Boston Area News

SOUTH BOSTON (WBZ) ― A federal judge in Boston has ordered the government to pay more than $101 million to the families of four Massachusetts men wrongly convicted of murder.

Joseph Salvati , Peter Limone and the families of the two other men who died in prison after being convicted in a 1965 slaying had sued the federal government for malicious prosecution.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner said it took 30 years to uncover the injustice, and that (quote) "the government's position is, in a word, absurd."

In a scathing 220-page ruling, Gertner said she was shocked by the FBI's behavior in the case.

"The state investigation was a charade… Information they provided was false and misleading. Critical information was withheld and they knew it," she said.

"The FBI's misconduct was clearly the sole cause of this conviction."

Their lawsuit accused the FBI of withholding evidence that could have cleared them.

During a lengthy civil trial, lawyers for the men argued that Boston FBI agents knew Joseph "The Animal" Barboza -- a mob hitman -- lied when he named the four men as Edward "Teddy" Deegan's killers. They said Barboza wanted to protect a fellow FBI informant, Vincent "Jimmy" Flemmi, who was involved in Deegan's murder.

The men were "acceptable collateral damage" in the FBI's priority at the time -- taking down the Mafia through the use of criminal informants, their lawyers said.

The government argued that federal authorities had no duty to share information with state officials who prosecuted Limone, Salvati, Tameleo and Greco. Federal authorities cannot be held responsible for the results of a state prosecution, a Justice Department lawyer argued.

Judge Gertner admonished the Justice Department in her ruling Thursday.

"The FBI knew his (Barboza's) testimony was false, but let perjury happen anyway," Gertner said.

"The FBI said the benefit outweighed the cost. To put it in current terms, these four men were collateral damage."

"Now is the time to say, without equivocation, this cost to these four men is not remotely acceptable."

Limone and Salvati stared straight ahead as the judge announced her ruling, but an audible gasp was heard from the area where their friends and family were sitting when Gertner said how much the government would be forced to pay.

Gertner awarded $26 million to Limone, $29 million to Salvati, $13 million to Tameleo's estate and $28 million to Greco's estate. The wives of Limone and Salvati and the estate of Tameleo's deceased wife each received slightly more than $1 million. The men's 10 children were each awarded $250,000.

"Do I want the money? Yes, I want my children, my grandchildren to have things I didn't have, but nothing can compensate for what they've done," said Salvati, 75.

Salvati and Limone were exonerated in 2001 after FBI memos dating back to the Deegan case surfaced, showing the men were framed by Barboza.

"It took extraordinary efforts to bring out the facts. Judge Wolfe, Lawyer Victor Garo and even reporter Dan Rea [of WBZ-TV]," Gertner said.

"The FBI said 'just trust us' to the state and then vouched for a perjurer."

The lawsuit accused the government of malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, conspiracy and negligent supervision of FBI agents. The case was heard by Judge Gertner instead of a jury.

Lawyers for the men did not seek a specific amount in damages, but in court documents they cited other wrongful conviction cases in which $1 million was awarded for every year of imprisonment, which in this case would amount to more than $100 million total.

"The best analogy," Gertner added, "this is not the situation of a passerby of a fire who doesn't report it. The defendant started the fire and allowed it to burn. This fire was to burn for many years."

"It's been a long time coming," said Limone, 73. "What I've been through -- I hope it never happens to anyone else."

Justice Department lawyer Bridget Bailey Lipscomb declined immediate comment on the ruling.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)