BOSTON, May 24 (UPI) -- The fate of a former FBI agent accused of racketeering and protecting his underworld informants was in the hands of a federal jury Friday
The jury of six men and six women were deliberating the case of retired FBI Special Agent John J. Connolly Jr., 61, who for decades was the agency's handler of Boston gang bosses-turned government informants James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi.
Connolly was charged with racketeering, including accepting and passing along bribes, and obstruction of justice. He has denied the allegations.
In closing arguments on Thursday, prosecutors alleged Connolly became part of what was called "The Enterprise" run by Bulger and Flemmi, the leaders of the South Boston-based Winter Hill Gang.
Special Assistant U.S. Attorney John Durham argued that testimony that Connolly took bribes from Bulger and Flemmi proved he was on the gangsters' "team."
"The evidence in this case firmly establishes the defendant was a member of the gang," Durham said.
Defense attorney Tracy Miner, however, attacked the credibility of the government's star witnesses -- a disgraced former FBI supervisor, a jailed former head of the New England Mafia, a confessed hit-man who takes credit for 20 slayings, and a low-level Bulger associate who claims part in five gangland killings.
"You've never seen a bigger group of thieves and liars in your life," Miner told the jury. She said they all had motives for lying about Connolly, including reduced sentences and revenge.
She said the mobsters wanted revenge because Connolly had turned their "friends" into informants against them.
"This is payback, pure and simple," Miner said.
She also argued the FBI made Connolly a scapegoat for the agency's mishandling of informants who continued their criminal activities, including killing, while supposedly providing information to the government.
"The government needed a scapegoat for its problems," Miner said.
"Who better than the informants' handler, somebody at the bottom of the totem pole? Someone they could label a rogue agent, then say they cleaned house, wash their hands and move on."
Miner said he was only doing the job the government asked him to, putting his life at risk to establish a trusting relationship with violent criminals.
She said none of the government's witnesses could actually "put cash" in Connolly's hands.
Prosecutors allege Connolly provided Bulger and Flemmi with insider information that led to the killing of three potential witnesses against them, and also tipped them to an impending indictment in January 1995.
While Flemmi was arrested, that alleged tip allowed Bulger to flee. He remains a fugitive.
Miner reminded the jury that the government's evidence was based on hearsay from gangsters out to help themselves.
"Consider who these people are, and you judge their credibility," Miner said.
Connolly, who sat in the courtroom with his wife and their three sons, later said only that he put his faith in the jury system.
Final arguments came on the 12th day of the trial during which the jurors heard from 31 witnesses.
