Whitey Bulger calls corrupt FBI supervisor a fucking liar during trial
Reputed mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger, visibly annoyed, muttered under his breath "You're a f---ing liar" Thursday as a disgraced former FBI supervisor testified that there was "no question" the Irish gangster doubled as an informant for FBI Boston.
Prosecutor Brian Kelly
requested that the judge in Bulger's federal trial advise Bulger to
"keep his little remarks to himself," which Judge Denise Casper advised
shortly after.
Both sets of attorneys
have spent a remarkable amount of time during the trial of the notorious
Bulger, charged with 19 murders and in court after living in hiding for
16 years, trying to prove whether Bulger was an informant during a
15-year period. Even Judge Casper is beginning to question the
importance of the issue.
During post-court
discussion over motions, as the defense was attempting to further it's
argument that Bulger's informant records were forged by his FBI handler,
Judge Casper questioned, "How does that address that your client is not
guilty of crimes here?"
Bulger's attorney J.W.
Carney danced around the question and responded, "Bulger was not
providing information as an informant, he was providing money so that
he'd get tipped off about wire taps and search warrants."
Bulger's attorneys have
been quick to admit to acts of extortion and racketeering -- charges
Bulger is also facing -- to defend their client's position that he was
not another "rat" from South Boston.
"Why can't both be true?" Judge Casper inquired.
"The defendant's position
is (that) only one is true." Carney said. "Why would James Bulger be
paying all this money to all these people if the government's theory is
he got all this protection because he was providing information. Why
would he keep paying everybody?"
Former FBI supervisor
John Morris, an addition to the government's long list of cooperating
witnesses, testified Thursday that he took bribes from Bulger in the
amount of $7,000, along with a silver-plated champagne bucket and two
cases of imported wine.
Morris said he asked
Bulger if he could "spring" for a plane ticket for his secretary
girlfriend to visit him during FBI training in Georgia, and Bulger
obliged. Morris admitted to his acts of corruption in 1997 in exchange
for immunity.
A sheepish, red-faced
Morris, though less than six feet away from Bulger, avoided eye contact
with the defendant, who glared steadily at his old confidant throughout
his testimony. This is the first time the two have seen each other since
they cut ties in 1991 after Morris leaked Bulger's informant status to
the Boston Globe.
Morris said he first met
Bulger at a dinner he hosted his Lexington, Massachusetts, home in 1978
along with Bulger's FBI handler John Connolly, whom he characterized as
his "best friend."
Morris said he met
Bulger and later his associate Steve "The Rifleman" Flemmi eight to 10
times in various places, including Morris' home, Morris' girlfriend's
apartment, a hotel, Bulger's home and even in Flemmi's mother's house
for dinner. Flemmi's mother cooked. The defense has previously argued
that Bulger was not treated like an informant, and thus did not believe
that he was.
Morris testified that
Connolly preferred to meet Bulger in "pleasant surroundings, not the
type of surroundings you would meet a normal informant," like in a hotel
or car. "He wanted Mr. Bulger to be comfortable," Morris said.
Morris was supervisor to
rogue FBI agent Connolly, who is currently serving a 40-year sentence
on second-degree murder charges for leaking the identities of witnesses
cooperating against Bulger's Winter Hill Gang. Flemmi, serving a life
sentence, is set to testify against Bulger later in this trial after
agreeing to cooperate with the government to evade the death penalty in
1997.
All that Bulger and
Flemmi wanted from their handlers in exchange for information was "a
head start," as Morris described -- to be tipped off if they were going
to be indicted or charged so they could flee. The pair, according to
Morris, knew they were "fair game" and acknowledged that they were
engaging in criminal activity and at some point they might get charged.
If that happened, they didn't want their identity as informants
disclosed and would rather "take the risk" Morris said.
Morris admitted to
tipping his informants off to wire taps, and keeping their names out of a
1975 horse race indictment. He testified that the Mafia, or La Cosa
Nostra, was the main priority of the FBI in Boston and that Bulger and
his partner Flemmi were instrumental in the take-down of those mobsters.
The two provided the agents with a drawing of Mafia headquarters, and
that was used to take down the New England Mafia in a 1983 sting.
After being tipped off
to an indictment, Bulger went on the run for 16 years and landed himself
on the FBI's top 10 most wanted list before being arrested in his Santa
Monica. California, home with his girlfriend in 2011.
Morris said that he
signed off on reports Bulger provided to the FBI that he knew were false
lies to protect himself from being implicated as the person to who
leaked sensitive information that may have tipped Bulger off to
witnesses that were cooperating against him. Those potential witnesses
were eventually murdered, Morris said, and Bulger has been charged in
their killings.
While the defense had
little time to cross-examine Morris, who will be back on the stand
Friday, defense attorney Hank Brennan painted Morris to be a liar, an
adulterer, and a fraud. He was able to fire off a question that is
likely to resound with the jury.
"You were corrupt, weren't you Mr. Morris?" Brennan queried.
"Yes," Morris exhaled after a long pause and a deep breath.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/27/justice/massachusetts-bulger-trial/index.html
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