Dick Lehr - Black Mass. Whitey Bulger, The FBI and a Devils Deal

BLACK
MASS

WHITEY BULGER, THE FBI, AND A DEVILS DEAL

DICK LEHR AND GERARD ONEILL

Published in Great Britain in 2015 by Canongate Books Ltd, 14 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1TE

www.canongate.tv

This digital edition first published in 2015 by Canongate Books

Copyright 2000, 2001, 2012 by Dick Lehr and Gerard ONeill

First published in the United States of America in 2000 by Public Affairs, a member of the Perseus Book Group, 250 West 57th Street, Suite 1321, New York, NY 10107, USA

The moral rights of the authors have been asserted

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available on
request from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 78211 623 3
eISBN 978 1 78211 625 7

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologises for any errors or omissions and would be grateful to be notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.

Photo credits: James J. Whitey Bulger Jr. / FBI photo; Stephen J. the Rifleman Flemmi / FBI photo; Former FBI agent John Connolly / Boston Globe Staff Photo by George Rizer; Donato Danny Angiulo ... / FBI photo; An early arrest photo of Bulger / Boston Globe;Frank Salemme ... / Boston Globe Staff Photo by John Tlumacki; Flemmi / FBI photo; Gennaro J. Angiulo ... / Boston Globe Staff Photo by Jim Wilson; John Connolly Jr., ... / Boston Globe Staff Photo by Ted Dully; Boston FBI agent ... / FBI photo; John M. Morris ... / Boston Globe Staff Photo by Tom Herde; Millionaire Roger Wheeler ... / FBI photo; Edward Brian Halloran / Boston Police photo; South Boston Liquor Mart / Boston Globe Staff Photo by John Tlumacki; By 1984, Bulger ... / Boston Globe Staff Photo by John Tlumacki; FBI wanted poster ... / FBI web site; Bulger and Catherine Greig, 1988 / Boston Globe Staff Photo by John Tlumacki; James J. Whitey Bulger / FBI photo.

For my sons, Nick and Christian Lehr,
and my daughters, Holly and Dana Lehr

For my even keel wife Janet and my sons, Brian and Shane ONeill

Contents

Cast of Characters

THE BULGER GANG

James J. Whitey Bulger

Stephen J. The Rifleman Flemmi

Nick Femia, enforcer

Kevin Weeks, enforcer and Bulgers surrogate son

Kevin ONeil, associate

Patrick Nee, associate

Joseph Yerardi, associate

George Kaufman, associate

THE ORIGINAL WINTER HILL GANG

includes Bulger gang members and:

Howard Winter, boss

John Martorano, hitman

William Barnoski, associate

James Sims, associate

Joseph McDonald, associate

Anthony Ciulla, horse-race fixer

Brian Halloran, associate

MAFIA IN BOSTON

Gennaro J. Jerry Angiulo, underboss

Ilario Larry Zannino, capo de regime and consigliere

Donato Danny Angiulo, capo de regime

Francesco Frankie Angiulo, associate

Mikey Angiulo, associate

J. R. Russo, capo de regime

Vincent The Animal Ferrara, capo de regime

Bobby Carrozza, capo de regime

Frank Cadillac Frank Salemme, Flemmis boyhood pal and leading Mafia boss in 1990s

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, BOSTON FIELD OFFICE

H. Paul Rico, organized crime squad

Dennis Condon, organized crime squad

John J. Connolly Jr., Bulgers and Flemmis handler

John Morris, organized crime squad supervisor

Lawrence Sarhatt, special agent in charge (SAC) early 1980s

James Greenleaf, special agent in charge (SAC) mid-1980s

James Ahearn, special agent in charge (SAC) late 1980s

Robert Fitzpatrick, assistant special agent in charge (ASAC)

James Ring, assistant special agent in charge (ASAC)

Nicholas Gianturco, organized crime squad

Tom Daly, organized crime squad

Mike Buckley, organized crime squad

Edward Quinn, organized crime squad

Jack Cloherty, organized crime squad

John Newton, special agent

Roderick Kennedy, special agent

FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES

Robert Long, Massachusetts State Police

Rick Fraelick, Massachusetts State Police

Jack OMalley, Massachusetts State Police

Colonel John ODonovan, Massachusetts State Police commander

Thomas Foley, Massachusetts State Police

Joe Saccardo, Massachusetts State Police

Thomas Duffy, Massachusetts State Police

Richard Bergeron, Quincy police detective

Al Reilly, federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)

Stephen Boeri, federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)

Daniel Doherty, federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)

Jeremiah T. OSullivan, federal prosecutor, Justice Department

Fred Wyshak, federal prosecutor, Justice Department

Brian Kelly, federal prosecutor, Justice Department

James Herbert, federal prosecutor, Justice Department

Prologue

One summer day in 1948 a shy kid in short pants named John Connolly wandered into a corner drugstore with a couple of his pals. The boys were looking to check out the candy at the store on the outskirts of the Old Harbor housing project in South Boston, where they all lived.

Theres Whitey Bulger, one of the boys whispered.

The legendary Whitey Bulger: skinny, taut, and tough looking, with the full head of lightning-blond hair that inspired cops to nickname him Whitey, even if he hated the name and preferred his real name, Jimmy. He was the phantom tough-guy teen who ran with the Shamrocks gang.

Bulger caught the boys staring and impulsively offered to set up the bar with ice cream cones all around. Two boys eagerly named their flavors. But little John Connolly hesitated, heeding his mothers instructions not to take anything from strangers. When Bulger asked him about his abstinence, the other boys giggled about his mothers rule. Bulger then took charge. Hey, kid, Im no stranger, he said. Bulger then offered the boy a quick but crucial lesson in history and bloodlines: both their fore-bears were from Ireland. They were hardly strangers.

Whitey asked again: What kind of cone you want?

In a soft voice Connolly said vanilla. Bulger gladly hoisted the boy onto the counter to receive his treat.

It was the first time John ever met Whitey. Many years later he would say the thrill of meeting Bulger by chance that day was like meeting Ted Williams.

Introduction

In the spring of 1988 we set out to write for the Boston Globe the story of two brothers, Jim Whitey Bulger and his younger brother Billy. In a city with a history as long and rich as Bostons, brimming with historical figures of all kinds, the Bulgers were living legends. Each was at the top of his game. Whitey, fifty-eight, was the citys most powerful gangster, a reputed killer. Billy Bulger, fifty-four, was the most powerful politician in Massachusetts, the longest-serving president in the State Senates 208-year history. Each possessed a reputation for cunning and ruthlessness, shared traits they exercised in their respective worlds.

It was a quintessential Boston saga, a tale of two brothers whod grown up in a housing project in the most insular of Irish neighborhoods, South BostonSouthie, as it was often known. In their early years Whitey, the unruly firstborn, was frequently in court and never in high school. There were street fights and wild car chases, all of which had a kind of Hollywood flair. During the 1940s hed driven a car onto the streetcar tracks and raced through the old Broadway station as shocked passengers stared from the crowded platform. With a scally cap on his head and a blonde seated next to him, he waved and honked to the crowd. Then hewas gone. His brother Billy set off in the opposite direction. He studiedhistory, the classics, and, lastly, the law. He entered politics.