Read Online Where the Bodies Were Buried by T. J. English - Free Book Online Page A

government.” Carney described how the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office—the agencies in the government that investigate and prosecute criminal cases—come under the heading of the U.S. Department of Justice, with its headquarters in Washington, D.C. At the time, said Carney, “The success of people working for the Department of Justice was often dependent upon how successful they were in getting indictments and convictions of the Mafia. If they were successful, they received pay increases, promotions, bonuses, awards. This was the number-one priority.”
    This mandate, noted Carney, is what led to the creation of the FBI’s Top Echelon Informant Program. In Boston, a master cultivator of criminal informants was Special Agent John Connolly, and the man who benefited most from Connolly’s efforts was Jeremiah O’Sullivan, the top organized crime prosecutor in town.
    So far, so good: Carney was providing a historical context that would, perhaps, make it possible for the jury to comprehend Bulger’s relationship with the criminal justice system. But then the defense lawyer segued into a couple of points that had longtime followers of the Bulger story reeling, as if they’d just been slapped in the face with a dead fish:
    â€œNow, James Bulger never ever, the evidence will show, was an informant for John Connolly. There were two reasons for this. Number one, James Bulger was of Irish descent, and the worst thing that an Irish personcould consider doing was becoming an informant, because of the history of the Troubles in Ireland. And that was the first and foremost reason why James Bulger was never an informant against people.
    â€œThe second reason was a practical one. James Bulger was not deeply tied to the Italian Mafia. You’ll hear that La Cosa Nostra centered on people of Italian, in particular, Sicilian descent. They wouldn’t let someone who wasn’t of that background be knowledgeable about what was going on in their activities. They could pal around, they’re like people who are in the same business, they can certainly be seen together and hang out together, but Bulger would never be provided with information that he could give, even if he wanted to. So Bulger was never an informant.”
    The argument that Bulger had nothing of value to give the FBI because he was not a member of the Mafia was at least conceivable. But to say that he could not be an informant simply because he was Irish sounded like a barroom boast, or a cruel joke, especially so to criminals currently incarcerated around the United States and in the old country who were there because an Irishman cut a deal with the authorities to save his or her own skin, and turned “state’s evidence” against them. In the world of organized crime, becoming a rat is a survival mechanism unbound by race, color or creed.
    The next bombshell that Carney threw out to the jury was to admit, on behalf of his client, to most of the charges in the indictment. “Yes,” he told the jury, “James Bulger was involved in criminal activities in Boston. He was involved in illegal gaming, meaning selling football cards or other betting games and collecting the proceeds, which is illegal. It’s called, in the business, bookmaking. He also lent money to people at very high rates. It’s called loan-sharking. He was involved in drug dealing. These crimes, that’s what he did.”
    Bulger had never before admitted publicly to any of these crimes, especially drug dealing. It was an astounding concession. It was not immediately clear why Bulger’s defense team was making it, how they thought it would in any way enhance his chances for an acquittal, but Carney seized upon Bulger’s admission of criminal wrongdoing to make a larger point. And that point was that for you to find Whitey Bulger guilty of anything, you would also have to find guilty his partners in crime—the U.S.