving court I saw Stippo and told him I didn’t think Kevin Weeks liked him. He smiled and shrugged. That’s a Southie time bomb that may explode one of these days.
Then the trial went into slow motion. We started to hear how Whitey was laundering money through businesses. This went on for over 45 minutes. It had me wondering what was going on. Talk about taking the heart out of case getting into all these mundane little larcenies and tax evasions. It’s like showing Charles Manson had his followers engage in sex with the 80-year-old owner of the Spahn Movie Ranch to keep him happy by spelling out each encounter.
I sometimes wonder if these cases aren’t directed by some authorities out of DC with no trial experience. Kelly and Wyshak are good lawyers but sometimes they seem to be off on excursions that put the case into neutral and lessen the impact of it. Who cares if a bank robber ran a red light – probably the federals do.
The long excursion through the money laundering counts continued. It seemed even Weeks was getting a little peeved at what was happening. Finally it ended. Don’t ask me to recount it since I lost interest a third of the way through. When it ended I thought we’d get on with the murders but I forgot, there’s the drug dealings we’ve already heard about from other witnesses that we have to hear about from Weeks.
We heard about Billy Shea and Freddie Weichel coming to Weeks and Whitey telling them they were going to round up drug dealers, how Joe Tower got them into the cocaine business, how Weeks and Whitey took a cut of the profits, how they extorted money from Red Shea who was a good kid “until he got out of prison and then became a tough guy,”(another one Weeks doesn’t like) We heard the Joe Murray/Pat Nee M Street story. We heard how they extorted Hobart Willis and Jackie Cherry, and how Murray paid $500,000 to sever ties. We had to look at a chart showing the people we had just heard about with Whitey and Stevie at the top. The story of John Connolly giving Whitey a toy replica Uzi machine gun as a gift came up. Weeks told how he used it to extort Red Shea in the basement of a store.
I was about to shout “asked and answered” when the bell rang and we were dismissed for the day
Dear Matt, This isn’t only about the FBI. It concerns you, your family, anyone you love, and your country. The Boston FBI is the same agency that let the Boston Marathon Bombers slip through their fingers. The FBI needs to effectively fight terrorism and not be involved with helping criminals commit perjury.
Exposing Kevin Weeks for perjury might also concern your pocketbook. As I stated before, taxpayers were forced to pay a $100 million dollar settlement because the FBI allowed Barboza to commit perjury.
Is there anybody out there who can help create an online petition to investigate Kevin Weeks for perjury? The wording of the petition would be simple: “We the undersigned hereby seek an investigation of Kevin Weeks for committing perjury regarding his testimony of the Michael Donahue and Brian Halloran murders.”
Matt & Afraid: I’m a writer, not internet savvy enough to set up a petition. The petition should include as potential perjurers and/or potential subboerners of perjury: Flemmi, Salemme, Weeks, Martorano (investigate also why he didn’t have to “tell the whole truth” about his brother’s and friends’ crimes)Nee, Morris and any federal prosecutors who put known perjurers on the stand or put those who failed lie detector tests or put suspected liars on the stand. Remember, the prosecutors must believe “beyond a reasonable doubt” or with some high standard of credibility that everything their witnesses are saying is true, otherwise they have to notify the court that the witness has lied. how can anyone put these lying, self-serving, hubristic serial killers and murderers on the stand and ask the court/public/fellow attorneys to believe them. 2. Remember 100 FBI have filed a petition with AG Holder demanding all these federal prosecutions (since Wolf in 1999) be thoroughly investigated. Holder, like the FBI, has said he “will or may” do that, but can’t until all legal process has ended. That’s like saying we can’t investigating the lynchings and witch burnings and false incarcerations and stonings until the “process” has been exhausted.
William:
1. Petitions do little. This case is a small blip. Education is needed. It takes time. That’s not done through petitions.
2. 100 FBI agents out of 35,000 is a small number. Who would be the investigator appointed and who would she use to do the investigation?
Afraid:
My concern is not with Weeks being a liar because as I see the case it is replete with liars. I’ also of the opinion that the Boston FBI is no differene than the FBI in other parts of the country — it’s only tht the Boston FBI has been dragged into court by Judge Wolf, Prosecutor Wyshak, and defense lawyers and given a severe beating which showed all its scars and warts. If that were done to any other FBI office the same thing would be apparent.
Of course the FBI has to be effective fighting terrorism and what is more important that Weeks lied or that we don’t know what it did in the Tsarnaev case or the case of the kid killed in Florida. The FBI is not involved in Weeks testimony, it has been excluded from the case. My feeling is the petition aimed at one person in a case containing a confederacy of liars – had a big one yesterday in the person of Hauffleur – accomplishes little.
You have a personal reason to highlight Weeks. I understand that. But Weeks alone is far from my major concern and I believe the emphasis on him takes away from the real problems we face.
Dear Matt, There was NO mask. The FBI had my brother look at mugshots. He looked at mugshots hoping to identify the killers because there was no mask. Whitey didn’t wear a wig. My brother now knows Whitey killed Brian Halloran because he has seen Whitey’s picture. But if he knew what Whitey looked like when questioned by the FBI – he would be dead.
The federal court has accepted two completely different versions of the Michael Donahue and Brian Halloran murders: my brother’s testimony in front of Judge Reginald Lindsay and Kevin Weeks under-oath court testimony. How can a court accept two versions of these murders? Because they put a federal seal on my brother’s Boston Police Incident Report and are using Kevin Weeks to help convict other criminals (the same thing the FBI did with Barboza).
But they haven’t sealed my brother’s testimony before Judge Lindsay. Kevin Weeks is being allowed to commit perjury. He is free while his victims rot. Barboza being allowed to commit perjury cost the taxpayers a $100 million dollar settlement. Kevin Weeks isn’t worth two cents. Eventually the truth will be known. Why allow Kevin Weeks to keep enjoying freedom?
We need to start a petition that seeks investigate Weeks for perjury concerning the Michael Donahue and Brian Halloran murders. An online petition would be the most effective. You have some expertise with computer technology. Would you, or anybody else, help create an online petition that seeks to investigate Weeks for perjury? People in South Boston suspect that Kevin Weeks, Whitey Bulger, et al, killed Brian Watson, Joseph Ingemi, and others. An online petition to investigate Kevin Weeks for perjury might help expose the truth. Creating an online petition wouldn’t be that difficult, but might help clean the terrible stain on the nation’s premier law enforcement agency.
Afraid:
I know little about the internet. I’ve had someone set this program up for me so unfortunately you’ll have to go to someone with a little bit more expertise than me for an on line petition.
I know your points that you have written about with respect to your brother. I am anxiously awaiting the cross examination of Weeks by Carney on that point of the mask. If whitey killed Halloran he knows who was with him; maybe it was Weeks alone.
I can’t say I’m interested in cleaning anyting for the FBI. It has to clean itself.
sounds like your day would be noted as a diminuendo if it was a symphony.
Any take on the defendant’s reaction when his brute came on the stage?
load up on that strong coffee in the second floor cafe
or the army coffee on the first
Hopalong:
Whitey has basically ignored Weeks as Weeks has done to Whitey – a glance or two hear and there – let’s see what happens when he has him murdering Deborah Hussey. Whitey is mostly passive, doing some scowling at times, looking quizically at the jury when it comes in, but nothing of great noe. I need the coffee.
Matt- I was backtracking some blog entries when your part about weeks and rakes may be a southie timebomb ready to explode. My radar is up big time and I think we have to really consider Fortnight,Pat the rat. it is chilling to read your old post about it.
Doubting:
When the federals took him off the witness list he was booted outside the tent and became fair game. Why dilly-dally once he’s running loose.
Matt- I grasp that when he was booted out of the tent it was a prime time for it, but shit not even 24 hours? As you can tell sensei I have rookie investigator stamped all over me. I am still shook about this murder, Steve Davis doesn’t even seem shocked, but he has suffered more tragedy than a man who lived 5 lives. I just can’t believe he is gone that’s all.
Doubting:
I want to stay on top of Stippo’s situation and I’ll post on it tomorrow. I’m bothered too but the idea he met his death on the same day the federals told him they no longer needed him as a witness compounds the mystery.
Weeks said he didn’t know Jimmy Mantville? Everyone in Southie-Savie knew Jimmy. He was an outgoing, popular, friendly guy, sometimes a little too outgoing and exuberant. He was a friend and we had good times together with mutual friends, in Bermuda, down the Cape, at Quincy Market, etc., etc.! He was a lifelong Southie guy, are you sure Weeks denied knowing him well? Of course, even Jimmy would’ve admitted that he got mixed up with gangsters, and he did his time, and tried to turn his life around and did, towards the end, when he died prematurely of cancer.
William:
That’s what I heard him say and it seemed to fit the context.