Judge awards $6.25 million to family in 1976 mob killing

"It appears to the court that Mr. Castucci was a very generous, certainly caring individual where his family was concerned,'' said Young, as Castucci's widow, four children, and grandson waited anxiously for judgment in a wrongful death suit filed seven years ago.

He awarded Castucci's widow, Sandra, $3 million for loss of his emotional and financial support; $750,000 each to his son, Brian and daughter, Lisa, who were teenagers when he was killed; and $500,000 each to his son, Richard Jr., and daughter, Denise, who were in their early 20s when he died.

The judge awarded the family an additional $743,600 in lost income, based on what the judge concluded Castucci would have earned had he lived, and $8,000 in funeral expenses.

"I'm just glad it's over, that's all,'' said 72-year-old Sandra Castucci after leaving the courtroom.

Last year, US District Judge Reginald C. Lindsay ruled that the FBI was responsible for Castucci's slaying because of its negligent handling of Bulger and Flemmi. After Lindsay's death in March, Young took over the case and presided over the trial to decide damages.

It was the third suit brought on behalf of victims of Bulger and Flemmi to make it to trial, and it ended, just like the others, with a significant judgment against the government. In 2006, a judge found the FBI's mishandlign 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 that award.

Flemmi, who is serving a life sentence for 10 murders, and hitman-turned-government witness John Martorano provided details about Castucci's killing while testifying last fall in the Miami trial of disgraced former FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. in a case involving another slaying.

Flemmi testified that Connolly warned him and Bulger in 1976 that Castucci was an informant and had told the FBI where two fugitive members of the Winter Hill Gang were hiding in New York. Flemmi said he and Bulger decided to kill Castucci. Martorano testified that he shot Castucci in the head inside a Somerville apartment, then Bulger and Flemmi disposed of his body.

The body of 48-year-old Castucci was found in the trunk of his car in a Revere parking lot on Dec. 30, 1976.

After today's judgement, Charles Miller, a spokesman for the Department of Justice in Washington, said, "We we are reviewing the judge's order and we will make a determination in the future into what the government's next step might be."