I’ve written that “I’m no fan of John Connolly.” I think you can tell that reading my book Don’t Embarrass The Family. I’ve had that position even though it produced some heated discussions with my brothers who felt Connolly was railroaded. They became so intense we had to stop talking about it.
Connolly was an FBI agent from 1968 to the end of 1990. I had hardly any interaction with him. I recall meeting him once officially in Boston. He was with Jack Clougherty his partner. I think I knew Jack from my summer job in high school at White Stadium. The meeting was about putting a case involving a defendant named Cass to bed. I recall little of it.
I’m told Connolly was bigger than life. As the NBC program ‘Crossing The Line” said he had the swagger of two. He had lots of good friends, as you can tell from my brother’s attitude toward him. He was fun to be around but a brass big shot who loved the limelight and flouted his connections.
I don’t know if he was a tough guy. I figure as an FBI agent he felt he was an untouchable. With those creds, his fine personality, the need to be seen, and having grown up around wise guys, he had the essential mix that was required to develop informants. That we are told he did, and did it well.
When he went to trial in Boston in 2002, the racketeering indictment he was tried had 14 different allegations of criminality. Ten allegedly occurred while he was an FBI agent; the other four acts committed four years after he left the FBI. He was only convicted on one-act while an FBI agent. That was that he gave supervisor John Morris a case of wine with a thousand dollars in it on behalf of Whitey and Stevie.
Having sat through his trial I understood why that happened. Morris’s description of the incident stuck in my mind. I believe Tracy Miner was cross-examining him. He said something about where the thousand dollars was in the case of wine that seemed confusing. She was trying to go after him on it.
As I recall she was asking about the type of case of wine we normally think about which has one level with the 12 bottles. Morris said it wasn’t like that. It was a case of wine with six bottles on the bottom separated by a divider and six bottles above. He said the money was located on the second level of the wine box. I remember picturing it sitting on the divider.
As I said it stuck in my mind. I’m sure the jurors focused on it during their deliberations. Things like that, a surprise unusual type wine box, are memorable.
Watching him testify in the snippet shown by NBC he was asked about the thousand dollars in the wine box. He answered that the thousand dollars was on the bottom of the box. This was a critical piece of evidence in Boston. Where the money was in the box if the incident actually happened is significant. We now have Morris putting the money in the wine box in two different locations. (That’s similar to Weeks putting himself in his sister’s car and then later in Whitey’s car at the time he said he was a lookout at the Halloran murder. His whole story is suspect. He may have been the one in the back seat of Whitey’s car.)
I don’t know what Morris said in Miami about the type of wine box he received. But having changed the location of the money, it seems that he very well could have invented the incident. There is a strong case to be made that the jury in Boston had it not been tricked by that deception would have acquitted Connolly of all the actions he performed as an FBI agent.
Then again, most people don’t know he was acquitted of all the serious charges against him and only one minor charge which occurred while he was an FBI agent. From a public view, he was just plain guilty.
In sum, of the charges with which he was convicted after he left the FBI, only two upon closer examination stand up: the letter he wrote and the fall back lying to an FBI agent. That being the case, we can say Connolly getting hit with 10 years was well poofed.
Matt,
John Connolly was pursued overzealously by the United States Government and give an extremely harsh sentence. He was a family man who has paid a dear price. There have been many victims of this salicious criminal story and many people who have quietly sat by and watch their lives be unraveled by the duplicitious behavior of a few. When you play by the rules and conduct yourself honorably you have nothing to fear. I suspect there a many people who have something to fear when this trial begins to unfold. It is very sad that John’s sons were robbed of time with their father, while other men choose to betray their family so publicly and then expect there to be no fall out. Everyone is accountable for their behavior and there are many cowards out there who should be afraid.
Jimmyfoley:
Well said. That Connolly is in prison on a charge that never should have been brought but if brought quickly thrown out by a federal court is a mockery of justice. If we have a Supremacy Clause that says a state cannot punish a federal agent for actions committed in his line of duty and when one does as in Connolly’s case and the Government does not back up its agent there’s all the indication that one person is being sacrificed to hide the sins of many.
Morris’ story is a complete fabrication. You are spot on about Connolly being a POOF. But his real function was to be the mechanism to get to another more important target. You can tell when a judge is in the tank. If a defendant is found not guilty of the most serious charges (disclosing the identity of informants and taking a bribe) but gets convicted of the lesser counts and ends up with a long sentence. Something is amiss. The judge ignored the jury’s finding. Tauro gave his excessive sentence because he thought he was Judge Sirica of Watergate i.e. give a long sentence and force the defendant to testify against the real target Bill Bulger 2. Remember Judge Quirico sat on the Savin Hill Station case. The defendants were found not guilty of Manslaughter but convicted of Assault with a weapon. The sentence he imposed ( one year ) reflected the verdict. Quirico was honest and fair. Connolly’s judge wasn’t. Connolly’s judge was political. How bizarre was Connolly’s judge in Miami? He announces from the bench that the Statue of Limitations has expired yet he still sentences him. That is the equivalent of the jury finding a defendant not guilty on a one count case and the idiotic judge imposing a jail sentence.2. Someone raised the question of the Deegan case. The person who orders the killing or sanctions the killing or approves the killing or is a member of the organization that does the above is just as responsible for the murder as the one who pulls the trigger. Tameleo, Limone and Greco were all high ranking made men in the Mafia. The Mafia OKed the hit. If one is part of a common scheme or joint enterprise to commit a crime one is a principal and liable as much as the shooter.3. What Connolly, Rico and Naimovich got for their effectiveness against OC was payback from the biggest criminal enterprise in American history.
Cripes, did he even get a sip of the wine?? 10 years and all they convicted him of was passing on a grand and a case of wine……then we have people like enforcer Edward MacKenzie raping innocent little girls and he gets a book deal, his pic taken with the former MA governor, a citation from Congressman Lynch and a job on the Hill at the church on the hill…..for cripes sake.
Ishneal:
1. The poofing of Connolly was to obscure the public knowledge of the FBI’s TE program (remember the promise the US attorney that this was just the beginning step — sort of similar to Carmen Ortiz’s promise the probation indictments were just the first step. I guess what the US attorney means by first step is not that there will be a continuing investigation but that the firs step in the cover-up of others who are not “people out of favor” like powerful FBI guys, judges, and “good” Globe-loving legislators.
2. Both FBI agents who violated the FBI’s Second Commandment of not disclosing the identity of an informant failed to be punished for that sin. Both got their pensions which points out the only real commandment is to embarrass the FBI by disclosing its hidden programs.
Matt, Is there any deposition testimony available to the public that gives a timeline of John Connolly’s post FBI career? For example, it is public knowledge that he was hired by Boston Edison? Anything else?
What appears to be happening over and over here is that decisions are being made on ‘insider’ information that is not available to the public. So, We the Victims are left to speculate as to whether the rule of law is working, or has been corrupted: back in the day, and perhaps going forward. Thanks for your continued efforts to sort all these issues out.
Jean:
On April 12 you wanted to know what John Connolly did after he left the FBI. He had a high paying little work cushy job at Boston Edison the local public utility which like all such things with monopoly power takes care of the poor upper echelon of the company. He told his secretary when he wasn’t around the office or didn’t feel like talking to brush everyone off except for the those above him in the company, his family, Billy Bulger’s top man Jimmy Julian and Chico, which was the nickname for Kevin Weeks. He was spending his time during work hours in the middle of writing a book about his exploits as an agent when he was interrupted.