No testimony today in murder trial of retired FBI agent

October 20, 2008 11:45 AM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

MIAMI -- A judge gave jurors the day off today in the murder trial of retired FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. so one of the jurors could attend the funeral of a relative.

John J. Connolly

The trial will resume Tuesday for the 22nd day of testimony. The defense is slated to call several former FBI agents who worked with Connolly to the stand.

Connolly, 68, who retired from the FBI in 1990, is charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder for the 1982 slaying in Florida of Boston business consultant John B. Callahan. Connolly is accused of warning longtime FBI informants James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi that the FBI was seeking Callahan for questioning. It was likely that Callahan would implicate the gangsters in the 1981 slaying of a Tulsa businessman.

Hitman John Martorano testified that at the request of Bulger and Flemmi he lured Callahan to Florida and killed him. Callahan's bullet-riddled body was found Aug. 2, 1982 in the trunk of his Cadillac at Miami International Airport.

Connolly, who is already serving a 10-year prison term for his 2002 federal racketeering conviction, faces life in prison if convicted of Callahan's murder. Bulger, who fled before his 1995 racketeering indictment and is now wanted for 19 murders, is one of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted.