-Caveat Lector- > >http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/356/metro/FBI_reportedly_hid_key_evidenceP.shtml > >FBI reportedly hid key evidence > >Documents show it knew of Deegan slaying plot in '65 > >By Ralph Ranalli, Globe Correspondent, 12/21/2000 > > Secret documents recently discovered in a Justice Department probe > of FBI corruption appear to show that the bureau knew not only that the > wrong men were convicted of a 1965 gangland murder, but also that agents > were told about the plot two days before it happened and apparently did > nothing to stop it. > >The reports, found at FBI headquarters in Washington, were turned over >yesterday to lawyers for reputed Mafia associate Peter J. Limone, who has >served 32 years in prison for the slaying of small-time hoodlum Edward >''Teddy'' Deegan in Chelsea. They strongly suggest that the FBI's chief >witness at the 1968 trial, legendary Boston hit man Joseph ''The Animal'' >Barboza, framed Limone and several other men. > >As Limone languished in prison for three decades, documents that might >have proved his innocence sat in secret FBI informant files in Washington >and were never turned over to the defense, attorney John Cavicchi of East >Boston said yesterday. > >''This is a disgrace. If it weren't so tragic it would be laughable,'' >said Cavicchi, who is handling Limone's bid to have his conviction >overturned in Middlesex Superior Court. > >Boston FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz declined comment. > >The new documents also reveal for the first time that the brother of >infamous gangster and FBI informant Stephen Flemmi was also successfully >recruited as an FBI informant for five months in 1965 - even though other >informants were telling the bureau that he was responsible for numerous >killings and that he had vowed to become Boston's ''No. 1 hit man.'' > >FBI evaluation reports of Vincent J. ''Jimmy the Bear'' Flemmi's potential >usefulness as an FBI mole show the chilling lengths the FBI was willing to >go to in its clandestine organized crime informant program. > >Special Agent Dennis Condon, for example, wrote one 1964 report that an >unnamed informant said Jimmy Flemmi had boasted about becoming Boston's >most prolific full-time assassin. > >''Flemmi told him [the informant] that all he wants to do now is kill >people, and that it is better than hitting banks,'' the report states. >''Informant said Flemmi said that he feels he can now be the top hit man >in this area and intends to be.'' > >Another report said Flemmi was a suspect in the Deegan murder and several >other killings, but that recruiting him as an informant was ''worth the risk.'' > >Even supporters of Limone and the other defendants, who contended for >years that they were the victims of an FBI frame-up, called the contents >of the documents shocking. > >Boston lawyer Victor Garo, who represents Limone's co-defendant, Joseph >Salvati, went as far as telling WBZ-TV (Channel 4) that the prosecution >was an FBI ''murder conspiracy'' because the punishment for murder at the >time was death in the electric chair. Four of the defendants, including >Limone and Salvati, received death sentences that were later changed to life. > >The reports were turned over to Cavicchi, Garo, and Suffolk District >Attorney Ralph Martin II's office yesterday by Special US Attorney John >Durham, who for the last several years has been investigating corruption >in the FBI's informant relationships with gangsters Stephen Flemmi and >Whitey Bulger. > >Durham could not be reached for comment yesterday. > >One key report states that on March 10, 1965 - two days before the murder >- an unidentified FBI informant told Special Agent H. Paul Rico that Jimmy >Flemmi was planning to kill Deegan and that the murder had the blessing of >then-New England Mafia boss Raymond L.S. Patriarca. > >''Informant advised that he had just heard from Jimmy Flemmi, and Flemmi >told the informant that Raymond Patriarca has put out the word that Edward >`Teddy' Deegan is to be `hit,' and that a dry run has already been made >and that a close associate of Deegan's has agreed to set him up,'' Rico's >report states. > >One day after the murder, another informant told Rico that Flemmi, >Barboza, and three other men had committed the crime. > >Neither Limone, Salvati, nor two other co-defendants, top New England >Mafia advisor Henry Tameleo and underworld figure Louis Greco, were >mentioned. The information was forwarded to FBI headquarters in director >J. Edgar Hoover's name, although there is no indication whether Hoover >himself actually saw it. > >All four men were convicted. Tameleo and Greco died in prison, while >Salvati's sentence was later commuted. > >None of the information, Cavicchi said, was turned over to the defense in >the case. Barboza, who was recruited as an FBI witness by Rico and Condon, >was the key witness and the only witness against Limone. Privately, even >law enforcement officials involved in the case were calling the new >documents significant. > >''You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that it's not trivial >stuff,'' one official said. > >In a statement released by a spokesman yesterday, however, Martin said >only that his office ''is intent on pursuing the truth about the Deegan >murder, wherever it leads us.'' > >Limone's family expressed new optimism yesterday. > >''Obviously we're very excited. It has just been a terrible tragedy what >was done to this man,'' said nephew Frank Limone. > >This story ran on page B01 of the Boston Globe on 12/21/2000. >© Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. 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