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John Martorano killed 20 people. |
When hit man-turned-government witness John Martorano strolled out of prison last year after serving only a dozen years for 20 murders, the federal government gave him $20,000 cash to help him start a new life.
Officials defended the payment yesterday, saying it is not unusual for witnesses, like Martorano, who decline to join the federal witness protection program to get money to help them survive after their release from prison.
But the families of some of Martorano's victims and some lawyers familiar with the case say such payments are wrong.
Martorano served just over half a year for each murder "plus he gets $1,000 a head," said Boston lawyer James P. Duggan, who represents the family of John B. Callahan, a Boston financier who was lured to Florida in 1982 and killed by Martorano. "It just goes to prove: If you're going to commit a crime, commit a huge crime, because that's what pays the best."
Martorano could not be reached for comment yesterday. His lawyer said he has contributed mightily to the criminal justice system. The government disclosed the payment in documents turned over to defense lawyers in Florida.
Tim Connors - whose father, Edward Connors, was gunned down in a Dorchester telephone booth in 1975 by Martorano, James "Whitey" Bulger, and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi - said it was absurd that the government gave Martorano money to start a new life, given that he has returned to the Boston area.
"I don't think it's right," said Connors, adding that the federal government should not pay Martorano when it has refused to pay victims' families who have filed civil suits over the FBI's handling of Bulger and Flemmi, both longtime informants.
But Assistant US Attorney Fred M. Wyshak Jr. defended the payment from the US Drug Enforcement Administration, which helped recruit Martorano as a witness 10 years ago.
"It's not unusual for an individual like Martorano, who was in the witness security program while incarcerated and who opted not to accept placement as a civilian, to receive a small sum of money to assist him in starting his life again," Wyshak said.
He declined to comment on how many other witnesses, if any, in the investigation involving Bulger, received payments from the government. But he said it would have cost the government a lot more if Martorano had accepted the offer to join the Federal Witness Security Program, which would have given him a new identity, relocated him, and helped support him for the rest of his life.
A spokesman for the DEA declined to comment yesterday on the payment.
Martorano, 67, cut a deal in 1998 while facing federal racketeering charges and helped expose the depth of the FBI's relationship with Bulger and Flemmi. His testimony helped convict former FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. of federal racketeering charges in 2002 and led to a sweeping murder indictment against Bulger, who is one of the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives and Flemmi, who is serving a life sentence.
In exchange, Martorano received leniency and was freed last March after serving 12 years and two months. He confessed to killing 10 people in the 1970s on behalf of Bulger's gang, another eight people in the 1960s, a businessman in Oklahoma in 1981, and Callahan in 1982.
He is also slated to testify again against Connolly when the former agent, who is serving a 10-year federal sentence, goes to trial in March in Florida on charges that he helped Bulger, Flemmi, and Martorano orchestrate Callahan's slaying.
Miami criminal defense lawyer Manuel L. Casabielle, who represents Connolly, said: "I think it's outrageous that the government is not only allowing Mr. Martorano to receive such a short sentence, but they are also paying him. And it appears they are paying him for his testimony, past, present and future."
But Wyshak countered that the payment was not for testimony. "It's an effort to assist someone who has been in jail for a long time to start their life over," he said.
Congress, which allows such payments, has recognized the need for the government to assist witnesses who are needed to testify in criminal trials, Wyshak said.
Massachusetts state prison inmates are not known to get cash payments upon release, except when they were wrongly convicted.
Documents turned over to defense lawyers in Connolly's Florida case show that in addition to the payment to Martorano after his release, the government had deposited a couple of thousand dollars into the former hit man's commissary account while he was in prison, Casabielle said.
Martorano, who coolly described his life as a killer during an appearance on CBS's "60 Minutes" earlier this month, is not keeping a low profile. He was filmed during the segment celebrating his release at an upscale restaurant on Boston's Newbury Street.
Martorano's lawyer, Francis J. DiMento Sr. of Boston, said that without Martorano's cooperation, Bulger would still be at the top of Boston's underworld, Connolly would never have been indicted, and Flemmi would be out of jail.
"He didn't earn any money for the 12 years he was in jail and came out flat broke, so I think the intention was to just get him started until he could support himself," DiMento said.
DiMento said Martorano set aside $5,000 to pay taxes on the $20,000.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
