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Families of 'Whitey' Bulger victims win nearly $8.5m in suit

E-mail|Link|Comments () May 1, 2009 06:21 PM

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

A federal judge today ordered the US government to pay a total of nearly $8.5 million to the families of two men who were gunned down on Boston's waterfront in 1982 by longtime FBI informant James "Whitey" Bulger.

In a ruling from the bench, US District Judge William G. Young said it was "next to inconceivable that our government, through negligence, inattention, self-interested hubris and outright corruption'' could cause the horrific slayings of Michael Donahue and Edward "Brian" Halloran.

The court had previously ruled that the FBI was responsible for the slayings because of the agency's negligent handling of Bulger and another informant, Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi. Today, Young said it was his duty, based on the wrongful death suit filed by the families, to put a dollar value on the lives of Donahue and Halloran.

He awarded $6.4 million to the wife and three sons of Donahue, a 32-year-old Dorchester truck driver and innocent bystander who was shot to death May 11, 1982, while giving Halloran, the intended target of Bulger's wrath, a ride home.

The judge awarded more than $2 million to the widow of Halloran, a 41-year-old Bulger associate who had been cooperating with the FBI at the time of his slaying and had implicated Bulger and Flemmi in the 1981 slaying of a Tulsa businessman.

"We are happy beyond belief,'' said Thomas Donahue, who was eight years old when his father was murdered. "The government has been found guilty for having my father killed.''

Still, he said, it was sad that it's essentially "blood money'' that the government was being forced to pay for his father's life. "They're never ever going to be able to repay us for my father.''

New Hampshire attorney William Christie, who represents Halloran's widow, Patricia Macarelli, said, "After 27 years of denials, we proved the government was responsible for the murder of Brian Halloran and we were awarded a seven-figure judgment for government misconduct. I think that's a victory." Charles Miller, a spokesman for the US Department of Justice, said the government has not made a decision on whether it will appeal the award.

"We'd have to review the judge's decision before we make any determination as to how the government will proceed," Miller said.

Flemmi, who is serving a life sentence for 10 murders, testified in prior court proceedings that former FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. warned him and Bulger in 1982 that Halloran was cooperating with the FBI and had implicated the gangsters in the 1981 slaying of Roger Wheeler, a Tulsa businessman and owner of World Jai Alai.

As a result of the tip, Flemmi said, Bulger and an accomplice ambushed Halloran when he came out of a bar on Northern Avenue in Boston and got into a car. Donahue, the driver, was an innocent bystander, he said.

Connolly was convicted of federal racketeering charges in Boston in 2002, and convicted by a Florida jury in November of plotting with Bulger and Flemmi to kill a Boston businessman in 1982. Bulger, who is wanted for 19 murders, has been a fugitive since 1995.

Today's award is the second judgment the government has been ordered to pay to the family of Bulger victims. In September 2006, a judge found the FBI's mishandling of Bulger and Flemmi caused the 1984 murder of Quincy fisherman John McIntyre and ordered the government to pay $3.1 million to McIntyre's mother and brother. An appeals court upheld the award and the government recently paid the judgment, according to Christie, who also represented the McIntyres.

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