Posted February 11, 2015 11:34 PM ET; Last updated May 22, 2015 5:06 PM ET
WANTS OUT: Disgraced ex-FBI agent John Connolly, seen in 2005, wants to be released from a Florida prison while an appeals court considers his second-degree murder conviction.
Photo: AP
[From article]
Not so fast, Zip Connolly. You ain’t goin’ nowhere, whatever that 10-judge panel in Miami decides about your second-degree murder conviction in the 1982 slaying of crooked gangland wannabe John Callahan in Fort Lauderdale.
Oh sure, the most corrupt FBI “special” agent in history thinks he’ll soon be a free man again. But guess what, Zip — at age 74, you’re still looking at one, possibly two, murder trials back here. And given the fact that two of your fellow wiseguys, Whitey Bulger and Johnny Martorano, each spent 17 years on the lam, I’m guessing bail is going to be a real problem.
The hearing on Zip’s appeal was held in Miami yesterday in front of the 3rd District Court of Appeal. As the Miami Herald put it yesterday, it’s all very “murky,” but one fact isn’t:
Zip Connolly is guilty as hell and should spend the rest of his wretched life in prison.
Which is where the murders back here come into play. First, the execution of Richie Castucci, an FBI informant, in Somerville (Middlesex County) back in 1976. Stevie Flemmi, another FBI rat, has testified that Zip told his paymaster and personal hero, Whitey Bulger, that Castucci was a rat, after which Whitey did his best Jimmy Cagney:
http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/howie_carr/2015/02/carr_lots_of_unfinished_business_awaits_john_connolly
Carr: Lots of unfinished business awaits John Connolly
Friday, February 13, 2015
By: Howie Carr
[From article]
Not so fast, Zip Connolly. You ain’t goin’ nowhere, whatever that 10-judge panel in Miami decides about your second-degree murder conviction in the 1982 slaying of crooked gangland wannabe John Callahan in Fort Lauderdale.
Oh sure, the most corrupt FBI “special” agent in history thinks he’ll soon be a free man again. But guess what, Zip — at age 74, you’re still looking at one, possibly two, murder trials back here. And given the fact that two of your fellow wiseguys, Whitey Bulger and Johnny Martorano, each spent 17 years on the lam, I’m guessing bail is going to be a real problem.
The hearing on Zip’s appeal was held in Miami yesterday in front of the 3rd District Court of Appeal. As the Miami Herald put it yesterday, it’s all very “murky,” but one fact isn’t:
Zip Connolly is guilty as hell and should spend the rest of his wretched life in prison.
Which is where the murders back here come into play. First, the execution of Richie Castucci, an FBI informant, in Somerville (Middlesex County) back in 1976. Stevie Flemmi, another FBI rat, has testified that Zip told his paymaster and personal hero, Whitey Bulger, that Castucci was a rat, after which Whitey did his best Jimmy Cagney:
http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/howie_carr/2015/02/carr_lots_of_unfinished_business_awaits_john_connolly
Carr: Lots of unfinished business awaits John Connolly
Friday, February 13, 2015
By: Howie Carr
Boston Herald
* * *
[From article]
Last year, a three-judge panel of the Third District Court of Appeals in Miami threw out Connolly’s conviction because Martorano didn’t use the G-man’s weapon to kill Callahan, and Connolly was 1,500 miles away in Massachusetts. Prosecutors objected and were granted tomorrow’s hearing before all 10 appellate justices.
Connolly will not attend, McDonald said. The Florida Supreme Court, meanwhile, has still not ruled on Connolly’s petition to be released pending the appeals court’s final decision.
“Florida law is very clear: It has to be the weapon that was used in the commission of the crime,” McDonald said. “But for the state appealing that decision, and but for the Third District Court agreeing to hear it ... John would be a free man. The guy’s sentence was thrown out and he’s still in jail.”
Prosecutors claim in their brief that much more than a gun made Connolly liable for Callahan’s death, stating he told the FBI “Callahan had a falling out with a group of Cuban drug dealers in Miami so that ... the FBI would focus its investigation on Cuban drug dealers in Miami rather than on Bulger and Flemmi in Boston.”
http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/02/life_on_the_line_for_zip_connolly
Life on the line for Zip Connolly
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
By: Laurel J. Sweet
Boston Herald
* * *
[From article]
Last year, a three-judge panel of the Third District Court of Appeals in Miami threw out Connolly’s conviction because Martorano didn’t use the G-man’s weapon to kill Callahan, and Connolly was 1,500 miles away in Massachusetts. Prosecutors objected and were granted tomorrow’s hearing before all 10 appellate justices.
Connolly will not attend, McDonald said. The Florida Supreme Court, meanwhile, has still not ruled on Connolly’s petition to be released pending the appeals court’s final decision.
“Florida law is very clear: It has to be the weapon that was used in the commission of the crime,” McDonald said. “But for the state appealing that decision, and but for the Third District Court agreeing to hear it ... John would be a free man. The guy’s sentence was thrown out and he’s still in jail.”
Prosecutors claim in their brief that much more than a gun made Connolly liable for Callahan’s death, stating he told the FBI “Callahan had a falling out with a group of Cuban drug dealers in Miami so that ... the FBI would focus its investigation on Cuban drug dealers in Miami rather than on Bulger and Flemmi in Boston.”
http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/02/life_on_the_line_for_zip_connolly
Life on the line for Zip Connolly
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
By: Laurel J. Sweet
Boston Herald
