BOSTON, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- A report Monday by the Boston Herald indicated claims of a mob shakedown that spawned a $100 million lawsuit and sent an FBI agent to jail may have been a lie.
A sister of South Boston liquor store owner Stephen "Stippo" Rakes, who said he had to turn over his business after a hit man threatened his daughter, said her brother made up the story.
"The extortion? That never happened -- never," Patricia Rakes, 45, told the Herald. "Stippo made out on the deal, and now he's still trying to make out."
Rakes said her brother was deep in debt and sold his store to mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger for $60,000 in cash, a new car and a job with the transit authority, where he still works as a T supervisor.
The new testimony is expected to bolster an appeal for FBI agent John Connolly, who was sentenced for allegedly covering up the extortion.
It also will likely shutter a $100 million lawsuit Rakes and his ex-wife, Julie Dammers, filed against the government for the trauma they claimed resulted from the incident, the Herald said.
