Mob FilesPublic-domain archive of American organized crime

Record

Hearing

2004-02-03

GovInfo (U.S. Government Publishing Office), HTML text of the report

Everything Secret Degenerates: The FBI's Use of Murderers as Informants, H. Rept. 108-414, vol. 1 (2004)

Report of the House Committee on Government Reform on the FBI's use of Joseph Barboza, the Flemmi brothers and James Bulger as informants in Boston, with a long chronology. It quotes a 1967 Justice Department memorandum on the microphone at Raymond Patriarca's Providence office.

Date
2004-02-03
Kind
hearing
Source
GovInfo (U.S. Government Publishing Office), HTML text of the report
Retrieved
2026-10-12
Docket
H. Rept. 108-414
Rights
A report of the United States House of Representatives. A federal work, public domain in the United States under 17 U.S.C. § 105.

The third report of the House Committee on Government Reform in the 108th Congress, titled “Everything Secret Degenerates: The FBI’s Use of Murderers as Informants.” The committee approved it on November 20, 2003, and it was ordered printed on February 3, 2004. Volume 1 examines the 1965 Deegan murder prosecution and the FBI’s handling of Joseph Barboza and of the informants Vincent “Jimmy” Flemmi and Stephen Flemmi, and, for the 1970s to the 1990s, the relationship of James Bulger and Stephen Flemmi with Agent John Connolly.

The report quotes a 1967 Justice Department memorandum by Walter T. Barnes and Edward F. Harrington: “Raymond Patriarca was the subject of an F.B.I. electronic surveillance by means of an electronic eavesdropping device installed by trespass at his place of business, 168 Atwells Avenue, Providence, Rhode Island, during the period March 6, 1962 to July 12, 1965.” Its chronology places the installation “at Raymond L.S. Patriarca’s office at the Coin-O-Matic Distributing Company.” The district court in United States v. Taglianetti printed the same address without naming Patriarca.

The chronology also has entries for Director Hoover’s authorization of microphone surveillance of Gennaro Angiulo in November 1962, which began at Jay’s Lounge, 255 Tremont Street, Boston on January 9, 1963; the January 1981 bug at 98 Prince Street; and the October 29, 1989 ceremony in Medford. Citing the 1999 findings in United States v. Salemme, the report states: “In 1980, the FBI contributed to frustrating a Massachusetts State Police investigation of criminal activity of . . . [Stephen] Flemmi and many others occurring at the Lancaster Street Garage[.]” It gives no street number for the garage. A committee report states the committee’s findings and quotes documents. The FBI memoranda it quotes were not seen for this archive, and chronology entries that cite press sources are not relied on here. Volume 2, with minority views and exhibits, was not read.

itemUnited States v. Taglianetti, 274 F. Supp. 220 (D.R.I. 1967)District court opinion of October 4, 1967 on the FBI's 1962 to 1965 microphone, installed by trespass, at 168 Atwells Avenue, Providence, and whether it tainted a tax-evasion conviction.itemLimone v. United States, 497 F. Supp. 2d 143 (D. Mass. 2007)Judge Gertner's findings of July 26, 2007, after a bench trial, that the 1968 convictions for the 1965 Deegan murder rested on Joseph Barboza's perjured testimony and that the FBI was liable under the Federal Tort Claims Act.itemUnited States v. Salemme, 91 F. Supp. 2d 141 (D. Mass. 1999)Judge Wolf's memorandum of September 15, 1999 setting out, after long hearings, the FBI's relationship with informants Stephen Flemmi and James Bulger, the 1981 bugging of 98 Prince Street and the 1989 Medford recording. Reversed in part in 2000.itemUnited States v. Connolly, 341 F.3d 16 (1st Cir. 2003)First Circuit opinion of August 14, 2003 affirming former FBI agent John J. Connolly, Jr.'s convictions for racketeering, obstruction and a false statement, and his 121-month sentence.