February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Jim Smith
BOSTON — Former FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. was indicted by a federal grand jury last Wednesday for obstruction of justice for allegedly leaking confidential information to mobster James "Whitey" Bulger about three informants who later ended up dead.
Connolly had also been indicted last year for obstruction of justice for allegedly tipping off Bulger early in 1995 about an imminent racketeering indictment that would have led to his arrest. Bulger has been a fugitive since.
Last week’s indictment, although not charging Connolly with being an accessory to murder, does link him to the murders of three of Bulger’s 18 alleged victims: Brian Halloran, Richard Castucci and John Callahan.
U.S. attorney Donald Stern told reporters that the indictment "fills out a dark picture of corruption and obstruction of justice by a former FBI agent. . . . The handler of criminals became one himself."
Charles Prouty, special agent now in charge of the FBI office in Boston, said: "The allegations are appalling to me and very other FBI agent. This is a bitter pill for all of them. Don’t judge us by a couple of bad apples and rogue agents."
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