Former associate implicates Bulger in testimony
Witness describes series of killings
BOSTON Mobster James “Whitey” Bulger was so close to a string of murders in the 1970s that he once had to duck to avoid getting shot by “friendly fire” and another time cleaned up the blood himself, according to testimony at his trial Monday.
The witness was John Martorano, the gunman who admits he pulled the trigger countless times to punish rivals and eliminate threats in his days as an enforcer for Bulger’s notorious Winter Hill Gang. As part of a plea deal, he testified Monday in Bulger’s 32-count racketeering trial at a federal courthouse within a few miles of deadly crime scenes he described from decades past.
“After I heard that (Bulger and Stephen Flemmi) were informants, it sort of broke my heart,” Martorano said. “They broke all trust that we had.”
Bulger denies he was ever an FBI informant.
Martorano, who has confessed to 20 murders and served a 12-year prison sentence, told of hunting down enemies in Boston bars in the 1960s and ‘70s, “broadsiding ” cars with machine gunfire and disposing of bodies in woods, at a train station and in a stolen car’s trunk.
Bulger’s attorneys allege that prosecutors made a deal with Martorano in exchange for his testimony and turned a blind eye toward crimes he allegedly committed since his release from prison in 2007. They argue his testimony can’t be trusted. Prosecutors deny the allegation.
Martorano said Bulger was involved in decisions authorizing team efforts to “take out” individuals who posed trouble. One victim was James Sousa, an associate who seemed a risk to spill secrets to authorities after he was arrested in a fraudulent gold scheme. He was targeted after six gang members held a meeting.
“We decided to kill Sousa,” Martorano said.
“Was Mr. Bulger part of that discussion?,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Wyshak asked. “I believe so,” Martorano said. The gunman’s testimony came as prosecutors aimed to paint Bulger as a “hands-on killer” who bears responsibility for 19 murders as well as acts of extortion, money laundering and firearm violations. Martorano was so close to Bulger and Flemmi that he named his youngest son, James Stephen, after them.
“They were my partners in crime,” Martorano said. “They were my best friends. They were my children’s godfathers.”
Martorano recalled how gang members would identify targets for killings.
In a new wrinkle Monday, Martorano suggested Bulger’s relationship with corrupt FBI agent John Connolly traced to Bulger’s younger brother, William, a former president of the Massachusetts Senate and former president of the University of Massachusetts.
According to Martorano, Connolly told William Bulger, “I owe you” for helping launch his career, to which William Bulger reportedly responded: “If you can keep my brother out of trouble, that would be helpful.”
In other testimony Monday, former bookie Richard O’Brien told how he had depended on Bulger’s gang to collect unpaid gambling debts. The mention of Bulger’s name or his presence in a meeting was often enough, O’Brien said, to get delinquents to pay promptly.
The gang members’ “reputations preceded them,” O’Brien said. “If you had an agent who owed the money and was very skeptical about paying, the best out I would have is, ‘Would you like to speak to people from Winter Hill?’”
Martorano, who said he has received $250,000 for movie rights to his life story, is expected back on the stand today.