BOSTON, May 16 (UPI) -- Lawyers for Boston mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger say prosecutors should release the name of an informant who talked to the FBI in 2000.
In a motion filed Wednesday, lawyer J.W. Carney said information the informant provided suggested that Kevin Weeks, a former Bulger associate, and John Martorano, a mob hit man, who both began cooperating with the FBI in 1999, were willing to change their testimony.
"The information provided by the source is highly relevant for impeachment purposes. It demonstrates the willingness of both Weeks and Martorano to shade their version of events in a manner favorable to themselves and those they wish to protect," Carney said in court documents.
Bulger, 83, was arrested in Santa Monica, Calif., where he had been living with his girlfriend, Catherine Greig, under assumed names, in June 2011. He had been on the run for more than 16 years.
FBI agents in Boston allowed Bulger to operate openly for years because he provided information on other gangsters. That included allowing an innocent man to spend decades in prison for a killing Bulger had allegedly ordered.
His trial is scheduled to begin June 13 in federal court in Boston. He faces a long list of charges, including numerous murders.
