Stephen Flemmi

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Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi (b. 1935) was an American mobster, a Lieutenant and partner of James J. Bulger in the Winter Hill Gang and was also a top echelon FBI informant.

Contents 1 Army & A Secret Alliance 2 Taking Down La Cosa Nostra Their Own Way 3 Three Murders, One House 4 Turning Up the Heat 5 No More Secrets 6 External links

[edit] Army & A Secret Alliance

Stephen "the Rifleman" Flemmi was born to an Irish father and an Italian mother in South Boston, Massachusetts. He served in the United States Military and is a veteran of the Korean War, which is where he earned the nickname, "the Rifleman". When Flemmi returned from the United States military, he joined up with the Irish Mob of southern Boston and became a prominent member of the Winter Hill Gang.

In the 1960s a bloody Irish mob war broke out on the streets of Boston. Over 40 Irishmen from opposing gangs wound up dead by the time all was said and done. Unbeknownst to his enemies, Flemmi became a Top Echelon FBI informant to Agent Paul Rico and allowed Rico and his FBI cronies to know inside information about the different Boston gangs. Flemmi also used his secret informant status to his advantage by getting more important members of the rival Charlestown Irish Mob indicted and arrested, while he and other Winter Hill Members such as Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme, Howard "Howie" Winter, James "Buddy" McLean continued to evade arrest.

In 1965, James "Whitey" Bulger was released from federal prison after serving nine years. Around this time Paul Rico retired from the FBI and Flemmi's new handler was South Boston native John Connolly. Connolly reached out to Whitey the same year he was released from federal prison with an offer to work as an informant, and Whitey accepted.

Whitey spoke to Flemmi about his deal with the FBI, a conversation that at the start Flemmi thought was going to result in his death, not knowing that Whitey was also now a top echelon FBI informant. It wasn't long before both men's FBI informant status came to their advantage. In 1979 many members and associates of the Winter Hill Gang, including the gang's boss Howard "Howie" Winter were indicted on extortion, gambling and racketeering charges. Flemmi and Bulger were both listed as non-indicted co-defendants, because John Connolly told his FBI superiors that Whitey and Stevie were too valuable as informants to put in prison and not have on the streets, especially since at the time Flemmi and Bulger and their Irish Mob was not the FBI's main concern, the FBI wanted La Cosa Nostra and they wanted to destroy it for all the years that J. Edgar Hoover pretended that it did not exist and did not prosecute the Italian Mafia. Connolly's superiors agreed and both Flemmi and Bulger remained on the streets. It was at this time that Bulger became the King of Boston and the Boss of the Winter Hill Gang, Flemmi being his murderous partner was now a lieutenant and his right-hand man.

[edit] Taking Down La Cosa Nostra Their Own Way

Flemmi being half Italian as well as half Irish did not just stick to Southie the way that Bulger usually did. Although Bulger had some dealings with Gennaro "Jerry" Anguilo, the Patriarca crime family's underboss and late on Boss who resided in Boston's North End, Bulger stuck to dealing primarily with the Irish and rarely had joint operations or even spoke with the Italian Cosa Nostra. Flemmi on the other hand was big with Cosa Nostra, because of his murderous and tough guy ways and the fact that as far as the New England Mafia knew Flemmi was a stand-up guy, he was actually proposed for membership into the New England Mafia, as was another Winter Hill Gang Associate who was full-blooded Italian Johnny Martorano, whose brother Joey actually took the membership to Cosa Nostra and is currently a Caporegime in the Patriarca Family. Flemmi would turn down the offer that was given to him by Anguilo and Illario "Larry Baiona" Zannino and remained as a part of the murderous Irish Mob known as the Winter Hill Gang.

Whitey and Stevie actually took out a loan from the New England Underboss Gennaro "Jerry" Anguilo of $245,000 and after awhile when Anguilo wanted his money and the interest, Whitey and Stevie just refused to pay him the money altogether. Anguilo was becoming very infuriated with the duo and it seemed as though an ethnic mob war could break out in Boston at any given moment, Anguilo's Italian Mafia (the Boston Faction of the Patriarca Family) against Bulger's Southie Irish Mob, but, that mob war could never have come to be as Bulger, using his informant status to his own benefit, tipped off the FBI as to where Anguilo did his business and the FBI quickly bugged it. In addition, every time that Bulger and Flemmi were called in to meet with Anguilo over this large and constantly increasing debt, both Bulger and Flemmi were wired up. They alone sealed Anguilo and many of his men's fate and practically destroyed the Boston faction of the New England LCN, at least for a time.

[edit] Three Murders, One House

Flemmi, although a cold and calculating hitman, who along with Whitey Bulger and Bulger's surrogate son and protege Kevin "Two" Weeks took part in the murders of three people in the same house between the years of 1983 and 1985. Those three people were first Arthur "Bucky" Barret, a talented safecracker and successful drug dealer for Joe Murray and the Charlestown Crew of the Winter Hill Gang. In 1980, Barret held out giving Whitey his taste of a $25 million heist at the Depositor's Trust Bank in Medford, in stead of sharing with Whitey, he gave $100,000 to Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme who was an old member of the Winter Hill Gang and was now a made man in the Patriarca Family's Boston faction, who like Flemmi was half Irish and half Italian. For this hit Weeks posed as a street thief who specialized in moving hot diamonds, Weeks got Barret to come to the house that he, Whitey and Flemmi decided was perfect for the hit, Barret was murdered in the basement. Whitey shot Barret in the back of the head, Flemmi cut off his feet and hands and than pulled out his teeth so the body could not be identified by feet prints, finger prints or dental records. The second murder was that of John McIntyre who was a thirty-two year old drug smuggler and IRA Sympathizer who had also informed on the Valhalla, which was an arms trafficking deal that the Winter Hill Gang built with the IRA On the way down to the basement where Bucky Barret had already been killed around a year before McIntyre, Whitey shot McIntyre in the back of the head with a .22 caliber rifle. Flemmi insisted that McIntyre was still alive and lifted McIntyre up by his hair and Whitey pumped five or six more shots into McIntyre's face. According to Whitey Bulger, Flemmi then asked if the pair could cut McIntyre's body open in order to "look inside." Weeks buried the body just like he did in the Barret hit. The last and final hit that took place at this house was when in 1985, Flemmi brought Debbie Hussey, Whitey would strangle her to death and then Flemmi would do the same with a makeshift garotte, just to make sure that the job was done. Weeks again was assigned to digging duty. This was the last murder at 799 East Third Street, six months later the house was sold and the three bodies were moved and relocated to a gully overlooking the Southeast Expressway across from Florian Hall on Hill Top Street in the Dorchester section of Boston.

[edit] Turning Up the Heat

Soon enough, Whitey and Flemmi had some tough news to take, their FBI sponsor John "Zip" Connolly had retired in 1990, and now with the weakened state of the New England Mafia family, which former Winter Hill Gang member Francis "Cadillac Frank" would soon become the boss of just a year later in 1991, the FBI's Boston office turned their attention from Cosa Nostra in the city of Boston to the Irish Mob in the city of Boston. They began a five year investigation on Whitey Bulger, Stevie Flemmi, Kevin Weeks, John "Red" Shea, Kevin "Turtleneck Pants" O'Neil and many other prominent members of the Winter Hill Gang. In 1992 Shea and some of the important members of his drug ring were indicted on RICO narcotics trafficking charges, Shea took a plea deal in 1994 of twelve years in prison which he was released on August 2, 2002, Flemmi and Whitey were indicted in a large-scale RICO indictment, Flemmi was actually picked up on a Friday night for a miniscule charge of a Class E Felony so that he could be held until Monday when the indictment was scheduled to be unsealed, after Whitey heard that Flemmi had been picked up, Whitey went on the run, and he has not been seen since, it has been just a little over twelve years (01/11/07). Flemmi wound up testifying and took a plea for services rendered and to testify against any other members or associates of the Winter Hill Gang that he had information on. With this deal, he would receive a life sentence instead of the death penalty. In 1997 he openly admitted, two years after his indictment, that he and Whitey were top secret FBI informants and he had been giving dirt on rival Irish gangs and the Italian Cosa Nostra since 1965 and Whitey the same since 1975. No one could believe it.

[edit] No More Secrets

Flemmi would go on to state that since he was indicted and Whitey went on the run that Kevin "Two" Weeks, Whitey's surrogate son and one of his two proteges (the other being John "Red" Shea), has been running the Southie Irish Mob, and that he has been the go between from Flemmi to Connolly to give Flemmi information on what the feds have for his trial. Flemmi would go on to give the F.B.I. Information that would lead to the 1999 indictment of Winter Hill Gang Boss Kevin "Two" Weeks and Lieutenant Kevin "Turtleneck Pants" O'Neil. O'Neil took a plea deal which got him a year and a day in a federal penetentiary and Weeks, facing life imprisonment, gave the feds the location of five murder victims of Whitey, some believe he flipped, others believe that Whitey told him to give the feds that to get a lesser sentence, who really knows. Weeks was sentenced to five years plus time serve(which was nearly a year by the time he was sentenced). Flemmi and Weeks would both go on to testify at the racketeering trial of corrupt FBI Agent John "Zip" Connolly, who thanks to Flemmi and Bulger, got heavy noteriety as a hard on crime gang buster, who practically destroyed the Boston Italian Mafia. Connolly is currently 66 (in 2007) and is expected to be released on June 28th, 2011. Flemmi also went on to give the FBI Information on then fugitive Italian Mob Boss Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme, who took the reigns of the family in 1991 and was indicted along with Stevie and Whitey in 1995, and was on the lam up until 1998 when Flemmi tipped the feds off as to were Salemme was hiding and brought Salemme in for some justice. Salemme remained a stand-up guy up until he was sentenced to life imprisonment, he then also flipped and turned government witness against his own men. Between Flemmi and Salemme there are 18 admitted murders from the two, in December of 2006, Salemme was indicted once again at the age of 73 on charges that he lied about the 1993 disappearance of, and presumed murder of, Westwood nightclub magnate Stephen DiSarro. Flemmi is testifying to that fact that he saw DiSarro being strangled in the Sharon home of Salemme's ex-wife while the Cosa Nostra boss looked on. Salemme has challenged Flemmi to a lie detector test and maintains that he knows nothing about DiSarro's whereabouts who was 43 in 1993 and would be 56 going on 57 today.

[edit] External links

• The thin line between good guys and bad guys
• 'Rifleman' Makes Deal With Feds
• Why does the F.B.I. believe Flemmi?
• Stephen Flemmi
• American Organized Crime - The Winter Hill Gang -Stephen "the Rifleman" Flemmi