Federal judge praises Connolly role

Calls him key to effort that took down Mafia

US District Senior Judge Edward F. Harrington was the first witness called by the defense in the state murder trial. (J. Pat Carter/ Associated Press)

MIAMI - A jury of Floridians was offered a different portrait of retired FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. yesterday as a federal judge from Boston took the stand, crediting the agent with playing a starring role in federal investigations that helped dismantle the New England Mafia in the 1980s.

US District Senior Judge Edward F. Harrington heaped praise on Connolly when asked to describe the former agent's contribution to the FBI's fight against organized crime, telling jurors: "It was substantial. It was without parallel."

Harrington was the first witness called by the defense in the state murder trial of 68-year-old Connolly, who is accused of plotting with longtime informants James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi in the 1982 gangland killing of a Boston businessman in Florida.

In the past month, prosecution witnesses - including Flemmi and two other admitted killers - have portrayed Connolly as a corrupt agent.

But Harrington offered a different perspective. The federal judge, who served as US attorney in Massachusetts from 1977 to 1981 and spent nearly 20 years prosecuting organized crime cases for the Justice Department, took jurors back to an era when the Mafia was viewed as the biggest threat on American soil.

It was a time when FBI agents were told to recruit criminals with access to high-level mobsters as informants.

"John Connolly had great ability, and he had a certain flair that attracted a confidence and trust with underworld figures," Harrington said. "And he had several top echelon underworld figures that he handled who provided the federal government with enormous and critical intelligence which was the basis for successful prosecutions."

Harrington credited Connolly with getting information from informants - including Bulger and Flemmi - that allowed the FBI to get court authorization to plant a bug in 1981 in the North End headquarters of New England underboss Gennaro "Jerry" Angiulo.

The bug "ultimately, virtually decimated the mob in Massachusetts," Harrington said.

But Connolly's handling of Bulger and Flemmi landed him in his current predicament, facing charges of murder and murder conspiracy for the killing of Boston business consultant John B. Callahan. He faces life in prison if convicted.

Flemmi, who is serving a life sentence for 10 murders, testified that Connolly warned him and Bulger that the FBI was seeking Callahan for questioning and that he probably would implicate the gangsters in the 1981 murder of a Tulsa businessman.

Hitman-turned-government witness John Martorano testified that he killed Callahan at the urging of Bulger and Flemmi. Callahan's bullet-riddled body was found Aug. 2, 1982, in the trunk of his own Cadillac at Miami International Airport.

Flemmi told jurors that he and Bulger gave Connolly payoffs totaling $235,000 over a decade, and also gave $7,000 in payoffs and cases of wine to former FBI supervisor John Morris; additional cash bonuses to other agents in the Boston office; and swapped Christmas gifts and enjoyed cozy dinners with a number of agents.

During cross-examination, Harrington acknowledged that it would be wrong for agents to take cash from informants, but he told jurors that accepting gifts, and even cases of wine, from informants might be justifiable.

"In view of the fact that the confidential relationship between a handler and an informant is based on trust, confidence, and good will, I'm sure that depending on the circumstances and maybe the duration of the relationships, exchanges of some type of gifts of friendship at Christmas or at birthdays might not be improper," Harrington said.

Harrington also acknowledged that he testified on Connolly's behalf in a prior proceeding and violated a judicial canon of ethics in an attempt to assist Connolly. However, jurors were not told the details of the earlier case because it involved Connolly's 2002 conviction on federal racketeering charges - which the judge has been careful to shield from jurors.

After testifying as a defense witness in Connolly's federal case in Boston, Harrington wrote a letter to the sentencing judge on federal court stationery, urging leniency. He later withdrew the letter, acknowledged it was a violation of the code of conduct for judges, and apologized.

Connolly, who retired from the FBI in 1990 after 22 years, was convicted of racketeering for protecting Bulger and Flemmi from prosecution and warning them to flee before their 1995 indictment on racketeering charges. Connolly is serving a 10-year prison term. Bulger, wanted for 19 murders, is one of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted.

While jurors have not been told of the conviction, Flemmi testified that Connolly warned him and Bulger to flee just before their indictment. He said he procrastinated and was arrested, but Bulger fled.