Connolly trial synopsis: death and drama

October 23, 2008 12:54 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

A hitman. A gangster’s ex. A weeping disgraced FBI supervisor. The Miami trial of former FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr., who is charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the 1982 slaying of Boston business consultant John B. Callahan, has had its share of made-for-TV moments. Here is a synopsis of key testimony so far.

Sept 18: In a chilling display, hit man-turned-government witness John Martorano re-enacted several of the 20 slayings he committed. "Did you look in his eyes?" asked defense attorney Manuel L. Casabielle, referring to Roger Wheeler, a Tulsa businessman killed in 1981. "No," the 67-year-old killer said. "What were you thinking?" asked Casabielle. "I wanted to get away with this," he answered. A year later, Martorano recounted, he killed his good friend Callahan just as swiftly, with a bullet to the back of the head.

Sept. 22: Longtime FBI informant Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi testified that Connolly pocketed $235,000 in payoffs, compromised investigations, and leaked information that led to several murders. After taking a $25,000 kickback that he knew came from drug proceeds in 1983, Flemmi told jurors, Connolly had joked, "Hey, I'm one of the gang."

Flemmi has pleaded guilty to killing eight men and two women between 1974 and 1985 but admitted during Connolly's trial that during Boston's 1960s gang wars he shot Charlestown gang leader Edward "Punchy" McLaughlin. He also said he was involved in 10 other slayings - either participating or cleaning up afterward.

Sept. 26: John Morris, a disgraced former FBI supervisor, wept on the stand while describing his relationship with Connolly in the late 1970s, when both were highly regarded agents in the bureau's Boston office. "He was my best friend," Morris said. "He was like an older brother. ... I trusted him. I respected him. I trusted him with my life." Morris has confessed to taking $7,000 in bribes from Bulger and Flemmi in the 1980s and leaking information to them.

Oct. 14: US District Senior Judge Edward F. Harrington took the stand and credited Connolly with helping to dismantle the New England Mafia in the 1980s. The federal judge, who served as US attorney in Massachusetts from 1977-1981 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. "John Connolly had great ability, and he had a certain flair that attracted a confidence and trust with underworld figures," Harrington said.

Oct. 16: While Bulger is believed to be roaming the world with another woman, his companion of 30 years reluctantly took the witness stand to answer questions about the man she once loved. Teresa Stanley told jurors that she traveled the world with Bulger – whom she called Charlie -- before he fled for good just before Christmas 1994. She came to court with postcards from some of those trips, one of a quaint street lined with red-brick hotels in New Orleans' French Quarter, and another of an inviting fireplace glowing in the lobby of an elegant San Francisco hotel. "We went to Ireland, London, Venice, and then Rome," said Stanley, adding that they had just finished their whirlwind tour of Europe that fall when Bulger abruptly announced that they wouldn't be sticking around for Christmas -- the first one she would ever miss with her family. After leaving Stanley later, Bulger picked up another longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig, who is believed to be with him now.

Wednesday: Just a few days after Connolly retired in 1990, Bulger and Flemmi were dropped by the bureau -- in part because Connolly claimed the notorious Boston gangsters had also retired. Retired FBI supervisor Edward M. Quinn testified that Connolly told him Bulger and Flemmi were "in semiretirement mode'' by 1990 and "my impression was they were living on a reputation more than on current events.''