Lawyers say US playing 2 sides
Connolly case stance reversed for legal defense
Lawyers for relatives of victims killed by longtime FBI informants James ''Whitey" Bulger and Stephen ''The Rifleman" Flemmi yesterday accused US Justice Department lawyers of disingenuous and dishonest tactics in lawsuits the families have filed against the government.
In recent years, federal prosecutors investigating corruption allegations against former FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. and other agents made plea deals for the testimony of several high-profile criminals, including Flemmi and Bulger's longtime lieutenant Kevin Weeks. As part of the deals, Flemmi and Weeks have provided information about the relationship between Boston gangsters and the FBI, including assertions that Connolly tipped off Bulger to the identities of other informants, who were then killed.
Yet in their pretrial filings, lawyers from the Justice Department's Civil Division, who are trying to argue that the government is not legally responsible for the murders, have said they are not bound by statements Flemmi and Weeks gave to prosecutors.
The government's civil attorneys have disavowed the statements, even though federal prosecutors had convinced two judges that they were true, said William Christie, a lawyer who represents relatives of murder victim Michael Donahue.
''It's absolutely remarkable," Christie told US District Court Magistrate Judge Joyce London Alexander at a hearing yesterday. ''They can't have it both ways."
Ten families have sued the government since 2001, contending that FBI agents either caused the deaths of their loved ones by revealing their identities or that the bureau's corrupt relationship with Bulger and Flemmi led to their deaths.
Three of those lawsuits have been thrown out for being filed too late, but seven families are still seeking damages from the government -- including relatives of Donahue, who was riding in a car with FBI informant Brian Halloran when both were gunned down on the South Boston waterfront in 1981.
Lawyers for the families have charged that government lawyers, in their answers to formal written questions submitted by the plaintiffs, have purposely given evasive answers, selectively provided information they believe is favorable to their defense, and blatantly ignored information that federal prosecutors have put on the public record.
In one instance, government lawyers said they had ''no knowledge of facts" that would confirm that Connolly or any government agent leaked Halloran's name to Bulger and Flemmi, the plaintiff's court papers allege.
Halloran had gone to the FBI alleging that Bulger and Flemmi had ordered the 1980 murder of Oklahoma businessman Roger Wheeler.
Weeks, however, testified at Connolly's criminal trial in 2002 that Connolly was the source of the leak. US District Judge Richard G. Stearns also credited Weeks's ''truthful" testimony in the Connolly case when he gave Weeks a reduced sentence of six years in prison on charges that could have carried a life term, the plaintiffs allege.
Justice Department lawyers argue, however, that while Connolly was convicted of racketeering, obstruction of justice, and other charges, he was not found guilty of tipping off Bulger about Halloran.
They also note that because neither Weeks nor Flemmi went to trial, their statements were never fully tested in court.
''We are not bound by what every criminal in Boston says about Flemmi and Bulger," Justice Department attorney Bridget Baily Lipscomb told Alexander yesterday.
''If that's the case, we might as well just open up the checkbook." 