Deadly Alliance: The FBI's Secret Partnership With the Mob

Rating:
Summary: What do you make of this?
Review: I definitely recommend this without question!

There is a man who was a child when the originating turmoil spawned Steve Flemmi in 1965 and Whitey 10 years later. Not long before Whitey took off a newspaper did a story of his search for roots. Fifteen years prior to Whitey fleeing, a man "Pseudonym", befriended the young man in a technical school and a friendship began. Three years before Whitey fled another man,"John Doe" was introduced to the man through a mutual friend. After Whitey fled, Pseudonym and John Doe began acting hostile for no apparent reason, as if very angry at the man. About a year before Whitey took off, the man had also written a movie script and book manuscript detailing the life of a handicapped,abused and neglected orphan which had fallen into the hands of a third individual, "John Doe Jr.".One day while over Pseudonym's home and seeing a mysterious woman on the phone there identified as "Chrissy Green", the man began explaining possible fraud with respect to forwarding the script. Pseudonym suddenly chimed "Well, I'm not going to jail......" and never offered an explanation for this bizarre statement. As far as the man knew, neither Pseudonym,John Doe, or John Doe,Jr. knew each other even though they lived within reasonable commuting distance and in the Boston area.

Some time later, "Chrissy" appeared using a new name.

Rating:
Summary: More to the story
Review: In the 1960s, a boy ('X') was shuffled around in multiple states, threatened with his possible murder by a man alleged to be the driver for one of the gangsters listed in this case.In the 1970s the boy was befriended by a caseworker attached to a subcontractor for Massachusetts who arranged a social security number for the boy while bouncing the child around foster homes who repeatedly threatened and intimidated the boy over a period of years in the late 1970s. Whitey signed up in the mid-1970s.
In the 1980s, 'X'now a teen, lived in Middlesex county while another person going by the same name and same town popped up and began having his mail diverted to this new man's address. Over the next 10 years, this man appeared to follow the teen as he became a man, calling his workplaces and leaving his name, moving to the same towns, and even attending the same church wherever this boy went. Once 'X' was nearly arrested for being AWOL, as this man was in the army and had used his address.
In the 1990s 'X' had a local newspaper article detailing his search for his unknown father.Not long after the editors and reporting staff changed and claimed no knowledge of their predecessors. After that, the man lost his job, began getting getting threatening calls and to be followed by men in suitsas well as plainclothes. on at least one occasion one of the plainclothes men was referred to as "Mr. Ring". An older man moved into the apartment complex beside 'X' and across from a unit where a woman claiming to do " acccounting for the government" lived.This man had Tennessee license plates,carried a revolver and claimed to work construction. Weeks later the man was seen driving a phone company truck and moved out immediately afterwards.But not before being seen laying cables from his apartment to the one across the hall.Barry Mawn, formerly of a Tennessee FBI office,was newly assigned Boston SAC. 'X',attending Northeastern University,suddenly began having problems with some instructors who appeared to have an unknown hostility to 'X'.Northeastern is where Agent Morris and R.Robert Popeo had affiliation. In addition to having many.many problems with his phones,'X' began courting malice from a group of 10(10 is the number of alleged secret witnesses against Whitey)who used threats and intimidation and coercion to keep the man constantly in fear and blamed him for "what is going on.." in the Bulger case. Since all of this,the man has been destroyed completely financially and careerwise and questions have been raised if FBI personnel have been monitoring the man and interfering with employment and communications as well as assuring financial destruction(like a state trooper was by Bulger).The man went to the Justice Department to seek help and was blown off by the Justice Management division while taps and traces by local police were ineffective against the hostile calls.
Additionally, the man repeatedly got daily blank phone messages from a phone linked to MBNA offices in Florida, where Paul Rico lived and which corporation Louis Freeh later became a senior Vice President of.
Since ,Trooper Foley, the champion in this case, has retired, the Government Reform hearings are closed, and there seems to be no one who can hold the FBI accountable.

Rating:
Summary: Appendix A
Review: In the 1970s, Whitey signed on to the Top Echelon program. In the late 1970s a boy who was being overseen by former government officials,"Patsy" was assigned a female social worker by the name of Debbie Richards, a name mentioned in this book. Patsy was bounced around in state child care while William Bulger was in the Senate. In 1982 Patsy was befriended by "Tim",a man claiming to be a former "mental health counselor" undergoing a career change while at technical school. Just prior to meeting "Tim", another man appeared in Woburn,Mass ,where Patsy lived, going by the same name at a different address. "Patsy II" began creating problems for Patsy I, notably going AWOL in the army and much more while sending authorities after Patsy I.In 1992 Patsy was introduced by mutual friend to "John Doe" and a new friendship was formed. In 1995 Whitey fled after a local newspaper article in the Boston area did a story on Patsy' search for his unknown father and family roots.About the same time, "Tim" and "John Doe" began acting strange...
"Tim" began acting inexplicably hostile while "John Doe" began acting hostile and accusatory. Later,John Doe claimed to be taking notes and possibly tape recording staged conversations, in which Patsy was steered into making statements which could be taken out of context as if building a case for later use. Tim began doing the same.Tim hailed from the area where an FBI office existed in Merrimack Valley in Massachusetts. This whole situation appeared as if a boy tied to one of the principals in the Bulger case was systematically assigned monitors to keep tabs on him during the period Bulger and Flemmi operated and when Bulger fled and the situation unravelled, the boy,now a man,became a target of revulsion and blackballing. The boy might have had ties to Bulger's victims,adversaries, government agents, etc.
Even the Dept. of Justice, which Patsy corresponded with concerning the harassment, claimed no knowledge of the correspondence, citing its classified records section.

Rating:
Summary: The Winding Road
Review: Jonathan Harr wrote a book about a legal case involving early victims of a leukemia epidemic in Woburn, Mass. called " A Civil Action". George Cashman, head of Teamsters Local 25 and an alleged supporter of John Connolly of the FBI, lived in Woburn while Connolly lived in Stoneham, the next town. Spec Agent Morris of the FBI lived in Lexington, again adjacent to Woburn. Frank Salemme hails from Burlington, again next to Woburn. Sonny John Cincotti, listed in this book, is linked to Massachusetts Insurance Agency in Somerville and to an escort service but is backed by Gerry Angiulo. Whitey is said to have had a Woburn girlfriend. Somerville is 3 towns from Woburn and the Mafia induction ceremony taped by Sonny Mercurio occurred in Medford, 2 towns over from Woburn. George Cashman has been supported by Ambassador Paul Cellucci and is currently under probe for movie tampering. H Paul Rico hails from Belmont, Mass. a few towns from Woburn. Limone hails from the Medford-Somerville area.

In the early 1960s, just prior to the outbreak of the Mclean-Mclaughlin wars, Woburn was the fulcrum for a clash between forces: 1) Space industry, and 2) Defense industry.After JFK died, Flemmi emerges and 7-8 yrs later Bulger. And in the 1980s NSA establishes Boston as a recruiting center.

Rating:
Summary: Many more stories waiting in the wings
Review: One person not mentioned in this or any related books, in the newspapers, on television or the radio, and never telephoned by Dan Burton or other impartial investigators has been destroyed in the aftermath of this case in nearly every way possible. You decide by whom:
1)A year prior to this case in Massachusetts, the person had a lengthy newspaper article published detailing the search for their family roots and specifically, their unknown father. After the newspaper changed ownership and the new staff claimed no knowledge of the prior staff.
2)1-2 years prior to this the person was forced to sign an affidavit proclaiming no future intent to file bankruptcy while being encouraged to do so while employed at a defense contractor as a condition of continued employment by man alleged to be a government official.
3)1-2 years prior to Whitey Bulger fleeing the state, the man was summoned to a meeting with an alleged CIA or NSA official and was informed that he was to be monitored as a consequence of a government clearance at the contractor. Neither the scope nor duration of said monitoring was detailed nor the reason why.
4)Within a year of Whitey fleeing, the person was suddenly discharged from an employer in which excellent performance was alleged. Not long after a longtime friend offered the person work as a temporary for a Fortune 100 company. Within weeks evidence of an off-premise extension or some other telephone interception technology appeared. At the person's apartment building, a man with Tennessee license plates moved in next door and across the hall from another tenant who claimed to 'do accounting for the government...'. This mystery tenant claimed to 'work construction'. One day the person returned home to find workmen laying phone or datacomm lines between the 'accounting' and 'construction' tenants' units over the ceiling and froze midway when seen. A short time later the 'construction tenant' was seen driving a phone company truck, looked panicked when seen, and subsequently moved out 2 weeks later. During this time, the person repeatedly got feedback from friends and potential employers of strange phone problems or strange people seemingly intercepting incoming calls. Also, evidence emerged of unknown parties entering this person's apartment while at work and at the same time regular,daily phone calls to that person's home from the very building in which they worked! As if this company was a fake entity designed to permit monitoring of the person by 10 people. In 1998-99, local newspapers reported a group of 10 people was sequestered and waiting as strong witnesses against Whitey Bulger and associates.
5)The person began having problems with personal phone and bank accounts with entities such as Fleet,Citizens and major phone companies. Ultimately the problems ended up with a connection to Rhode Island-based branches, home of Patriarca, Russo, and other notables in the Bulger case. The problems continue to this day.
6)The person's car was tampered with, strange phone calls, and had become a pariah in the regional employment sector, as if an invisible hand had reached out and blackballed that person in every way.
7)A couple of years prior to Bulger fleeing, the person was befriended by a man alleging a family history of ties to the most powerful organized crime families in America and who may actually have been a government employee posing as such.

Rating:
Summary: FBI's deal with Devils
Review: The first time I encountered the events described in this book was I believe on a 60 Minutes segment. The segment documented the relationship between Willaim Bulger a well known and successful Boston area politician and his gangster brother James "Whitey" Bulger. I remember finding the story interesting but not particularly intriguing. "Deadly Alliance" on the other hand I found to be endlessly fascinating.

This book deals with an informant program within the FBI called Top Echelon. The point of these informants was to penetrate and compromise organise crime, specifically the Mafia. These informants were criminal themselves who were members of the crimal groups being targeted or were associates that dealt with them in the course of their criminal activities. The focus of this book is on the FBI Boston bureau and two of its Top Echelon informants, James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephan "The Rifleman" Flemi, and on how the FBI turned a blind eye to their lethal activities and actively encourage and helped their accession in Boston's criminal world. The FBI agents also actively sabotaged other agencies investigations on their top two Boston informants in order to protect them and enhance the bureau's and indvidual agents prestige when they latter arrested many of the the same figures being investigated. With the exception of the informants of course.

Ralph Ranalli does a masterful job of going over the FBI's history and evolving philosophy that explains the creation of the Top Echelon program and how it was given leeway to act as it did. As mentioned above the focus is on the FBI Boston office and the handling of the Top Echelon(TE) informants James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephan "The Rifleman" Flemi but Ranalli also examines the FBI's relation with other notorious TE informants. Featuring crooked agents and very brutal TE informants the Boston TE program is the one that suffered the most abuses and is the most interesting.

Ranalli's prose is clear and precise. He does an excellent job in explaining the various events including the consequences and why they occurred. He delineates the cast of characters clearly and precisely. It could have easily been muddled since there is an enormous amount of people involved in the events described in this book. An enormous amount of research has went into this book making it a solid and thoughtful read.

Like I previously mention it's a fascinating and sordid story. Told in concise and entertaining way. If you enjoy reading about organised crime you will surely enjoy this terrific narrative. I found out that there is a book called Black Mass that covers the same ground. I have yet to read it so I can't compare the two but I will since this book has fuel my interest in these events.

Rating:
Summary: Opinion Poll
Review: This case may be lacking a key piece to this whole puzzle in a man old enough to be a son of one of one the principals in this case.Here is a summary and you decide if it is coincidence or pattern!

1) This man was raised and bounced around by abusive guardians and natural family members, moving perhaps 30 or more times by the age of 9.Despite a long history of abuse,neglect and handicap,the boy was repeatedly put into situations where emotional and/or physical abuse took place knowingly.

2) The man had as guardian at one point a state official who had the same name as an FBI mentioned in Black Mass.

3) The man was raised in proximity to several individuals who became defensive and worried when the Bulger case opened up in 1995 and since.

4) The man was bounced around as a youngster,having friendships broken apart only later to have such individuals re-enter that man's life with a different identity than they were introduced as.

5) In 1989 the man was hit and run on the way home from work and the party responsible was never held accountable even though a serious criminal record was alleged.

6) Not long before Whitey disappeared,the man had a news story depicting his search for his father and all the obstacles in finding out about it; Whitey Bulger disappears and this man becomes a target for a wide range of harassing activities.

7) As the Bulger case evolved, this man found himself surrounded by a group of 10 individuals,many of whom blamed him for the ensuing fallout in the BUlger case. The man's family history had largely been withheld from him.Also, a man with out of state plates moved in next door claiming to work construction. As strange phone calls
kept coming into the man's home,one day the man saw his neighbor driving a phone company truck.That man soon moved out and the origin of the strange calls was the workplace in which he was surrounded by individuals blaming him for the Bulger case.

8) As the Bulger case matured, medical records and other official records began disappearing on the man.

9) Individuals who had been introduced as caretakers of the boy later completely disavowed the man when the Bulger case burst out.

10) As the Bulger case hearings moved along, individuals, usually in the capacity of a new coworker began befriending the man.It soon become evident they were investigating the man and when confronted did not deny being involved with law enforcement or the justice department.Such investigations apppeared to focus on the man's home,dating habits,and financial transactions even though the man had no criminal record. Most of the individuals involved claimed roots in New Hampshire. As the congressional hearings matured, the man became the target of increasing traffic stops with each time the officer appearing to have knowledge about the person they could not have had in a random stop.

11) Money vanished from the man's bank account without explanation; even with receipts showing a discrepancy had occurred and spending hours discussing it with bank branch personnel,no satisfactory explanation was ever offered. The bank at the time held Internal Revenue Service accounts and supported a major political candidate in the region.

12) When the man went to vote, thug-like men appeared menacingly watching him.

Rating:
Summary: More, please!
Review: This is a study in how informants are made and maintained... Here is an example of how one man, probably linked to this case without his knowledge, was approached..

The man worked for a government contractor and shortly after weird things began happening. He suddenly lost a good civilian job,began getting routine IRS audits, had phone and email problems, and was approached by a number of women who befriended the man, rejected overtures for dates, then reported back the man was gay--falsely. Friends speculated NSA,the CIA or FBI was involved because all of these have a role in this Bulger case. Then the man became unemployable and had evidence of continuous bank record monitoring. When new 'friends' appeared and the man began noting checks on money being used to help them, those bank records suddenly became tampered with and the records unavailable, as if referring to a classified employee.