BOSTON (AP) – FBI mob informant Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi pleaded guilty to racketeering charges Tuesday as relatives of his victims listened to graphic details of 10 murders carried out by him and other members of the notorious Winter Hill Gang.
In a plea deal allowing him to avoid the death penalty for killings in Florida and Oklahoma, Flemmi will serve life in prison. A leader in the gang that ran loan-sharking, drug and gambling rackets in the Boston area, Flemmi listened impassively as a federal prosecutor described the grisly killings.
Relatives of the victims who packed the courtroom in U.S. District Court were visibly shaken by the details. Some sobbed as they heard how their loved ones were strangled or shot in the head, then dumped into shallow graves by members of the gang, including Flemmi, gang leader James “Whitey” Bulger and hit man John Martorano.
After pleading guilty to 17 separate charges, Flemmi apologized.
“I’d like to extend my deepest apologies to the families, the victims, my family, the public at large and the court,” he said. “I truly am sorry. I hope they forgive me.”
Flemmi’s sentencing is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 27.
He struck a plea deal with prosecutors earlier this month after fingering his former FBI handler, H. Paul Rico, for allegedly helping to set up the 1981 mob murder of Oklahoma businessman Roger Wheeler.
Rico, 78, who retired from the FBI in 1975, was arrested in Florida last week in Wheeler’s killing. An extradition hearing for Rico to face the charges in Oklahoma is scheduled for Friday in Miami.
Prosecutors said Flemmi corroborated earlier testimony from a hit man who said Rico provided details of Wheeler’s schedule to assist the gang in killing him. Ironically, it was Rico who first recruited Flemmi as an FBI informant in the 1960s, when Rico was a star in the FBI’s war against the Mafia.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Wyshak Jr., his voice choked with emotion as he described the killings, said Flemmi removed the teeth of some victims to make it difficult for authorities to identify the bodies.
Wyshak said Flemmi and Bulger decided to kill Flemmi’s longtime girlfriend, Debra Davis, after she ended her relationship with Flemmi in 1981. They felt Davis knew too much about their crimes and also knew both were acting as FBI informants, providing the agency with information on their rivals in the New England Mafia.
Wyshak said Bulger strangled Davis, then Flemmi and Bulger removed her clothing, wrapped her body in plastic and buried her in a marshy area in Quincy. Her remains were not recovered until October 2000.
One of Davis’ brothers, Steve Davis, had to be removed from the courtroom after he shouted expletives at Flemmi and said: “You make me sick.”
Michelle Davis, who was 13 when her sister disappeared in early 1985, sobbed as the details of her sister’s murder were described. She later dismissed Flemmi’s apology.
“He’s got no feelings. He feels no remorse at all. How can a man be like that?” she said. “Pulling teeth out of people’s heads like he’s a dentist – ripping them out.”
Flemmi also admitted to planning and helping in the 1985 murder of Deborah Hussey, the daughter of his common law wife, Marion Hussey. Wyshak said Hussey was killed after she accused Flemmi of sexually abusing her, and her mother then ended their relationship.
Bulger strangled Hussey, and Flemmi removed her teeth, Wyshak said.
Flemmi also admitted to his role in the murder of Wheeler. Wyshak said Flemmi, Bulger and other members of the gang decided to kill Wheeler, the owner of World Jai Alai in Miami, after he learned the gang was skimming profits from the business.
Rico, who was retired from the FBI by then, was working as head of security for World Jai Alai. Flemmi told investigators that Rico agreed with the plan to murder Wheeler and provided details of his whereabouts so the killing could be carried out on May 27, 1981.
Flemmi also admitted participating in the 1982 killing of John Callahan, the former president of World Jai Alai. He said he and Bulger convinced a hitman to kill Callahan because they believed he would rat them out to law enforcement investigating the Jai Alai scheme.
In exchange for Flemmi’s cooperation in the Wheeler and Callahan cases, state prosecutors in Oklahoma and Florida agreed to drop their bid for the death penalty against Flemmi.
The federal indictment to which Flemmi pleaded guilty covers both the Wheeler and Callahan killings.
Flemmi’s guilty plea and Rico’s arrest are the latest twists in a long-running scandal over the cozy relationship between the Boston FBI and its underworld informants. Last year, former FBI Agent John Connolly Jr. was convicted of protecting gangsters, including Bulger, who is on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” list and is sought in connection with 21 murders.
U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan, calling the Bulger-Flemmi reign “one of the darkest chapters in the history of law enforcement, said investigators believe Flemmi may provide them with additional information that could lead to additional indictments, possibly against other FBI agents or police officers.
“No one is in a better position than Flemmi to give us the details we seek,” Sullivan said at a news conference following Flemmi’s plea.
“This is a case that never ends. There are going to be additional chapters spinning out of this.”
AP-ES-10-14-03 1627EDT
Send questions/comments to the editors.
