The story taken into the present.
The first story is from the Portsmouth (N.H.) Herald on May 5 2005
MIAMI - An ex-FBI agent already imprisoned for shielding Boston mobsters from prosecutors was indicted Wednesday in the 1982 murder of a former Miami gambling executive whose body was stuffed into the trunk of his Cadillac.
John J. Connolly Jr., 64, was charged in state court with first-degree murder and conspiracy for allegedly providing information that prosecutors said led to the death of former World Jai Alai president John Callahan.
Callahan had been shot twice in the head and a dime was placed on his chest, an underworld signal to others not to "drop a dime" or snitch on other mobsters, investigators said. His body was found in a parking lot at the Miami airport.
"I can tell you he’s not guilty," said Connolly attorney Edward J. Lonergan. "I’ve known John since 1961. John is a good, good man and this is a sad, sad process. It’s just very disappointing."
Investigators said Callahan was a financial adviser to Boston’s Winter Hill Gang run by fugitive James "Whitey" Bulger, who is also charged in Callahan’s murder. Also charged in the death are Bulger’s top lieutenant Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi and alleged triggerman John V. Martorano, both of whom have cooperated with prosecutors against Connolly.
Connolly is serving a 10-year sentence in federal prison in North Carolina for convictions on racketeering, obstruction of justice and other charges stemming from his role in protecting Bulger and others from prosecution while simultaneously using them as FBI informants.
Connolly, a childhood friend of Bulger’s in Boston, provided key internal FBI information to his mob allies in the killings of Callahan and at least three other people, said Katherine Fernandez Rundle, Miami-Dade County’s state attorney. Connolly is not charged in any other murders.
"While John Connolly never actually pulled the trigger, it was his information that caused the death of John Callahan," Rundle said. "He was a law enforcement agent gone bad."
The second story is from The Boston Herald in May 31, 1998
"The Friends of Eddie Coyle" was a good 1973 gangster movie made from a great 1972 novel by George V. Higgins.
I've been thinking about Eddie Coyle lately, mainly because of the fictional gangster who murders him. That would be Dillon, who is played by Peter Boyle.
The thing is, the more we find out about the real Whitey Bulger, the more he resembles the fictional Dillon. Consider the similarities:
Dillon is a gangster who's done federal time. Ditto Whitey.
Dillon owns a liquor establishment, only he can't hold the license because he's a felon. Ditto Whitey.
Dillon hires ex-cons to hijack trucks for him. Ditto Whitey.
Everyone around him is very, very frightened of Dillon. Ditto Whitey.
Nobody would ever think of ratting out Dillon "without making out a will first," as Dillon puts it. Ditto Whitey.
Dillon accuses everyone else of being a rat. Ditto Whitey.
And finally, the most significant similarity: Despite his professed rat-phobia, Dillon is the biggest rat in the barn. Ditto Whitey.
This is not to say that "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" is what a tenured professor writing in a literary quarterly would call a roman a clef - a nonfiction novel with the names changed to protect the guilty. "Eddie Coyle" was published before Whitey Bulger became Whitey Bulger. Back in 1972, he was just a plug-ugly in the Killeen mob in Southie. He didn't complete his metamorphosis into Dillon until after the untimely passing of his boss, Donnie Killeen, a year or so later.
Anyway, George V. Higgins, the guy who wrote about Whitey Bulger before there was a Whitey, now teaches creative writing at Boston University. I called him Friday to ask him if he'd considered the career parallels of Dillon and Whitey.
"Not until you just brought it up," he said. "But now that you mention it ... Jesus, maybe you're right."
Before he started getting published, Higgins worked as a state and federal prosecutor. When his underworld novels started coming out, some critics accused him of transcribing wiretapped conversations.
"I made it up," he said. "You know, at the time there were three or four guys around like Dillon."
Now Higgins is writing a piece on the ongoing Mob hearings for a legal magazine.
"Look at Whitey's partner, Steve Flemmi," he says. "He was doing the same thing as Whitey. He's ratting out Joe Barboza, which finally drives Barboza so crazy that he flips. The guys decide Barboza's lawyer's got to go, and they give the contract to Flemmi and Frank Salemme. And when they blow it, Stevie rats out Salemme and walks."
The Rifleman might quibble over a detail or two, but I doubt Cadillac Frank would.
As long as I've got you on the line, George, let me ask you something else. Eddie Coyle - was he based on anyone in particular? I'm thinking of one of Whitey's old bank-robbing partners from the '50s. A guy named Billy O'Brien. O'Brien gets out of the can and soon thereafter takes a pinch for truck hijacking, a la Eddie Coyle. And just before his sentencing, somebody invites Billy out for a night on the town, and he comes home with two in the hat.
Just like Eddie Coyle with Dillon.
"I know some Billy O'Briens, but not that one. I'm telling you, I made it up."
I believe you, George. Besides, eventually the parallels end. Two novels later, Dillon dies - of natural causes. Whitey, on the other hand, is the kind of guy who's so damn rotten he'll never die or get caught.
But who knows how this page turner will end? This roman a clef remains a work in progress."
Read Howie Carr on line at bostonherald.com. Carr's radio show airs weekdays on WRKO-AM 680, WPRO-AM 630, WNNZ-AM 640 and WXTK-FM 95.1.
Edition: al
Section: News
Page: 10
Copyright 1998 Boston Herald
Record Number: BNH05310053