I was wrong. All my instincts told me Bob Fitzpatrick had to go down fighting the charges against him. Yet, on May 5, 2016, he agreed to “plead guilty to all counts in which he is named in the above-referenced indictment.” In exchange for doing this the prosecutor and his lawyer agreed to recommend “probation for a term of 2 months.”
I tried to understand his reasons. He wanted to avoid the off chance of going to the can. The cost of defense was piling up. His health may have worsened.
On the other hand unless he wanted to make his life a lie none of this mattered. His reputation was at stake. The sentence to prison would not have been too draconian after his many years service, if the cost of counsel was too high he could go it by himself since so much was at stake; and his health was as it was and really unlikely to be affected by persisting on.
If he fought it he could hold his head high. He could aver he was wrongly convicted and that everything he said was the truth. Otherwise, as now, he has nothing left but the shame of perpetuating a fraud.
As I reflected on this I understood more why it was necessary to indict him. He told lies that if left unchallenged would be considered truths. His lies did not affect the outcome of the trial; they did reflect on the honesty of others. I would always wonder how was it Whitey said he was not an informant and the FBI continued to use him. His lies upended the true story behind important events.
The prosecutors really had no choice. They knew the truth. They felt compelled to set the record straight.
Fitzpatrick admitted lying about the following: (1) that he received special instructions to go to Boston because of major problems there. The truth was this was a routine reassignment and no special instructions were given; (2) that at a meeting he spoke with James “Whitey” Bulger who told him he wasn’t an informant. The truth was Whitey never said told him he was not an informant; (3) that he wrote a report and advocated that Whitey be closed as an informant. Then the truth was that he never advocated Whitey be closed as an informant; (4) that was he retaliated against because he reported SAC Greenleaf for criminality. The truth was that he was demoted due to his falsification of reports related to a shooting incident; (5) that he arrested Gerry Angiulo. The truth was another agent made the arrest; (6) that he found the rifle that was used to murder Martin Luther King. The truth is someone else did.
The significance of the Angiulo arrest and the finding of the murder weapon are of little importance. The other matters though are of great significance in determining the truth about Whitey Bulger and the FBI in general.
Fitzpatrick’s book had him going to the Boston FBI office to clean up the problems. It set the stage for his tale of being “the FBI agent who fought to bring [Whitey] down.” Now it turns out to be a lie. He wrote about a tense meeting with Whitey. Whitey refusing to shake his hand. He returned Whitey’s stare. Agent Connolly “lurking to the right of Bulger in a darkened corner” who said hello and “and then disappeared back into his shadowed alcove.”
He writes he asked Whitey what he had done for the FBI “[b]ecause you’re the informant.” He told how Whitey bristled. He wrote how he fought a guy for the Golden Glove title at Madison Garden who would “make mince meat out of Bulger.” He tells how he pressed Whitey asking what was doing for the FBI and Whitey replied: “I don’t do shit for you.” He would testify that Whitey “[a]t one point, he even said he wasn’t an informant. He said, I’m not an informant.”
He agreed that was false. How much else is false when the critical aspect of his meeting is false? Where does the truth melt into fiction? But that was not the worse of it.
Off topic, but still the FBI.
Some agents like to cause illegal activity:
“The revelation that an undercover FBI agent encouraged a would-be terrorist to “Tear up Texas” shortly before he opened fire on a “Draw Muhammad” cartoon contest in Garland, Texas, last year raises new concerns about FBI counterterrorism efforts that were already under fire for manufacturing terrorism cases rather than halting them.”
https://theintercept.com/2016/08/09/fbi-agent-goaded-garland-shooter-to-tear-up-texas-raising-new-alarms-about-bureaus-methods/
Henry:
Yes, I saw that. From what I read they had a guy at the scene who was communicating with the two dudes coming in to shoot up the place. How does that square with Comey’s insistence they knew nothing about those guys planning that job?
Dear Matt, Just like I gave Polgarus Studio a plug, your blog gets a plug. Here’s the excerpt:
“~1:40pm Tuesday July 12, 2016
At People’s Palace favorite kitchen seat. Red brick windowsill brings happiness. Also happy Dr. Sackler letter progressing. Three hours in library, 400 pushups (four sets of 100), hot shower, now lunch before washing clothes and returning to library.
In library posted comment on blog, ‘Trekkinging Toward The Truth’ ‘A Journey Over The Road Less Traveled With Matt of Boston.’ Recently posted this comment:
‘Dear Matt, A clear example of federal law enforcement/media collusion occurred after TWA 800 – bound for Paris on July 17, 1996 – broke apart in midair off Long Island minutes after taking off from Kennedy International Airport. All 230 people aboard were killed.
New York Times article (July 16, 2013), ‘Leaving No Survivors but Many Questions ‘TWA Flight 800’ Examines a 1996 Tragedy’ ends with:
‘The agencies involved in the original one come off poorly in this film, and it’s hard to imagine any entity that would command the authority that could put the Flight 800 case to rest.’
Bill Clinton was running for re-election. Hillary Clinton being elected president means cover-ups will be the norm.’”
Jon:
Thanks for the plug. I should mention that one of my brothers speaks highly of you. I’m not sure how he knows you or when you met.
Dear Rather Not, Here’s some more concerning “Irish gift of gab.” I spent two years taping Gaga and ten years (combined with doing other things) transcribing the tapes. I didn’t know Gaga used a code until transcribing the tapes. He would repeat certain sentences, making them a little smaller, or a little bigger. Then I realized he used a numeric code! Here’s an excerpt from my upcoming anti-Hillary novella:
“Heading upstairs to work on Dr. Sacklet letter. Today, like yesterday, spent time reading ‘Gaga’ book. Love Gaga’s voice.
Things look bleak (Hillary Clinton becoming president, etc.,), but happy when reading ‘Gaga’ book. Almost 160,000 words rising and falling in sing-song manner. Except occasional similar-sized sentences going back and forth – sentences larger than three words rise by at least one word and fall by at least one word (most times two words).
It creates awe. Only non-children’s book in Western literature (that I know) adhering to numeric code. Polgarus Studio did excellent formatting.”
Jon,
Thank you.
Dear Matt, Majority of the Whitey-saga lawsuits were dismissed. The DOJ went against the rule of law. Here’s text from a book I will soon put on Amazon “pre-order”:
“2003 Congressional report, ‘EVERYTHING SECRET DEGENERATES: THE FBI’S USE OF MURDERS AS INFORMANTS’ states:
‘Beginning in the mid-1960s, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (‘FBI’ or ‘Bureau’) began a course of conduct in New England that must be considered one of the greatest failures in the history of federal law enforcement…This committee report focuses on only a small segment of what happened. It discusses primarily the 1965 murder of Edward ‘Teddy’ Deegan…In excess of two billion dollars in civil lawsuits were filed as the direct result of federal law enforcement decisions to use Jimmy Flemmi, Stephen Flemmi, and James Bulger as criminal informants. From the onset, the Department of Justice has used litigation tactics to defeat these lawsuits that, at best, can be characterized as contrary to respect for the rule of law.’
Department of Justice still using ‘litigation tactics to defeat these lawsuits that, at best, can be characterized as contrary to respect for the rule of law.’ We need Congressional investigation focusing on Brian Halloran and Michael Donahue murders.”
Jon:
It is an interesting perspective you take on the cases. You have to keep in mind that the DOJ is just trying to save the taxpayer money. My problem with all the suits is that the people who were the victims of these gangsters were themselves gangsters. Take Callahan, he set up the murder of Wheeler and paid fifty grand to have it done. Why should his realtives get any compensation. The others who joined in the crimes and were wiped out by their buddies; why are they being compensated? you run with the dogs you have to go down with the dogs.
Dear Rather Not, You mentioned the Irish gift for gab. This is what Gaga says about Whitey and the IRA: “That boatload of weapons. The seven tons of weapons. Whitey helped send them over. And he TIPPED the British off. The English government paid big money. Anything to screw up the IRA. Whitey’s their NUMBER ONE HITLER.”
Jon:
It turned out the tip off came from Ireland. Whitey gets a pass on that one.
Matt, it’s been shown that Fitzpatrick has been a pathological liar for some time. I wonder how many people his past perjuries have placed in prison? Scary thought?
I don’t feel bad for Fitzpatrick at all, just one lie equals loss of credibility for ever in law enforcement. He’s a sorry excuse for a man. I think people give Fitzpatrick a free pass when they refer to his actions as “fiction”.
Matt
Are you still plugged into local law enforcement agencies in the Boston area? If so are you able to share the name(s) of the major players in organized crime in the New England area? Cadillac Salemme and Steve Flemmi are long gone from the scene as is Vinny Ferrara, no? The cheeseman still around? I am wondering if there is still organized crime figures in the North End, South Boston, and Somerville Also, do you think the FBI role in dealing with organized crime in teh Boston area has changed since the Bulger/Flemmi fiasco? My bad , it is still thought that Pat Nee is lurking in the shadows.
Jerome:
I used to use the feds to get information on the mob in town. Jerry O’Sullivan would tell me who the feds thought replaced the Angiulo gang. Other than that the guys I worked with would keep me up to date. Obviously the feds are not going to tell me what is going on if they in fact know. The guys I used to work with who had the inside information have left for other jobs. A long way to answer that I have no inside sources into the mob or other gangs but they must be out there unless people stopped watching the NFL games and putting a little wager on them.
Salemme is gone – Flemmi is lurking around but of no importance in the underworld – Ferrara who knows? he supposedly went straight but his star never beamed brightly for a long time since he was in the can shortly after the Angiulos.
I have to assume the Cheeseman will be getting out soon. As far as organized crime existing it probably pales into comparison with what it was at the Mafia level because like at one time with the Communist Party the FBI had most of them as informants. You still have the low level gangsters like Whitey who run the gaming and leg breaking aspects but probably the scene is more diverse. I would have to guess that there is no one or two people who everyone is paying tribute to but could be wrong.
The FBI is still doing its thing with the Top Echelon Informant program where it protects the organizations of guys who give it information. I would suggest those people, like Berkowitz who was a TE informant and ran all the gaming in Chelsea and corrupted much of that city, are still being protected. You may find that the top racketeers in the city are all FBI authorized criminals so that their organizations flourish.
Pat Nee being one of them.
I felt bad for him after reading his book several years ago….and the rough time he had growing up with those tough NY nuns.
He would have done better to leave Whitey, Morris, Connolly, and MLK out of it and just wrote a “local boy beats the odds and becomes G-man” story……
I think ol’ Fitzy’s pursuit of his 15 minutes and his Irish gift of gab got the best of him.
So long, Fitzy. I give him two years before he croaks.
Rather:
Sad case indeed since his whole book (and who knows about his orphanage stories) is based on a fiction of being sent to Boston to clean up the mess and finding it was all around Whitey and he tried to close him out. There were other things like he taking credit for bringing down Angiulo when that was done by the crew before him under O’Sullivan who he has nothing but bad words for. The fall out from his inventions is hard to determine since his story before on judge became the story other judges followed.