Families awarded $8.5m in mob case
US judge faults FBI's handling of Bulger
A federal judge yesterday ordered the 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 and notorious gangster 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 32-year-old Michael Donahue and 41-year-old Edward "Brian" Halloran.
Another judge had found the FBI was responsible for the killings because of the agency's negligent handling of Bulger and fellow informant, Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi. Yesterday, Young, who took over the families' wrongful death suits after US District Judge Reginald C. Lindsay died in March, said it was his duty 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 Dorchester truck driver and innocent bystander who was shot to death on 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 Bulger associate who had been living in a safehouse on Cape Cod, cooperating with the FBI, and had implicated Bulger and Flemmi in the 1981 assassination of a Tulsa businessman.
"No money could ever replace my husband," Donahue's widow, Patricia, said yesterday. But she said that she and her sons, who were 8, 11, and 13 when their father was killed, found solace when Young praised her husband as a devoted family man and put the blame for his death squarely on the government.
"He was the only one through this whole ordeal who blamed the government and it was really nice to hear," Patricia Donahue said. "For us, it's closure and that's something that we've been waiting for."
New Hampshire lawyer 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. . . . I think that's a victory."
Yesterday's award was the second judgment the government has been ordered to pay to families 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 paid the family several weeks ago, according to Christie, who also represented the McIntyres.
Charles Miller, a spokesman for the US Department of Justice, said the government has not made a decision on whether it will appeal yesterday's judgment.
Flemmi, who is serving a life sentence for 10 murders, previously testified 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, owner of World Jai Alai. Flemmi said the tip prompted Bulger and an accomplice to ambush Halloran when he came out of a bar on Northern Avenue and got into a car.
Connolly was convicted of federal racketeering charges in Boston in 2002, and convicted by a Florida jury in November of 2008 of plotting with Bulger and Flemmi to kill a Boston businessman in 1982. Bulger, who is wanted in 19 killings, has been a fugitive since 1995.
Young awarded $3 million to Patricia Donahue for loss of her husband's companionship and $750,000 to each of her sons, Thomas, Michael, and Shawn; $350,000 for the conscious pain Donahue suffered after he was shot; $734,000 in economic losses; and additional money for funeral expenses.
He awarded $1.75 million to Macarelli for the pain suffered by Halloran, who lingered for about a half-hour after being shot 22 times; $200,000 for the loss of her husband's companionship; and $111,000 for the loss of his income.
After leaving the federal courthouse yesterday, 35-year-old Thomas Donahue visited his father's grave with his family. While happy that the government has been held accountable, he said he is sad that the award is essentially "blood money" for his father's life.
"They're never ever going to be able to repay us for my father," he said.
Boston lawyer Edward T. Hinchey, who represents the Donahues, said "the sad part" is that nobody in the government has ever apologized to the family.
Shelley Murphy can be reached at shmurphy@globe.com. 