I missed this yesterday not being able to get to the court. None of the local papers reported it in their first reports on the case. Carney is J.W. Carney Bulger’s defense lawyer who is quite skillful.
USA Today reported: “Carney said in court that it was not the FBI who gave Bulger immunity, but he would not identify who within the Department of Justice allegedly made him such a promise.”
Carney knows the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, as I mentioned yesterday, has said that FBI agents can’t give immunity. It did that in overturning Judge Wolf’s decision where he left that question open. It also later upheld FBI Agent John Connolly’s conviction.
Flemmi before Judge Wolf said Connolly gave him immunity. As I just said, that didn’t fly. The First Circuit said only an Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) could give immunity. I thought Carney was going to take another bite out of the same apple saying Connolly gave Whitey immunity just to keep the pressure on the FBI. I was wrong. I should know by now not to underestimate Carney. I’m mad at myself for doing this because I had seen it coming and missed it.
When did I see it coming? It was when I read T.E. English giving another take on the case. There was something new in what Connolly was saying that I read with interest but then went on to other things. I remember thinking, “Wow, That is something I never heard before!”
I should have put it together with what I had heard before which is also in the T.E. English article. Connolly said, “My lawyers have information that [Whitey Bulger] . . . told [FBI agents] I had nothing to do with tipping him off. . . .” Aside from the context of the article, what does that tell me. There’s contact going on between Whitey and Connolly whether through lawyers or some other people. I’m sure it’s two-way. Right now each man is joined together, like perhaps they’ve been since the early ’70s, in a death struggle against everyone else. They have to keep their lines of communications open, they have to keep their dance in step.
They have learned from the past mistakes of the others like Flemmi. They’re now going to say that an AUSA who has the power to immunize people was the one who gave not only Whitey, but also Connolly, immunity for all that they did. Connolly has a tougher row to hoe on this since he never brought it up during all the prior times he could have done so.
Before identifying the AUSA you should know one more thing. Flemmi identified a dead person as the one who was leaking things to him from the state police at the hearings before Judge Wolf. It’s best to identify a dead person as the one who did something. It’s difficult for the court to subpoena him or her in to testify to contradict your claim. So the AUSA who gave immunity to Whitey must have died since that time.
T.E. English set it out in his article. Rereading it I see that the defense strategy of Whitey is developing with an assist from Connolly. Here’s what Connolly said that is totally new:
As early as 1977, agent Connolly informed O’Sullivan that he had “turned” someone who could help them make major cases against the Mafia. When O’Sullivan heard it was Bulger, he wanted to meet him. Remembers Connolly, “I asked him, ‘Are you sure? You don’t have to.’” It was highly unusual for an assistant U.S. Attorney to meet face to face with a top informant while an investigation was still ongoing. O’Sullivan insisted. Connolly set up a meeting between the city’s top mobster and its top organized crime prosecutor in a hotel room on a rainy afternoon around Christmas. “I was there,” says Connolly. “Jimmy met Jerry. As I remember it, they were both quite impressed with one another.”
There you have it. Whitey’s immunity claim in a nutshell and the AUSA who gave him the immunity is O’Sullivan who has passed away.
The only problem with that is that 12 of the 19 murders Whitey is accused of committing happened after that 1977 meeting. If I know AUSA Freddie Wyshak he might just do away with this claim by trying those earlier murders first.
Soon nhjustice.net will be posting a letter that I wrote to James Bulger’s Attorneys The Law Offices of Carney & Bassil, P.C. requesting information with respect to an alias that I have come to believe had been used by James Bulger in 1989. The alias name in question is John Iuele.
Jean E. Allan aka Jean E. Allan Sovik, fka Jean E. Quinn
I look forward to reading the letter. I would note that Carney many not be able to turn anything over to you because of his relationship with Whitey. He is bound by the lawyer/client duty that limits material that he can disclose.
What evidence is there that Connolly and Whitey had any contact over the last 17 years? Did the FBI put the top 150 Mafia guys on the East Coast in prison in the 1980s? How many did the State Police put in jail in the 1980s? Did Wyshak make an honest deal with Martorano where he let him tell only part of the story and didn’t have to mention anything about all his other killer friends? Why was he permitted to hide so much incriminating evidence as a part of his deal? Was that unprecedented or is it prosecutorial misconduct on Wyshak’s part? Was it prosecutorial misconduct or just a political fix for Mrs. Tierney on Wyshak’s part? Was the prosecution of John Connolly a political prosecution and an attempt to get Billy Bulger? Were you correct in asking Connolly at his trial if he had anything on Bulger or his superiors? Was Connolly’s trial as fair as the Salem Witch Trials or the Stalin Show Trials. Martha Stewart got 90 days for lying to the FBI. Connolly got ten years for the trivia he was convicted of. Was Judge Tauro on the level or did he think he was judge Sirica, give a long sentence and force cooperation from Connolly and to coerce Connolly to lie about William Bulger and falsely implicate him in crimes? How long did the State POlice hold a grudge against the FBI concerning Miles Connors? Will the grudge ever end?
I wrote that it appears the lawyers for Bulger and Connolly are in communication and are preparing Whitey’s defense that O’Sullivan gave him immunity. I set out my evidence. I know Weeks said Bulger and Connolly were in continuing contact from the time Connolly retired to the time Bulger fled. From the beginning of 1995 to the time Connolly went to jail, I have no knowledge of any communications between them nor did I claim to have although I would not doubt it. Weeks indicated they had their private methods of communicating with each other.
I don’t know how many Mafia people the FBI put in prison in the 1980s. The FBI had over 1,000 agents going after the Mafia, the state police had no more than ten troopers. The FBI interfered with the state police’s attempt to bring down the Mafia in Boston. From 1984 onward, the state police worked with the FBI in Boston against the Mafia.
Martorano told Wyshak about all his murders. He did this so that he could wrap up everything at once. It was in his interest to tell about every one he was involved in for if he left out any then he would be liable for them in the future. If you know of more murders that Martorano committed I’d be surprised since he had a good lawyer, Frank DiMento, who knew that it was best to put everything on the table for another fivc or ten over the admitted twenty would not change the circumstances. So, yes, Wyshak made a good deal with Martorano. As a result of that deal he got evidence against Flemmi and Bulger. Weeks folded when he saw Martorano fold. Wyshak already has Flemmi incarcerated for life and soon he will have Bulger in the same position.
I suggest Wyshak is an excellent prosecutor. If it were not for him Bulger, Flemmi, Martorano, Weeks may never have been prosecuted. As for his dealings with regard to Mrs. Tierney, I have very little information on the case. I recall he recommended that she do no time. I believe she did a short time in jail, 30 days, which Judge Young said was the usual sentence in that type of case. She was working for her brother who was the criminal. Sometimes siblings do things that they shouldn’t. I don’t think a prosecutor using his discretion in a case like this handled in open court is misconduct. Don’t forget Judge Young had the final say in the matter and he is the last one who would brook prosecutorial misconduct.
I don’t think the prosecution of Connolly was a political prosecution. It had several facets to it. The main reason for Connolly’s prosecution was the FBI was embarrassed when it was revealed that two stone cold murderers Whitey and Stevie Flemmi had been informants for over a decade. Had that never come out, Connolly may have been able to skate. It came out when Stevie claimed Connolly and Morris told him that he could do anything he wanted except to hit anyone. Had this testimony not been contradicted, then the indictment against Stevie and Whitey may have failed. The feds needed Connolly or Morris to testify that was not the deal. Morris won the race to the immunity. Connolly through his lawyer said he would not cooperate. Morris provided information to the Wayshak that they could not ignore including the fact that Connolly told Whitey that Halloran was informing against him. Later it was shown that Whitey killed Halloran. It was also shown that Whitey was involved in the Wheeler and Callahan murders. Morris told of the extensive times they socialized and the money and gifts he was given by Connolly. No prosecutor could walk away from that evidence. Connolly was his own worst enemy. After he retired from the FBI he got entangled with Weeks and Flemmi and tried to abort the case against Stevie and Whitey by working with Stevie and Fishman, his lawyer, using Weeks as an intermediary. Had Connolly not got involved in that, he would not have been convicted of the RICO charge.
Was there an attempt to pressure him to get evidence against Billy Bulger? I believe that the feds believed that there was some evidence that Connolly could give that may have implicated Billy in some type of criminal activity. The feds believed that because of the actions of the FBI agents as I will explain later. That was a byproduct of the case but it was not the motivating factor.
I did not ask Connolly about giving evidence against his superiors, only Bulger. Connolly told me that he believed they prosecutors wanted him to give evidence against his superiors.
Connolly got a very fair trial. He was represented by competent counsel. Judge Tauro is an excellent jurist with a stellar reputation for fairness and competence. A jury heard the evidence and refused to believe any evidence against him given by the gangsters that was not corroborated. Connolly did not testify in his own defense and the witnesses he offered added little to the case. Connolly never mentioned as he is now doing that he knew Bulger and Flemmi were murderers but it was his job to protect them.
Connolly was not convicted of trivia. A retired FBI agent attempting to undermine a prosecution of high ranking organized crime figures and murderers who sends a letter under the name of three Boston police officers to the court falsely implicating other police agencies in criminal acts is a serious offense. Judge Wolf testified that as a result of that letter he held hearings to determine its truthfulness. It is an assault on the dignity of a court. He was also convicted of passing a bribe on to another FBI agent, tipping off the murderers that the indictments were coming down and lying to an FBI agent about his involvement with Stevie’s lawyer. It hardly fit the Martha Stewart lying to an FBI agent circumstance.
I spoke already about Judge Tauro. He’s a good man and honest jurist. I had no evidence that he had any interest in pressuring Connolly.
The state police never had a grudge against the FBI for Myles Connor. They did have a grudge against the FBI for the Lancaster Street garage incident in 1980 but that ended by 1984 when they combined their units to work against the Mafia. The grudge in the Myles Connor case was by the U.S. Attorney, the FBI and Boston Police against the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office for its involvement with Myles Connor. It resulted in grand jury action against that office. Then first assistant Bob Banks (who later became an eminent jurist) was required to testify in the federal grand jury. No indictments were returned. Myles Connor was indicted by the Suffolk DA’s office, the U.S. Attorney, and a special prosecutor. The main witness against him was Tommy Sperraza, mentioned previously who liked to murder people. Myles Connor was acquitted in all three cases brought against him.
The only state police officer affected by the case was Major John Regan who worked with Myles to recover a stolen piece of art from the Museum of Fine Arts and the retrieving of the bodies of the two young women killed by Sperraza.