tagged w/ Winter Hill Gang
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MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- John J. Connolly was hundreds of miles away in 1982 when gambling executive John Callahan's bullet-riddled body was discovered in the trunk of his Cadillac at Miami's airport.
The admitted shooter says he never met Connolly, the disgraced ex-FBI man at the heart of the agency's sordid dealings with Boston's Winter Hill Gang.
Yet Connolly will stand trial on murder and conspiracy charges this month as if he had pulled the trigger himself, because prosecutors say he secretly gave information that was crucial in setting up the hit. Jury selection is to begin Monday in a trial that figures to rehash some of the ugliest episodes in the Boston FBI's handling of the gang, once led by James "Whitey" Bulger and convicted killer Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi.
For years, both were top FBI informants on rival Italian mobsters. Connolly was their handler -- and Connolly made sure they were shielded from prosecution for murder and many other crimes, a service for which he was eventually sent to federal prison on a racketeering conviction.MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- John J. Connolly was hundreds of miles away in 1982 when... more
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