Ex-FBI Agent Gets 10-Year Prison Term
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A former FBI agent who tipped off two Boston mobsters that they were about to be indicted was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison in a case that exposed an overly cozy relationship between the bureau and its informants.
John Connolly helped break up the New England Mafia in the 1970s and ‘80s by using information he got from FBI informants James “Whitey” Bulger and Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, leaders of a Boston Irish mob.
Connolly was convicted in May of racketeering, obstruction of justice and lying to an FBI agent for tipping off Bulger and Flemmi about criminal investigations and an upcoming indictment in 1995.
Bulger is on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list. Flemmi is serving 10 years in prison and is awaiting trial on 10 killings, all committed while he was an FBI informant.
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