BOSTON, May 7 (UPI) -- Mobsters and FBI agents will take the stand over the next several weeks in Boston at the federal racketeering trial of former FBI Special Agent John J. Connolly Jr.
Connolly, 61, an agent from 1968 until his retirement in 1990, is charged with joining forces with South Boston Winter Hill gang leaders James "Whitey" Bulger and Steven "The Rifleman" Flemmi in criminal activities spanning two decades.
U.S. District Judge Joseph L. Tauro scheduled opening statements for Wednesday after a jury of five women and seven men was quickly seated Monday.
The government alleges Connolly leaked information to Bulger and Flemmi that resulted in the deaths of three men who reportedly went to the FBI with information about their gang.
As the special agent who handled Bulger and Flemmi as FBI informants, Connolly is also accused of obstruction of justice for tipping the gangsters off to investigations and warning them they were about to be arrested on a racketeering indictment in 1995.
Flemmi pleaded guilty last year to that indictment and is serving a 10-year sentence. Bulger, however, fled and remains one of the FBI's Top 10 fugitives.
According to court documents, prosecutors plan to call 48 witnesses including New England Mafia boss Francis P. "Cadillac Frank" Salemme, confessed Mafia hit man John Martorano, who claims to have murdered 20 people, and Bulger foot soldier Kevin J. Weeks.
Both Weeks and Martorano agreed to testify for the government in exchange for lighter sentences.
Also on the government's witness list are former U.S. Attorney Donald Stern, who brought about the 1995 indictment of Bulger and Flemmi, former federal prosecutor Jeremiah O'Sullivan, and Connolly's former supervisor, John Morris.
Morris, under immunity, admitted he received bribes from Bulger.
O'Sullivan reportedly agreed to drop charges against Bulger and Flemmi at the request of Connolly and Morris because the gang leaders were providing information against the Italian Mafia.
Also on the prosecution witness list is U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf, who presided over 1998 hearings at which it was disclosed that Flemmi and Bulger were government informants.
Defense attorneys plan to call 19 witnesses, including convicted Mafia member and former FBI informant Angelo "Sonny" Mercurio. Also on the defense list were three former special agents in charge of the Boston office -- Lawrence Sarhatt, James Ahearn, and Richard Swenson.
Connolly's defense claims his work allowing Bulger and Flemmi to continue with the criminal activities while acting as FBI informants had been sanctioned by higher-ups in the agency.
Also expected to be called by the defense is FBI agent Joseph Pistone, whose infiltration of organized crime in New York was the basis for the 1997 Johnny Depp movie, "Donnie Brasco."
Connolly, speaking to reporters Monday, said he believes in the integrity of the jury system and, "I only ask people to understand the very difficult and dangerous job I had to do."
