Opinion ID: 204532
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Revelations.

Text: Bulger's cozy arrangement with the FBI began to unravel in 1992. The United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts empaneled a grand jury that eventually handed up indictments against numerous gangland crime figures, including Bulger, Flemmi, and Francis P. Cadillac Frank Salemme (the reputed boss of the Patriarca crime family). Although Connolly was no longer working for the FBI at that point, he found out about the indictments before they were unsealed and forewarned Bulger and Flemmi. Bulger fled and remains a fugitive; Flemmi was not as quick on his feet; the authorities arrested him in January of 1995. In the judicial proceedings that ensued, Flemmi made a claim of immunity from prosecution based on his role as an FBI informant. Along this line, he contended that the FBI authorized him to engage in various crimes charged in the indictment. The district court decided to take evidence on Flemmi's motion. These - 9 - proceedings (which we shall call the Salemme hearings) started in January of 1998, lasted almost a year, and produced over 17,000 pages of transcripts. As part of the Salemme hearings, Morris testified under a grant of immunity on April 22, 1998. His testimony brought the FBI's clandestine relationship with Bulger and Flemmi into the public domain. He confirmed that both men were regarded by the FBI as Top Echelon informants. In connection with the Halloran and Donahue murders, he admitted that he falsely told other FBI agents that Halloran was an unreliable witness, thus ensuring that Halloran's allegations would be discounted and that Halloran would be denied entry into the witness protection program. He also told Connolly about Halloran's offer to incriminate Bulger, notwithstanding his knowledge that this leak would endanger Halloran. Morris further testified that Connolly had leaked Halloran's identity to Bulger and that he (Morris) suspected that Bulger and Flemmi were responsible for Halloran's demise. In what can best be described as locking the barn door once the horse has galloped away, Morris stated that, after the double murder of Halloran and Donahue, he told Connolly that he did not want - 10 - another Halloran the next time that the FBI tipped off Bulger and Flemmi about an informant's identity.3 Three additional pieces of information that came to light during the Salemme hearings are of particular pertinence for present purposes. First, on May 27, 1998, former federal prosecutor William Weld recounted a conversation that he had with Robert Fitzpatrick a few days prior to Halloran's assassination. At the time of this exchange, Fitzpatrick (second in command of the FBI's Boston office) told Weld that Halloran was in grave danger. Fitzpatrick recounted that he would not want to be standing next to this guy [Halloran]. Second, in August of 1998, testimony in the Salemme hearings revealed that, in 1988, an incarcerated drug dealer named Joseph Murray told FBI agents that Bulger was responsible for Halloran's murder and that someone in the FBI's Boston office was leaking confidential information to Bulger. Murray's account was neither shared with the agents who were investigating Halloran's murder nor indexed in the FBI's data bank (thus making its retrieval difficult, if not impossible). Third — and perhaps most telling — Flemmi himself made statements to the district court 3 Although Connolly publicly decried Morris's allegations, he never testified at the hearings, choosing instead to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Connolly was later convicted on a gallimaufry of charges stemming from his corrupt relationship with Bulger and Flemmi, including charges arising out of Halloran's murder. See United States v. Connolly, 341 F.3d 16, 20-21, 25 n.4 (1st Cir. 2003). - 11 - indicating that he had been tipped off by the FBI about Halloran's overtures, his identity, and his role as a potential accuser. These statements were made in a chambers conference that occurred sometime before September 1, 1998 (the date on which the district court revealed them in the course of a ruling). Word of the corrupt relationship between the FBI and the two notorious mobsters made news. The appendix to this opinion presents a chronological sampling of the most relevant newspaper articles. As early as 1997, journalists were speculating about Halloran's involvement with the Wheeler murder and Bulger's status as a snitch. See, e.g., Shelley Murphy, In '80s FBI Saw Bulger as Both Informant and Murder Suspect, Bos. Globe, Oct. 3, 1997, at A1. For example, a front-page article in the Boston Herald suggested that the FBI continued to use Bulger and Flemmi as informants even though they were suspects in Halloran's execution. See Ralph Ranalli, FBI Used Whitey, Despite His Ties to 3 Murders, Bos. Herald, July 1, 1997, at 1. Morris's sensational testimony led to an avalanche of news stories. His admissions that he had told Connolly about Halloran, that Connolly had leaked Halloran's identity to Bulger, and that he suspected Bulger of killing Halloran were widely reported in both the local and national press. See, e.g., Peter Gelzinis, 'Good' Guys Weren't Good to Halloran, Bos. Herald, Apr. - 12 - 23, 1998, at 6; Shelley Murphy, Worst Fears Came True as Informant Lost Race for His Life, Bos. Globe, Apr. 23, 1998, at B10. The two most widely circulated Boston-area newspapers — the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald — covered these disclosures in laborious detail, often with gripping headlines and prominent placement. See, e.g., Ralph Ranalli, Ex-FBI Honcho: Agent Tipped Mobsters on Stoolie, Bos. Herald, Apr. 23, 1998, at 1; Patricia Nealon, ExAgent Says He Told of Informer[:] Fringe Gangster Turned Up Dead, Bos. Globe, Apr. 23, 1998, at B1. The intense publicity continued for several months, frequently reiterating Morris's testimony. Some articles included Halloran's photograph. See, e.g., Shelley Murphy, Cases Disappear as FBI Looks Away, Bos. Globe, July 22, 1998, at A1; Ralph Ranalli, Whitey Taunted Fed About Slain Stoolie, Bos. Herald, May 16, 1998, at 15. Subsequent developments in the Salemme hearings were thoroughly reported by the Boston media. Weld's suggestion that the FBI knew about the leak of Halloran's identity before the murder generated front-page coverage. See, e.g., Ralph Ranalli, FBI's Mafia Bugs in Peril — Key Wiretap Requests May Have Contained False Info, Weld Testifies, Bos. Herald, May 28, 1998, at 1. Similarly, Murray's un-investigated allegations were reported. See, e.g., Patricia Nealon, Witness: FBI Let Languish a Tip Tying Bulger to Murder, Bos. Globe, June 4, 1998, at F8; Ralph Ranalli, FBI Was Allegedly Told of Bulger Role in Murder, Bos. Herald, June - 13 - 4, 1998, at 4. Flemmi's acknowledgment that he had been tipped about Halloran's perfidy was likewise grist for the journalistic mills. See, e.g., Patricia Nealon, Mob Trial Judge Orders Flemmi to Answer Some Questions, Bos. Globe, Sept. 2, 1998, at B2; Ralph Ranalli, Flemmi Admits Tip-Off to Informant's Identity, Bos. Herald, Sept. 2, 1998, at 6. Along the way, these press dispatches reiterated time and again the corrupt Bulger-FBI linkage and its tragic consequences for Halloran and Donahue. See, e.g., Patricia Nealon, Ground Rules for Flemmi Grilling Eyed, Bos. Globe, June 25, 1998, at B4; Ralph Ranalli, Questions Arise Over FBI Agent's Knowledge of Slaying, Bos. Herald, Aug. 5, 1998, at 1. Given the astonishing nature of Morris's allegations, it is unsurprising that media outlets other than the Boston newspapers covered this matter. For example, CNN's broadcast CNN Impact reported on March 15, 1998, that Bulger and Flemmi were FBI informants and that possible connections existed between Bulger and Flemmi and the murders of Wheeler, Halloran, and Callahan. Callahan, 426 F.3d at 448. An episode of the news program 60 Minutes, which CBS aired on May 10, 1998, described the FBI's complicity in the murders. Additionally, the telecast displayed photographs of the Halloran crime scene and stated that detectives investigating the Wheeler, Halloran, and Callahan murders believe all three murders remain unsolved because Bulger and Flemmi were protected by the FBI. And although the government has not - 14 - supplied a reliable inventory of local television and radio broadcasts, it would strain credulity to think that local stations would not have feasted upon such tasty fare. The Salemme hearings concluded in October of 1998. The pièce de résistance was a comprehensive opinion, released by Judge Wolf on September 15, 1999. See Salemme, 91 F. Supp. 2d 141. The opinion itself was covered in depth by the local press, which rehashed the underlying facts in detail. The plaintiffs concede that they learned about this opinion at or near the time when it was issued.