Nov 3, 2008 2:12 pm US/Eastern
Prosecutor: Ex-Boston FBI Agent Set Up Murder
By Curt Anderson, AP Legal Affairs Writer
MIAMI (AP) ―
-
-
John Connolly in a Miami courtroom Sept. 8
WBZ
Former FBI agent
John Connolly knew he was setting up a hit when he tipped Boston mobsters that a gambling executive with gangland ties was likely to implicate them in other killings, a prosecutor said Monday in closing arguments of Connolly's murder trial.
The 1982 slaying of former World Jai-Alai president John Callahan was a direct result of Connolly's corrupt dealings with Winter Hill Gang leaders
James "Whitey" Bulger and
Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi, prosecutor Fred Wyshak said. Both were secretly FBI informants handled by Connolly.
"He clearly understood Mr. Bulger and Mr. Flemmi were going to kill anyone who was a threat to them, who was ratting them out," Wyshak told jurors as the two-month trial came to a close. "He was signing a death warrant for Mr. Callahan."
Connolly, 68, faces life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy in the killing of Callahan, whose bullet-riddled body was found in August 1982 in the trunk of his Cadillac at Miami International Airport.
Confessed mob hit man John Martorano testified that he shot Callahan based on Connolly's tip.
Wyshak said Connolly did not have to be present at the killing to be convicted.
"You win or lose based on what everybody on the team does. Sort of like the Three Musketeers -- one for all and all for one," the prosecutor said.
Connolly's lawyers were to give their closing statements later Monday.
His attorneys have argued he had nothing to do with Callahan's killing and that his dealings with Boston mob figures were an unsavory but necessary part of his job.
Connolly, who retired from the FBI in 1990, is already serving a 10-year prison sentence for a racketeering conviction stemming from his relationship with his prized informants Bulger and Flemmi.
Jurors, who are likely to begin deliberations Tuesday, have not been told about that conviction, and Connolly did not testify.
Witnesses said Connolly took thousands of dollars in payoffs from the mobsters and mined them for information leading to high-profile convictions of Mafia chieftains who were Bulger and Flemmi's rivals.
In return, Connolly shielded them from prosecution for other crimes and passed on information about possible turncoats within their gang, according to testimony.
One such tip allowed Bulger, 79, to escape arrest in early 1995. Bulger has been on the lam ever since and is a fixture on the FBI's "
Ten Most Wanted" fugitive list.
The scandal spawned several books and was the template for the 2006 Martin Scorcese film "
The Departed," with Matt Damon playing a crooked Connolly-like law enforcement officer and Jack Nicholson as the Bulger-esque Irish-American mobster.
Callahan was killed, according to testimony from Flemmi and Martorano, because Connolly told them the FBI was about to apply pressure on Callahan regarding the 1981 killing of businessman Roger Wheeler in Tulsa, Okla.
The gangsters feared Callahan would not hold up and might confess to the FBI that they were responsible for Wheeler's slaying. Callahan had wanted Wheeler dead so he could retake control of World Jai-Alai, which Wheeler owned.
Flemmi is serving a life prison sentence. Martorano cut a deal with prosecutors by agreeing to testify against Connolly, and spent 12 years in prison after admitting to 20 murders, including those of Wheeler and Callahan.
Several of Connolly's former FBI colleagues and a sitting federal judge testified in his defense, praising him as a star agent whose skilled use of informants helped decimate the Mafia in Boston. But the prosecutor said no amount of success justified his corrupt actions.
"The ends do not justify the means. This is America. You don't get people killed to further government policy," Wyshak said.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
