You know when I started this blog I thought I had a pretty good grasp on things that surrounded Whitey’s case taking into it my experience as a prosecutor, criminal defense attorney and the knowledge of what happened in the trial of FBI agent John Connolly. The blog made me look in depth into more of the issues, reread some of the books, consider the situation in a broader and different perspective as I went along and pondered some comments. I probably have more questions now than when I began.
Sunday is a good time to ask some questions to feed ourselves food for thought.
Whitey is indicted based on gangster testimony for 19 murders. When was it that we as members of the general public first learned that he was implicated in these murders? When was it that anyone in law enforcement outside the FBI knew about his involvement in all, or some of them? When did the media know about this? In 1988 the Globe did a Spotlight article on Whitey. I don’t recall them mentioning any people he killed. Did the reporters know of his involvement in any murders?
Many people are being faulted for not acting more effectively or forcefully against Whitey for these murders. Can you act against something you don’t know is happening?
If Whitey and company are murdering people, do you think they are telling other people about what they are doing? Do you think he is telling his brother Billy that he is murdering people? Isn’t the idea of committing a crime that can put you in prison for life making sure that as few a number of people as possible know about it?
Billy Bulger has a wife and nine kids, would Whitey want them to know he was involved in murdering people? Wouldn’t Whitey despite all his alleged evilness want to insulate Billy and his kids from knowing about anything despicable he had done, especially involving murdering people? Should Billy have surmised what no one else seemed to have known? Is a sibling less likely or more likely to believe rumors about the wrongdoing of a brother?
We have seen how the first few murders Whitey is alleged to have committed were done by Martorano. Martorano said he and another person he won’t identify gunned down these innocent victims. He says Whitey was in a backup car. How likely is a jury to convict a person who did no shooting and who may or may not have been around when the shooting happened when the only evidence is from the shooter who won’t identify who was shooting with him?
What did the FBI know about Whitey’s murders before 1997? We know some in the FBI knew. FBI agent John Morris testified he believed Whitey killed Brian Halloran in May 1982. Morris learned Halloran told the FBI Whitey was involved in the murder of Roger Wheeler. If Morris believed Whitey killed Halloran didn’t it follow he had to believe he was involved in the murder of Wheeler and the murder of John Callahan? Doesn’t this indicate that some in the FBI knew Whitey was involved in murders? Isn’t there information that people at FBI headquarters suspected Whitey was involved in the Wheeler, Halloran and Callahan murders?
Assuming this is true, doesn’t this demonstrate the FBI’s decision to keep Whitey as an informant knowing he was murdering people? How can everything be put on Connolly when many in his job knew Whitey was a murderer in 1982 and did nothing about it? Why then is Connolly the only person who has been demonized and imprisoned? Is this a way to cover up for others in the FBI by pretending there is one rogue agent? Why was the FBI never called to account for its inaction.
Did anyone beyond the FBI know Whitey had murdered people? When John Morris was revealing the secrets from the FBI to the Boston Globe in 1988 did he tell the Globe reporters about them? Isn’t it important that we know what FBI agents Morris and Fitzpatrick told the Boston Globe about these murders when they were disclosing FBI secrets?
Why didn’t the Boston Globe in its Spotlight articles in 1988 disclose it was being furnished information from two FBI agents? How did the animosity of FBI agents come into play in the Globe’s attitude toward the Bulgers?
These are a few of the questions that I’m wondering about. There is much more to know about these matters as we move along.
Your correct Nazzaro did receive a Presidential pardon in the late 1990’s then goy his case vacated in the early 2000’s. Agreed the USAO in Boston has no chance to win a conviction, my understanding was that Nazzaro was pushing for a trial to completely clear his name.
JK – Notoboyo
There’s no chance ever that a prosecutor will bring a case that he knows he is going to lose. All I can suggest is that if he got a pardon then the president of the US thought he deserved it, especially since he had no big hook like the president’s brother in law or a couple of hundred million in his pocket. Suggest to him he keep the papers that show his innocence and know that when he puts his head down at night on the pillow he did nothing wrong. That’s pretty much all one can do once one’s reputation has been destroyed. Good luck.
MDC Police Lt. Richard Nazzarro investigated the Callahan murder at the request of Callahan’s family.
He gathered evidence linking Whitey and Martorano to the murder in Florida which he gave to Florida law enforcement. Shortly thereafter he was visited by Connollys partner SA Newton and then indicted on the so called examscam prosecuted by now FBI head Mueller.
Nazzarro always maintained his innocence and finally in the early 2000’s his conviction was vacated due to the prosecution using perjured testimony and forging documents that were presented to the court (sound familiar, Connolly used the same trick)to convict him.
To this day Nazzarro wants a trial to fully prove his innocence but the USAO in Boston won’t touch it.
He uncovered the Whitey FBI connections in the 1980’s including a homicide, his reward was the end of an honorable career and a prison sentence, another victim of the FBI.
Hard to believe the government was not trying to protect Whitey all the way back then when Connollys partner Newton initiated the case against Nazzarro and he was prosecuted by Mueller the current head of the FBI.
This is not my opinion all of this info is available on PACER unless the government has already removed it ?
JK – notoboyo
I read somewhere that Nazzarro got a presidential pardon. I looked for the case where his conviction was vacated but couldn’t find it. I didn’t have Pacer then so I’ll try again. There is no doubt the FBI was protecting Whitey since the mid-Seventies. They tried to take down DA Delahunt because of that. They brought about the indictment of a state trooper of 23 years. If they knew Nazzarro had information about Whitey, he’d surely have come within their sights from all that I’ve seen.
If Nazzarro had his conviction reversed because of perjured testimony. the US attorney would have no case to try. The best thing for him to do is to make a record of everything and leave it for posterity. As you know, once a cop is charged everyone believes he is corrupt even when he’s acquitted. Judge Wolf in his 661 page findings called Trooper Naimovich corrupt stating wrongfully that he had been convicted when he’s been acquitted.
Thanks for writing.
how wonderful to read once again of billy and his 9 children. billy as a triple eagle has always been known as a smart man. how else does a criminals rise to the top not include murder? if whitey had had only jackie as a brother would he have been able to avoid even 1 arrest from 1965 to 2011 ? billy as a lifelong catholic has a moral component to his life. the author does not mention the southie location of billys house next to steve flemmis house. billy aided his brother to keep him out of jail and enabled whitey to keep killing people.
Doug:
Billy being a triple eagle is quite intelligent. Anyway, he’s smart enough to have let Whitey do what he was doing without trying to pry into his business. Whitey wasn’t arrested because he was disciplined and protected by the FBI. If the FBI is protecting you and you are wise to the world you don’t have much to worry about. A guy named Berkowitz ran Chelsea for 25 years pretty openly and he was never arrested. Why? He was being protected by the FBI. I think you’ve been led astray by the articles on Billy. Remember, everyone in the media went after him. Keep with me and maybe you’ll be convinced that he’s not as bad as you think. At least that’s what I’m beginning to think after getting into this stuff more deeply. Thanks for writing.
Questions; (1) Are you embracing the lie that Halloran was killed because of a leak? When Halloran first went to the FBI he said two attempts had been made on his life: one by the Mafia and one by Jimmy Flynn. When he made bail on a murder arrest, everyone knew he was a cooperating witness. After he was shot, he identified Jimmy Flynn as the shooter.(2) Why would the FBI believe the claims of Halloran, a killer, a cocaine addict, a career criminal? I’ve read that the FBI gave no credence to Halloran’s claims. Why should they? When Jimmy Flynn was acquitted, the FBI had more reasons not to credit anything Halloran said. (3) You state twice that the FBI failed to investigate and “did nothing”: How do you prove someone did nothing? We weren’t at all the internal meetings of FBI agents in the 1980s. Even if Bulger were a “suspect”, the proof you offer does not justify an arrest. Suspicion is not proof. (4) Finally, what murder indictments were brought against Bulger in 1995 after the joint Federal-State Police Task Force brought indictments against him? Even after a four or five year exhaustive investigation by Colonel Tom Foley, the state police and Feds, Bulger was indicted for racketeering not for murder. In other words, even as late as 1995, the best minds in law enforcement, with access to all available state and federal evidence, were unable to connect Bulger to any murder. So, how do you claim they knew in 1980 what they didn’t know in 1995?
Bill:
1. Halloran was killed after he became an informant for the FBI. The information he was given implicated Whitey. There were attempts prior to that time on his life. We know Whitey killed him. He said it was Jimmy Flynn because as Whitey said in his disguise he looked like Jimmy Flynn. A couple of days prior to his murder he had given the information that led to Flynn’s house being raided by the cops. Flynn was acquitted because he had an open and shut alibi. Sure there are other people who could have killed him but Morris and others in the FBI believed Whitey did it. Connolly must have believed it because he closed out any attempt by the FBI in Tulsa to find out more about the Wheeler case which Halloran had connected to Whitey.
2. The FBI believed Halloran’s claims because they were tied into things that happened and he was in a position to know them. Callahan was his friend. After Flynn’s acquittal, the FBI should have known he was shot by Whitey.
3. The FBI did nothing according to Agent Montinari. Montinari who tried to investigate was told by Fitzpatrick to run his investigation through Connolly who’d check with Whitey. It was obvious to Montinari he was being told not to do anything. I’m not saying they had proof to arrest him but the dumbest agent up to the smartest connected him with the murder of Halloran.
4. Bulger was protected for 15 years by Connolly. He was never investigated by the FBI and those on the state side who tried to investigate him had their investigations undermined. Bulger was not indicted for murder in 1995 because the evidence of those murders did not surface until his associates began to rat him out. As you said without proof you can’t indict, plus you have to be extra careful in indicting someone for murder because you always have time to do this. The statute doesn’t run. My claim is that the FBI knew he was involved in the 3 murders, or at least knew enough to have investigated his involvement in them, but they didn’t do anything. Had they, they may have come up with sufficient evidence to make a case.
Basing an argument on something Morris allegedly did or did not say is weak. FBI agents shed no tears about withholding critical information even if innocent people are convicted and sentenced to death.
LB
You’re right that Morris is basically unbelievable but when he speaks against his own interest, even though there is not downside to it because he is protected by the feds, you may be able to credit it a bit especially when there is so much other evidence that supports what he says. We know the FBI is first an foremost interested in protecting the FBI. We really don’t know all they really know but only get little peeks at it and it is amazing how much they choose not to tell us.
How can you possibly state that the FBI did not have any sufficient facts? How would you know that? Read it in a 302?
LB:
I outlined to William Connolly some of the facts about the Wheeler, Halloran and Callahan murders. It seems that the FBI had more than sufficient knowledge to know these men were killed by Whitey. The proof is almost by reason of the negative; they did nothing about these murders which originated in their area.
Thanks for writing,
There exists a great chasm between what people “believed” or “suspected” and what they “knew.” The chasm is not bridged by conjecture. The fact is no one in the press linked Bulger or Flemmi to any specific murder prior to 1990. The same is true of the state police, Boston police, Quincy police, Norfolk DA and Suffolk DA. If they had sufficient facts, sufficient evidence, they would have arrested or indicted them. No one, including the FBI, had suffient facts. To say they did is pure conjecture. Morris’s claims in 1997 are highly dubious. When did he come to his “beliefs”? To whom did he confide his suspicions? No one! A vacuum exists in the evidence. A gap exists in Morris’s tales. In 1988, when Morris was spilling his guts to the Globe, did he make any such claims? Apparently not! The Globe reporters never disclosed he did.In 1982-83, when Jimmy Flynn was being tried for Halloran’s murder, did Morris tell anyone he suspected Whitey? Again, there is no evidence he did. Looking back 20 or 30 years, it’s too easy for any of us to conjecture about what FBI agents knew. Where’s the proof? You can’t convict someone on a suspicion. You shouldn’t charge someone on a suspicion. You shouldn’t indict on conjecture. Where’s the proof that “some in the FBI” knew about specific murders?
Bill:
Here’s the proof:
FBI in Tulsa were investigating the murder of Roger Wheeler who owned Jai Alai in Miami, Florida.
They asked for help from the Boston FBI office. Agent Morris assigned their request to Agent Connolly and he did nothing about it except to close the file.
FBI in Boston were told by Brian Halloran that Whitey, Stevie Flemmi, and John Callahan tried to hire him to kill Roger Wheeler. He told FBI in Boston that they wanted him killed because Callahan wanted to take over his Jai Alai business.
This shows knowledge that Whitey, Stevie and Callahan were involved in Wheeler’s killing and Halloran was giving this information.
The FBI in Tulsa again asked for assistance. Morris gave the request to Connolly who closed it out.
Halloran is murdered shortly after he decides to give the information against Whitey.
The FBI is in possession of information Wheeler was killed by Whitey and Halloran was informing on Whitey and both men are murdered.
The FBI decides to pressure Callahan to see what he knows.
Callahan is murdered in Florida.
The FBI doesn’t do anything to investigate the killing of its informant Halloran, refuseses to help the Oklahoma FBI, and does no investigation of Callahan’s murder.
FBI 302’s relative to the matter that went to Washington, DC, related all three murders to Whitey.
Detectives investigating Wheeler’s murder finally get to meet with Connolly. According to their testimony, they come away with the impression that he is a member of the Winter Hill gang.
The FBI clearly knew that these murders were connected to Whitey. The other agencies you mention did not know Whitey was an informant nor ldid they know Halloran told them about the meeting with Whitey, Stevie and Callahan.
All this is aside from what Morris testified to before Judge Wolf in 1997 and at the Connolly trial in 2002. We do not know if Morris told the Globe reporters about this that is why I suggest it is important to find out what he told them. It is not unusual for the FBI to let state prosecutors indict the wrong man if they know their informant is the killer. (Deegan case)
None of this is looking back – all the above information was on going at the time.
Is it not the sworn duty of the prosecutor to do JUSTICE? If not, then whose duty is it? The unanswered questions that are posited above are legitimate questions, as are similar questions that my family has been asking since I identified John Iuele to be Whitey Bulger.
Why did the superiors of the Organized Crime Task Force in USA v Rennert deny the AUSA’s request to expand its investigation into John Iuele and Gene Phillips?
Could the 1997 denial been because the FBI was protecting its Top Echelon program?
And, if not that, then what else could it have been?
And, why after all these years have we not been given an reasonable explanation as to why we have been left without any answers to our questions?
It is now time for answers! Inocent victims of such a failed government program should be helped, and not ignored, or worse left vulnerable to attack.
Jean:
The FBI has always tried to hide its Top Echelon Informant program. Thing of what it involved – giving permission to some gangsters to continue their criminal activity with a promise that the FBI will protect them if they give information against other gangsters. In effect, the FBI partners up with gangster to get information. Pretty bad in my opinion. By the way the program is still going on and since no one supervises the FBI you’re going to have great difficulty finding anything out. Maybe your Congressperson could help.
Thanks for writing.