Judge: Gov't owes mob victims' moms more

BOSTON, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- The mothers of two women slain in the 1980s by FBI informants may be due more damages than originally thought, a U.S. judge says.

U.S. District Judge William Young issued a surprise ruling in Boston Monday in a civil case involving longtime FBI informants James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi, saying he may have underestimated the wrongful death monetary damages due to the mothers of slaying victims Debra Davis and Deborah Hussey, The Boston Globe reported.

A hearing on the matter will be held Thursday.

Young had originally ruled Olga Davis and Marion Hussey were each owed $350,000 in damages by the government for their alleged mishandling of Bulger and Flemmi, mobsters who were serving as informants when the women were strangled, allegedly by Bulger.

But Young said he may have erred by not allowing the mothers compensation for "consortium damages," or the loss of the loss of companionship, aid, society, and comfort, the newspaper said.

The judge had awarded $800,000 to another plaintiff in the suit, the family of Louis Litif, 45, a bookmaker killed in 1980, for the loss of his financial and emotional support, the newspaper said.