Flemmi describes gang's relationship with the FBI
By Denise Lavoie, Associated Press Writer | June 6, 2006
BOSTON --Convicted gangster Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi, testifying Tuesday in a wrongful death lawsuit against the federal government, described a corrupt relationship of favors, gifts and tip-offs between the FBI and its criminal informants.
Flemmi said he and fugitive crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger gave the FBI information about the Mafia, and in exchange, the FBI protected them from prosecution. Members of the Bulger gang also showered several FBI agents with cash as gifts to make sure that protection continued, Flemmi said.
"It was kind of like a quid pro quo situation," he said.
Flemmi took the stand in a lawsuit by the family of John McIntyre, 32, a fisherman who was killed by Bulger and Flemmi after they learned he was cooperating with authorities. McIntyre's family claims that former FBI Agent John Connolly Jr. tipped off Bulger and Flemmi to McIntyre's identity.
Flemmi's testimony this week is his first since agreeing to cooperate with federal authorities in 2003. Flemmi is serving a life sentence in 10 killings -- including McIntyre's -- as part of a plea deal that spared him the death penalty.
About six weeks before his death, McIntyre had started talking to U.S. Customs agents in an investigation of Bulger and Flemmi's involvement in a failed plan to send guns to the Irish Republican Army aboard a Gloucester fishing boat.
In response to questions from the McIntyre family's attorney, William Christie, Flemmi testified that McIntyre was killed after Connolly told them that one of the two people who were aboard the fishing boat was cooperating with authorities.
In opening statements at the trial Monday, another attorney for the McIntyre family said McIntyre was lured to a party on Nov. 30, 1984, then chained to a chair, interrogated, strangled and shot in the head by Bulger.
Flemmi was asked only a few questions about the McIntyre case.
Instead, Christie asked Flemmi to describe his relationship with the FBI, which began in the 1960s when he first became a criminal informant. Flemmi said his FBI handlers were eager for any information that would help them bring down the Mafia.
"It was the FBI priority," Flemmi said repeatedly.
Flemmi said he and Bulger set up a slush fund that was used to make cash payments to FBI agents and to buy them gifts. Flemmi said Connolly received cash payments totalling about $250,000 during the time they were informants, from 1975 to 1990.
Flemmi said the gifts were given to FBI agents to ensure "good will and protection."
Flemmi said Connolly treated him and Bulger with respect.
"He didn't treat me like a criminal, that's for sure," Flemmi said. "He didn't look down on me as an informant.
Connolly was convicted in 2002 on racketeering and other charges for tipping Bulger that he was about to be indicted. Bulger fled on the eve of his 1995 indictment and remains a fugitive on the FBI's "Most Wanted" list.
Christie walked Flemmi through a long list of crimes he and Bulger committed while they were FBI informants, including the murders of three other people the McIntyre family claims were killed after Connolly tipped the Bulger gang that they were talking to authorities about the gang's crimes.
Connolly was acquitted of playing any role in those deaths during his racketeering trial.
Gail Marcinkiewicz, a spokeswoman for the Boston FBI office, would not comment on Flemmi's testimony directly, but said the U.S. attorney general and the FBI have revised their guidelines on criminal informants "to minimize the chance that unchecked behavior could occur."
"There have been changes over the course of time and increased oversight," she said.
Flemmi said he was repeatedly assured by Connolly and his FBI supervisors that he and Bulger would not be prosecuted for their crimes.
Flemmi is scheduled to resume his testimony Wednesday.
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