Trial to weigh cost of being framed

When small-time hoodlum Edward "Teddy" Deegan was gunned down in a Chelsea alley on March 12, 1965, the FBI had a pretty good idea who did it.

Agents knew from an illegal bug that notorious hitman Joseph "The Animal" Barboza and FBI informant Vincent "Jimmy" Flemmi had sought permission from the boss of the New England Mafia to kill Deegan, according to FBI reports. And other informants named Barboza, Flemmi, and two other men as Deegan's killers, according to FBI memos.

But the case took a dramatically different turn when the FBI recruited Barboza to testify in a series of Mafia-related trials under a deal that gave him leniency for his own crimes. He admitted his role in Deegan's slaying and implicated others -- but not Flemmi -- leading to the wrongful convictions of four men who spent decades in prison before they were exonerated.

In a lawsuit that could cost the government more than $100 million in damages if it loses, lawyers allege the FBI sat on documents that would have helped those four men prove they were framed by Barboza. The suit is scheduled to go to trial Thursday in US District Court in Boston.

Peter Limone, now 72, and Joseph Salvati , 74, who were each in their early 30s with four children when convicted in 1968, spent more than 30 years in prison. Louis Greco and Henry Tameleo died in prison before being vindicated.

"It was like a perfect lie," said Boston attorney Juliane Balliro , who represents Limone, his family, and Tameleo's wife and children. "The feds insulated Barboza from any meaningful investigation in this case."

The lawsuit alleges the FBI failed to disclose critical evidence to state prosecutors, who tried the four men for murder, or to defense lawyers. It accuses the federal government of malicious prosecution, false imprisonment, conspiracy, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and depriving the men's families of their companionship. The suit was filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which does not allow a jury trial. The trial, expected to last four to six weeks, will be heard by US District Judge Nancy Gertner .

It's the second of a series of lawsuits alleging FBI negligence to go to trial this year in Boston. In September, a federal judge found that the FBI's mishandling of longtime informants James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi caused the 1984 murder of a Quincy fisherman. The judge ordered the government to pay $3.2 million to the victim's family.

Stephen and Vincent Flemmi, who died in prison in 1979, were brothers.

In their trial brief, lawyers for the men cite a series of wrongful-death convictions around the country in which more than $1 million in damages was awarded for each year of wrongful imprisonment.

By that calculation, the government would be forced to pay at least $109 million, just on the wrongful imprisonment claim. Limone spent 33 years in prison, Salvati 30 years, Greco 28 years before he died in 1995, and Tameleo 18 years before dying in 1985.

The lawyers said they are unaware of any other cases in which wrongful imprisonment lasted as long, and argued that the award should be high because the four "suffered phenomenally."

Charles Miller , a spokesman for the Department of Justice, declined to comment on the case last week. But in their pretrial memorandum, Justice Department lawyers argue that the federal government cannot be held responsible because the 1968 murder trial was prosecuted in state court by Suffolk County prosecutors who conducted their own investigation.

Justice Department lawyer Bridget Bailey Lipscomb wrote that the plaintiffs "cannot establish that the FBI owed them a duty to disclose to state authorities any information it had received from its informants or from electronic surveillance."

The FBI turned over some informant information about Deegan's slaying to state and local police, according to Lipscomb.

"I think it is totally outrageous that the federal government has had evidence in their files that my client has been innocent for over 40 years, and we have to put the family through a trial so they can rekindle the agony of all the years they had to visit him in prison," said attorney Victor Garo, who represents Salvati.

The FBI gave leniency to Barboza, who confessed to 26 killings, in exchange for his testimony against Mafia leaders. The federal Witness Protection Program was created to keep him safe.

The FBI memos that cast doubt on Barboza's credibility were uncovered six years ago by a Justice Department Task Force formed to investigate FBI corruption, after federal court hearings into the FBI's mishandling of Bulger and Stephen Flemmi.

One FBI report revealed that Barboza, who was killed in 1976, agreed to cooperate but told agents he would never provide information that would allow his close friend Vincent Flemmi to "fry." Lawyers for the four men say the document would have helped them prove that Barboza protected his friend Flemmi while falsely accusing the others.

Gail Marcinkiewicz , a spokeswoman for the FBI in Boston, declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said the agency's informant guidelines had been tightened as a result of the Bulger case. Currently, she said, "we have better oversight" on informants.

A state judge freed Limone from prison in January 2001 after the FBI memos about Barboza surfaced. Salvati was freed from prison in 1997 after then-Governor William F. Weld pardoned him.

Former governor Michael S. Dukakis , who rejected a recommendation from the state Parole Board in 1983 to grant Limone clemency, is expected to be called as a witness at the trial.

In the cases of Greco and Tameleo, the government contends that malicious prosecution claims died with them, and that their families are not entitled to any damages for their years of imprisonment.

But attorney Howard Friedman , who represents Greco's son, Edward, said it would be unfair for the government to avoid paying damages to Greco's family just because he died in prison. "If you were to keep a cover-up going long enough for a person to die, you shouldn't benefit," Friedman said.