Former Connolly supervisor testifies

Emotion roils testimony in Fla. murder trial

MIAMI - A disgraced former FBI supervisor wept on the witness stand yesterday at the murder trial of retired FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. as he described their relationship in the late 1970s, when both were highly regarded agents in the bureau's Boston office.

"He was my best friend," said John Morris, 63, a slender man dressed in a black suit, white shirt, and gray tie. "He was like an older brother. . . . I trusted him. I respected him. I trusted him with my life."

Pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbing his eyes, Morris struggled to regain composure as he recounted the days before disclosures of corruption and betrayal involving FBI informants James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi shattered his life, and Connolly's.

"I admired him," said Morris, who looked at the 68-year-old Connolly, who was seated at the defense table, only when he was asked to identify him for the jury. "He had qualities I didn't have. He was mentally tough. He was physically tough. He was from Boston. He knew the streets. He was charismatic."

If the compliments, which flowed as easily as Morris's tears, had any impact on Connolly, he didn't show it. The once-decorated agent, who could face life in prison if convicted of a 1982 gangland slaying in Florida, was expressionless as he stared at the red-faced, weeping man who turned from friend to nemesis years ago.

Morris, who supervised the organized-crime squad of the FBI's Boston office in the late 1970s and early 1980s while Connolly was assigned to it, began cooperating with the government 10 years ago in exchange for immunity from prosecution. He confessed to taking $7,000 in bribes from Bulger and Flemmi in the 1980s and leaking information to them.

Seemingly startled by Morris's emotion, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Stanford Blake asked Morris if he needed a recess to compose himself, but Morris shook his head.

"I'm sorry," said Morris, blowing his nose. "It's OK," said Fred Wyshak, a federal prosecutor in Boston who is serving as a special state prosecutor in the murder trial.

Jurors stared solemnly at Morris, who described his 25-year career with the FBI, investigating terrorism, drugs, and organized crime, rising to second-in-command of the Los Angeles office and teaching new agents at the FBI training academy before retiring in 1995.

These days, he said he works part-time in retail sales, and volunteers at a soup kitchen and teaching reading to first-graders.

He was on the stand for less than an hour yesterday before court was suspended for the day. He is expected to resume testimony Monday to detail corruption that he previously testified about in federal court hearings in Boston in 1998 and at Connolly's federal racketeering trial six years ago.

Connolly was convicted in that case and sentenced to 10 years in prison for protecting Bulger and Flemmi from prosecution and warning the gangsters to flee before their 1995 indictment. Bulger, wanted for 19 killings, is one of the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives.

Yesterday was the 10th day of testimony in Connolly's state trial on murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges in the slaying of John B. Callahan, a Boston business consultant. . Connolly allegedly warned Bulger and Flemmi that the FBI wanted to question Callahan and that he would probably implicate the gangsters in the 1981 slaying of a Tulsa businessman.

John Martorano, who served 12 years in prison for killing 20 people and has turned government witness, testified last week that at the urging of Bulger and Flemmi, he lured Callahan to Florida and shot him. Callahan's body was discovered Aug. 2, 1982, in the trunk of his car at Miami International Airport.

Though Connolly, who retired from the FBI in 1990 after 22 years, is on trial only in Callahan's killing, prosecutors have been allowed to present an avalanche of evidence in an effort to prove he was a corrupt agent. Flemmi, who is serving a life sentence for 10 murders, testified this week that he and Bulger paid $235,000 in bribes to Connolly, who routinely leaked sensitive information to them.

Yesterday, Morris testified that Bulger's name surfaced in a loansharking case in 1975 but there wasn't sufficient evidence to charge him. When the investigation ended, Morris said Connolly "asked me if it would be OK to use that as a talking point to try to develop Jim Bulger as an informant."

Morris said he approved the overture, and Bulger served as an informant from 1975 to 1990.

Around 1978, Morris recounted that he "had an interest in meeting Bulger," and Connolly arranged for them to meet, but first advised him on how to treat the gangster.

"Connolly's request was to treat him with respect and not treat him like we would treat criminals, not treat him like an informant, per se," Morris said.

"There were very few places we could meet securely," said Morris, adding that Connolly proposed a rendezvous at Morris's home, located in a quiet Boston suburb. Morris acknowledged that it was "out of the ordinary" for agents to invite informants to their homes. But, he said they made an exception for Bulger, and later, for Flemmi as well.