Opinion ID: 202112
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Liquor Store

Text: 7 In 1983, Stephen Rakes and Julie Rakes Dammers (then Julie Rakes: the couple divorced in 1990) opened a liquor store in South Boston, which they named Stippo's Liquor Mart. In early 1984, Bulger and Flemmi evidently determined that the liquor store would be an ideal hub for their expanding illegal activities in South Boston, and resolved to take it from the Rakeses. Bulger, Flemmi, and an associate of theirs named Kevin Weeks visited Rakes at the Rakeses' home in January of 1984. 2 8 The three men let themselves into the Rakes residence. Bulger told Rakes that the three of them had been paid to kill him, and that although they had decided not to do so, they planned instead to buy his liquor store. Rakes said that the recently opened store was not for sale, and Bulger replied that, in that case, Bulger intended to become the Rakeses' partner in the store. Rakes explained that he and his wife did not want any partners. Bulger grew angry at the rebuff, threatened to kill Rakes and simply take his store, and left the house with his associates in tow. 9 The three men did not stay away for long. Later that evening, they returned to the house and made themselves comfortable around the kitchen table. They displayed weapons, a gun and a switchblade, and threatened to kill Rakes. Flemmi picked up Rakes' one-year-old daughter, stroked her hair, and said that it would be a shame for her not to see her father again. Eventually, having made clear that their threats were in earnest and that the Rakeses' lives were in danger, Bulger handed Rakes a brown paper bag containing roughly $65,000, stating that he would pay Rakes $25,000 more in the near future. 3 Flemmi stated that the three gangsters had, with this transfer, become the new owners of the liquor store. They left the house. 10 In the next few weeks, the Rakeses fended off repeated attempts by Bulger and his men to force them to sign title to the liquor store over to Bulger. In fear, the family fled to Florida for a short time to avoid the gang members. After returning, they remained determined to keep their new store. 11 Julie Dammers' uncle, Joseph Lundbohm, was then a detective with the Boston Police Department. The Rakeses turned to Lundbohm for advice and assistance in dealing with Bulger and his crew of thugs. Lundbohm sought and received the Rakeses' permission to contact a friend on the FBI's Organized Crime squad. That friend turned out, to the Rakeses' misfortune, to be Agent John Connolly. Connolly expressed hesitation about assisting the Rakeses. He told Lundbohm that the FBI might be interested in helping the couple if they agreed to wear recording devices during conversations with Bulger and the others, but that if they did not want to wear the wires, they would not be useful to the FBI and the FBI was therefore unlikely to do anything about the extortion. 12 Lundbohm told Connolly that he would advise the Rakeses not to wear the wires and that in any event they were unlikely to want to do so, given the obvious danger involved. Connolly said that he did not feel there was much that he or the FBI could do to help the Rakeses. Lundbohm returned to the Rakeses to report the dispiriting news. 13 Internal FBI regulations in effect at the time purportedly required that Connolly make a record of the contact and of the information provided to him by Lundbohm, and apprise his supervisor of the conversation. Connolly, however, made no record of the conversation, and told no one that Lundbohm had come to talk to him — no one, that is, except for Whitey Bulger. 14 Connolly evidently reported to Bulger that Lundbohm had come to see him on the Rakeses' behalf. Bulger visited Rakes again and told him that he had better tell Lundbohm to back off. Out of options, and running low on friends in law enforcement (in fact, the Rakeses believed at the time that it was Lundbohm himself who had told Bulger that the Rakeses were seeking help from the authorities), the Rakeses finally acceded to Bulger's demands and signed over title to the property.