Jerome and Rather who comment here have brought me back to a consideration of things relating to Whitey Bulger. Rather has hung around here a long time and kept current on many of the posts; Jerome more recently but he has a strong interest in probing deeper into what happened in the pre-Whitey era of the gang wars and the years when Whitey Bulger and Stevie Flemmi were informants. Jerome has recently read many of the books about these times including my book “Don ‘t Embarrass The Family.” He has posed some good questions to me looking for logical answers. Through these questions he brings up matters that make for good posts for those interested in the original subject of this blog and the FBI.
I first must say I appreciate the comments of people like Jerome, Rather, and all the others who come here, even JKM, regularly and off-and-on just to check in. I say this selfishly because they have made me sharpen my thinking and forced me to reconsider some of my positions which on second look were off-base. They have taught me more than I could ever have learned otherwise. A wise teacher will learn from his students; a blogger will learn from those who take the time to comment. So to all I give you a hearty hand shake and my thanks.
Jerome commented on July 20 to the NY girls post telling me that after all his research there is “one haunting question” that bewilders him. He said in a nut shell he cannot find any information that Whitey gave to the FBI that justified him being used as an informant. He notes how the best than can be said for him is that most people seem to write he passed on information to John Connolly, his FBI handler, that he received from Stevie Flemmi.
I replied to him to broaden his understanding of the word “informant” and gave him three names to discover which would help him in doing that. I also suggested to him that he find out who “Little Al” is and put that into the equation. Rather went back in my posts and found I had previously written about “Little Al.”
I told Jerome that the most people who have written books about Whitey really have no knowledge what Whitey gave the FBI. What makes it worse is that they come at this subject with an animus toward Whitey so they will minimize his importance to the FBI. They do so in such a manner that they reach the point of talking out of both sides of their mouths: they say he gave the FBI no information, so they seem to agree with Whitey that he wasn’t an informant, yet they want to insist he was an informant.
One of the most made-up parts of the Whitey saga is the Black Mass story in chapter one of the supposed meeting that took place at Wollaston Beach between Connolly and Whitey Bulger. It puts some of the discussion (which never took place) in quotes as if there were a stenographer hidden in the back seat of Connolly’s car making a transcript. The idea that Connolly would think Bulger could give him inside information on the Boston Mafia under Angiulo when both were Irish and from South Boston a particular combination that each would have known the North End did not distrust if not hate.
The book tells that Whitey was concerned about “Angiulo setting him up.” How could that be when he was working with Angiulo to murder off people competing with Angiulo as we learned from Martorano when he told about Howie Winter’s and his meeting with Gerry Angiulo where they were hired to “hit” the Notarangeli brothers. (Notice Whitey who was a partner of Winter and Martorano was kept out of the meeting.)
My message to Jerome was to think more about this, do some more research, recognize that those who have written about it are blinded by bias, and get back to me. He did. I write about it next.
Ms. Freeh :
Talk about a ” Hare ” Trigger 🙂
… DAMN IT … Elbows Wychulis scoots down that rabbit hole whenever the FBI puts those special pellets in that Rabbit Gun of theirs !!!
yea, the bunnies keep on tickin…
funded by our tax dime
How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations
Glenn Greenwald
Feb. 24 2014, 6:25 p.m.
One of the many pressing stories that remains to be told from the Snowden archive is how western intelligence agencies are attempting to manipulate and control online discourse with extreme tactics of deception and reputation-destruction. It’s time to tell a chunk of that story, complete with the relevant documents.
Over the last several weeks, I worked with NBC News to publish a series of articles about “dirty trick” tactics used by GCHQ’s previously secret unit, JTRIG (Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group). These were based on four classified GCHQ documents presented to the NSA and the other three partners in the English-speaking “Five Eyes” alliance. Today, we at the Intercept are publishing another new JTRIG document, in full, entitled “The Art of Deception: Training for Online Covert Operations.”
By publishing these stories one by one, our NBC reporting highlighted some of the key, discrete revelations: the monitoring of YouTube and Blogger, the targeting of Anonymous with the very same DDoS attacks they accuse “hacktivists” of using, the use of “honey traps” (luring people into compromising situations using sex) and destructive viruses. But, here, I want to focus and elaborate on the overarching point revealed by all of these documents: namely, that these agencies are attempting to control, infiltrate, manipulate, and warp online discourse, and in doing so, are compromising the integrity of the internet itself.
Among the core self-identified purposes of JTRIG are two tactics: (1) to inject all sorts of false material onto the internet in order to destroy the reputation of its targets; and (2) to use social sciences and other techniques to manipulate online discourse and activism to generate outcomes it considers desirable. To see how extremist these programs are, just consider the tactics they boast of using to achieve those ends: “false flag operations” (posting material to the internet and falsely attributing it to someone else), fake victim blog posts (pretending to be a victim of the individual whose reputation they want to destroy), and posting “negative information” on various forums. Here is one illustrative list of tactics from the latest GCHQ document we’re publishing today:
Other tactics aimed at individuals are listed here, under the revealing title “discredit a target”:
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/
Quite Welcome Jerome, and Thankyou !!!
Matt
Thank you for creating a series of posts that will address some points myself and Rather has shared with your blog. I know all too well that Howie Carris probably your least favorite author. with that said I am currently reviewing his book about Steve Flemmi called THE RIFLEMAN. The book, if I am 100% correct, is basically copies of teh transcripts of what Flemmi told the Feds as part of his deal to not end up on death row. Howie Carr has included pictures. Have you read the book or read the Flemmi transcipts? I ask because in many passages names are blocked out. I was wondering if you knew who most likely are the blocked names.
Also, I think the book would be fascinating for you (similar to Black Mass) in that you could dissect where Flemmi is lying and also where he is shfting responsibility for a murder done by him onto someone else. It goes without saying that I eagerly await the rest of your posts. I can see where Bulger convinced himself he was not really an informant if he was being fed information by Connolly, Morris, and any other law enforcement officials that helped his crime reign. In his mind he probably convinced himself he was simply using and manipulating law enforcement without “really being” a rat.
* And needless almost to note : Ms.Freeh and her antic band of Flying Pond Varietal Varsity Vamps ; With none taking up more Bandwidth than the expansive … and continually expanding … ELBOWS WYCHULIS 🙂 …. I miss William C.’s literate and sharp observings … Suspect he is enwrapped again in his Marathon Bombing lead @ Dartmouth St. STARBUCKS. I took my sturdy Pilgrim … hybrid Trek bike … down Boylston from Mass last night between 9-10 . I have Best LIGHTS in Boston on board when choose to employ them. This was first time since the Desecration that I coursed it. Martin Richards and Family Hallowed Ground was first stop. Did my RITUALS. As only I Can. Hit Trader Joes. Lighted Out and ” S ” wove down middle of Boylston to FINISH LINE . Flashed. Onwards. Upwards. Elvis is leaving the Boylston St. … Left, on Berkeley and hit river to Harvard Square. Off to preside over ” Chess Mafia ” at ABP, among other pursuits . Boylston was Healing …. And Healing …. STILL .
Yes, Most Welcome and Thank You. You’ve pissed me off time to time ( and time again 🙂 ) NO/YES /MAYBE. Just Kidding. Like Duncan Nelson the UMass English Prof who said that at term’s end he never knew whether to give me an ” A” or an ” F “. I feel much sympathetically towards my young Master Connolly’s report card. I ALWAYS got the ” A ” btw !!! … Am pleased you saw through Benji Ditchman’s prevarications about Deborah Hussey and Deborah Davis. Olga Davis, Mother, always maintained it was ALL FLEMMI in her beloved and beautiful daughter’s sadistically cruel murder. ” Rather ‘ is a Fellow Traveller whose comments I get a kick out of. ” Dan C ” deserves honorable mention as does NC, and ” Jerome ” is that kid sitting up in the front of the class, exploding up hand waving on questions /answers, and I dig both that he is clearly doing his homework , and pushing the debate. ★ Note to self … Was intrigued at ease and comfort with which Johnny M. and ” Whitey” shared space at THE TRIAL OF WHITEY BULGER . Keep Working !!! 🙂
John King McDonald
Your short and brief assessment of each blogger is pretty spot on. I enjoy all the comments and have learned a lot from every one that contributes with different perspectives. Thanks.
* ESPECIALLY … JKM … 🙂
Richard Stratton is a remarable ex- con who served time
in prison for dealing marihuana.
He went on to create a remarkable life as a magazine
publiisher,HBO producer , and researcher extradonaire
on the life of Greg Scarpa, another serial killer working
for the taxpayer funded FBI program
MURDERERS R US.
Read his article called The Grim Reaper
see
http://www.expertwitnessradio.org/site/tag/informant-handling/page/2/
MS:
Will do but the Bunny keeps going on and on.
Hi Matt:
Below is a link to a story that appeared in Playboy about six years ago. The author. Richard Stratton, says he interviewed Connolly in jail. In Stratton’s telling of the tale, Connolly confirms the Wollaston Beach meeting with Bulger:
“On a fall evening, with a harvest moon hanging over Boston Harbor, Connolly and Bulger met in Connolly’s car parked at Wollaston Beach in Quincy. The agent laid it out for Bulger. He played him a tape of a tapped phone conversation between a notorious hit man and a Boston Mafia boss. The Italian Mob had decreed it was time that “Irish bastard ” Bulger was taken care of.
The Mafia was all about trading information, Connolly told Bulger, as if the savvy ex-con needed a primer on how the underworld operates. “Jimmy understood. At the highest level, that’s just the way the game is played,” says Connolly. Bulger had to trust Connolly and vice versa. Trust is the essential ingredient of the TE- agent relationship. “Snitches gel outed and get killed,” says Connolly. Bulger had to believe Connolly would protect him or else there would be no deal.”
So what’s going on here, Matt?
The link: http://playboysfw.kinja.com/the-fbi-agent-who-became-whitey-bulgers-fall-guy-1582905704
A great read!
Dan:
I had no doubt that Connolly was spinning a story about meeting with Whitey and that the story was again told six years ago does not surprise me. I have figured that Connolly at some point told it to Lehr and O’Neill. Remember Connolly was a big bs guy always building himself up.
I pointed out it made no sense. If Gerry Angiulo even knew of Whitey back in 1975 I would be surprised. If he did, he would not have perceived him as a threat since he was part of Howie Winters gang in Somerville along with Howie, John Martorano and others. They had a good relationship with Angiulo and he called upon them when he needed someone whacked. In the O’Sullivan wiretap in 1981 Larry Zannino the Boston Mafia enforcer was overheard telling someone that they and the Hill are one. In 1979/80 we saw that Whitey was operating out of the North End and in contact with Larry and Danny Angiulo on an almost daily basis. Connolly’s story that Angiulo wanted to hit Whitey doesn’t fit in a circumstance where Angiulo wanted to keep good ties with Howie.
If Connolly told Whitey the Mafia was about trading information he is living in a dream world. The Mafia gave no information; at that time there were no Boston Mafia guys helping out the FBI. That came later when one got jammed in and made a deal to rat out the induction ceremony.
The thing that makes the whole Connolly story a farce is that there would be no way Connolly could have protected Whitey against the Mafia if it wanted to hit him. That was one thing Whitey would have known in his core; his protection would only come from himself or his allies. Connolly could protect Whitey against other informants by passing on information to him about them or could tip him off about wiretaps. That’s all he could offer him which would be a good deal in itself but the idea Whitey needed protection from the Mafia, or that he could give the FBI information about the Mafia is from my point of view a non starter.
You also have to remember that the FBI already had Stevie Flemmi who was connected to the Mafia and had access to it. He certainly gave Rico, Condon and Connolly information about what the Mafia was doing and he predated Whitey having an informant file opened by about a dozen years.
Finally, where did Connolly get such a tape. The FBI was not doing wires on the Boston Mafia at the time and the operation on Patriarca had shut down. Why use vague language as between a “notorious hit man” and a “Boston mafia boss.” You’d think if the story had substance Connolly would have said “a tape between Pat “The Ape” Patoronni, a notorious hit man, and Gerry Angiulo, the Boston Mafia boss.” The absence of specifics add to the idea that it is bs.
If you have a copy of Black Mass or if you don’t go to the library and get one. Look at how the authors bring Steve Flemmi into play. They act as if he did not come along until after Whitey because if they admit his existence as an informer then the need for Whitey to give the FBI information does not exist.
Thanks, Matt. Lots of interesting things to think about. I agree with you on the BS angle. I kind of rolled my eyes and laughed at the “harvest moon hanging over Boston Harbor” line that was tossed into the Wollaston Beach story. Was this going to be a tale of romance or true crime? I’m curious about your take on this. Do you have an idea as to how Connolly and Bulger actually did get together?
Dan:
Good question. No doubt they were connected. Connolly captured Salemme in NY City in 1972 and he was transferred back to Boston in 1973. J. Edgar Hoover had died in 1972 and L. Patrick Gray had taken over but resigned in early 1973. Two other guys would be director or assistant director in 1973. It was during this confusion Connolly was able to effectuate a transfer. It is said he got it because his father was sick but it probably was helped by John McCormack who was Speaker of the House up until 1972.
Stevie Flemmi was an informant for Paul Rico until he fled town after being indicted for a murder and blowing up Attorney Fitgerald’s car. He stayed in touch with Rico. He came back to Boston after the FBI was able to assure him the murder indictments would be dismissed. He then worked with Rico’s partner Dennis Condon who he knew from earlier days. Rico had left Boston for Miami in 1970.
Flemmi continued as an informant even though he was not listed as such in the FBI files Two things happened after Flemmi was back: he formed a friendship with Whitey which he did not have before he went on the lam; and Dennis Condon was looking to retire which he did in 1977. One of the things he did was to turn Flemmi over to Connolly.
At one point Whitey and Flemmi became real close because they had the same habits, they didn’t party hard or do drugs and were good food and work out fanatics. They both concentrated on making mony and women. Flemmi must have known the closer he got with Whitey the more likely it would be that Whitey would discover his status. I’d have to believe that he told Whitey at some point when they were involved in a discussion of his relationship with Connolly telling him as he would later tell his fellow inmates at Plymouth that he gave him garbage and he got back gold.
That would appeal to Whitey when Flemmi told him how the FBI tipped him off about the indictment coming down and how it was able to get the serious charges against him dismissed. Whitey having done his nine years in prison was determined not to go back and the idea of having FBI protection to ensure this would not have happen was irresistible.
It did not hurt that Connolly and Whitey were from Old Harbor Village and Whitey had a reputation as a tough guy which Connolly would have heard about. (I don’t believe his ice cream story or the one about Whitey coming to his aid – they wre 11 years apart in a place with hundreds of kids ) Flemmi probably made the introduction and Whitey took it from there.
Matt you conclude on this post:
“They act as if he did not come along until after Whitey because if they admit his existence as an informer then the need for Whitey to give the FBI information does exist.”
Shouldn’t this be then the need for Whitey to give the FBI information does NOT exist.”?
If Steve Flemmi is around all along with Bulger then anything Bulger had was redundant. Isn’t that the point you were trying to make?
Kerry:
Thanks. You are correct I left out “not.” I went back in and changed it so that it makes sense. My point is as you suggest that if Connolly was already were getting information on the Mafia from Flemmi it makes no sense for him to recruit Bulger because Flemmi was more closely connected to the Mafia than Whitey ever would be.
Matt
Perhaps you all should take some time to read Peter Lances book “Deal with the Devil:FBIs Secret Thirty Year Relationship with a Mafia Killer”. If John Iuele was an alias for James Bulger I would suggest that you will have your answer in my testimony. I have found that with all things government – one size fits all. Why would the TE program not be operated in a similar manner in NY and MA…or in other states for that matter? But until NH changes its Court rulings that I am not competent to testify to these matters, I will have to hope someone else discovers the connections…
Jean Allan.
Correct me if I am wrong but doesnt the book DEAL WITH THE DEVIL by Peter Lance go into minute detail darn nearly all the information mobster and murderer Gregory Scarpa gave to the FBI? Thorough and detailed accounts of information given by Scrapa to his handler. Yet with Whitey Bulger I have yet to find any detailed information that led to other criminals being arrested, or convicted, or the bust of rival criminals.
Perhaps Peter Lance’s reporting was more thorough than the reporters covering Whitey…Greg Scarpa was more than just a snitch for the FBI..I am referring to the complete job description for the TE program…but, if I recall that has been taken off the table from public view by a Presidential Order…until we know more the public an only speculate…just saying
Jean: It is on my list. In the FBI one side does fit all that’s why it is so absurd it had successfully made it look like only the Boston office was bad – the whole TE program is bad and it is in every office. Imagine if you just received 56 barrels of olive oil that you had ordered. You open one barrel and the oil is rancid. Would you stop there and not want to inspect the other 55? That’s what happened in the Connolly matter.
Nice post. Looking forward to all that follows!
500 years from now when social archeologists
carbon date Matt’s blog they will find he was
50 years behind FBI criminal behaviour.
In other news
http://www.globalresearch.ca/chattanooga-shooter-linked-to-cia-fbi-asset-anwar-al-awlaki/5463949
Chattanooga Shooter Linked To CIA, FBI Asset Anwar Al-Awlaki
Al-Awlaki, who dined at the Pentagon, also had ties to Ft. Hood shooting, Charlie Hebdo attack
By Kit Daniels
Global Research, July 22, 2015
Infowars 21 July 2015
[print]
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al-awlaki
Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, the gunman who killed four Marines and a Navy sailor last week in Chattanooga, Tenn., was heavily influenced by Anwar al-Awlaki, a CIA and FBI asset who had dined at the Pentagon not long after 9/11.
Abdulazeez had collected CDs and downloaded audio recordings of al-Awlaki’s teachings, placing him in the same company as the Ft. Hood shooter, the underwear bomber, three of the alleged 9/11 hijackers and the Charlie Hebdo terrorists.
Al-Awlaki, however, was a CIA asset with additional links to the FBI and was invited to attend a luncheon at the Pentagon in 2001, despite his known connections to the 9/11 hijackers.
“American-born cleric al-Awlaki’s role as a key figure in almost every recent terror plot targeting the United States and Canada, coupled with his visit to the Pentagon, only confirms our long stated position that al-Awlaki is a chief terrorist patsy-handler for the CIA – he is the federal government’s premier false flag agent,” Paul Joseph Watson wrote.
In other words, al-Awlaki influenced and recruited young Muslims for violent jihad against soft targets in the U.S. and abroad.
The two alleged terrorists who attacked the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo in Jan., Cherif and Said Kouachi, admitted they were recruited by al-Awlaki.
“I was sent, me, Cherif Kouachi, by al-Qaeda of Yemen. I went over there and it was Anwar al-Awlaki who financed me,” Kouachi told BFM-TV by telephone prior to an assault by French police, according to Reuters.
Additionally, government documents released by the watchdog group Judicial Watch exposed al-Awlaki’s relationship with the FBI and that the agency even ordered customs agents to ignore an outstanding warrant for al-Awlaki’s arrest.
“Fox News was first to report that in 2002, al-Awlaki was released from custody at JFK International Airport — despite an active warrant for his arrest — with the okay of FBI Agent Wade Ammerman,” Fox News reported in 2014. “[The documents] show the cleric was emailing and leaving voice messages with an FBI agent in 2003, a year after Ammerman told customs agents at JFK airport to bypass an outstanding warrant for the cleric’s arrest.”
“The documents further support claims that al-Awlaki, who eventually went overseas and linked up with an al-Qaeda affiliate, worked with the FBI and was likely a U.S. government asset.”
MS:
There seems to be a pattern where Muslims who have been used by the FBI to get information become bitter at the FBI and feel they have betrayed their fellow Muslims. Especially does it happen when a person is sent overseas as a spy. Then it follows that they turn on the FBI not wanting to do the job anymore. The FBI won’t let go so it threatens some bad consequences to the person who tries to get out of its grasp; that person then becomes a terrorist striking out madly because he cannot get out of the trap he is in. That’s why a guy like Tameran Tsarnaev may have had prior FBI dealings that have been hidden.
GOK:
Thanks