The brother of Edward “Brian†Halloran told a US District Court jury today that his brother had feared James “Whitey†Bulger and was preparing to testify against him.
Months later, Edward “Brian†Halloran was killed.
Robert B. Halloran, 70, a retired Massachusetts State Police trooper, told jurors in Bulger’s racketeering trial in Boston that his brother told him “he was going to the FBI, and he was going to be an informant.â€
“He said they were trying to set him up, like they did Tommy King,†Robert Halloran said.
Asked who “they†were, Halloran said he was referring to Bulger and his cohort, Stephen “The Rifleman†Flemmi. The two men allegedly killed Tommy King and made it look like King had called another one of their victims, Francis “Buddy†Leonard, according to earlier trial testimony.
Brian Halloran began cooperating with authorities in January, 1982. In May of that year, Bulger allegedly gunned down Halloran and Michael Donahue, an innocent bystander who had been giving Halloran a ride home.
According to previous testimony, Bulger had learned from his corrupt FBI handler John J. Connolly Jr. that Halloran began cooperating with the FBI.
Robert Halloran said he identified his brother at the morgue, and he identified a picture from the morgue for jurors on Tuesday.
“That’s my brother,†he said.
Bulger, now 83, is accused of participating in 19 murders in a sweeping racketeering trial. Prosecutors said he was able to carry out crimes including murders in the 1970s and 1980s because he was being protected by corrupt FBI handlers.
Over the last two days, a retired FBI agent, Gerald Montanari, told jurors that he began cultivating Halloran as an FBI informant, and that Halloran agreed to testify against Bulger in an Oklahoma murder investigation.
He said he kept the information “close to the vest†because it was confidential and sensitive, and because Halloran feared for his life.
But he acknowledged his partner told former supervisor John Morris about Halloran.
Morris testified previously that he told Connolly about Halloran, and that he believes the information was then leaked to Bulger.
Montanari said the murders of Halloran and Donahue led to a meeting among top FBI supervisors in Washington DC in which he raised concerns that Bulger was involved and that he was also involved in the Oklahoma murder.
Montanari said he told Connolly at a later meeting that “his sources were now our targets†in the Oklahoma investigation
“He indicated his guys wouldn’t have anything to do with it, and we respectfully disagreed,†Montanari said.
Also today, Bulger’s defense lawyers released the names of 37 people they want to call as defense witnesses.
Among those included on the list made public this morning is Joseph Salvati, a former North End man who was wrongly convicted of a 1965 Chelsea murder based on testimony from corrupt FBI informant Joseph Barboza. Salvati and lawyers for three other men sued the FBI and won a $107 million civil judgment in 2007.
Bulger also wants to call his former ally, Patrick Nee, as well as law enforcement investigators who spent large chunks of their careers trying to put Bulger behind bars — especially State Police Lieutenant Steve Johnson and Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Daniel Doherty.
One of Bulger’s 19 alleged victims is Deborah Hussey, whom Bulger is accused of strangling. Bulger’s witness list includes Marion Hussey, Deborah’s mother.
Marion Hussey is a former girlfriend Flemmi, who is expected to testify against Bulger this week. Flemmi’s son, Stephen Hussey, is also on the defense witness list.
Also on the defense list are FBI agents Matthew Cronin and James Crawford, who interviewed Olga Davis after her daughter, Debra Davis, vanished in 1981. Debra Davis was another of Flemmi’s girlfriends, and the second woman alleged to have been killed by Bulger.
Debra Davis’s remains were found in 2000 in a grave along the banks of Neponset River in Quincy. Olga Davis died in 2007.
Initially, defense attorneys J.W. Carney Jr. and Hank Brennan said they wanted to call 80 people including Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen and reporter Shelley Murphy, the co-authors of “Whitey Bulger: America’s Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt That Brought Him to Justice.â€
But the list released today does not include Cullen and Murphy nor Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr.
US Attorney Carmen Ortiz’s office expects to complete the prosecution case against the 83-year-old gangster by sometime next week.
Bulger has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is being held without bail.
Shelley Murphy can be reached at shmurphy@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @shelleymurph. Milton J. Valencia can be reached at mvalencia@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @miltonvalencia. Jasper can be reached at jasper.craven@globe.com or on Twitter @Jasper_Craven
