Mob FilesPublic-domain archive of American organized crime

Stephen J. Flemmi

FBI informant from 1965, a federal court found, and with James Bulger a leader of the Winter Hill Gang in the First Circuit's words. Indicted in 1995; in 2003 he pleaded guilty to twelve murders and other crimes, the First Circuit states.

Aliases
the Rifleman
Role
Confidential informant for the FBI from 1965 (district court finding, 1999); with Bulger, one of "the leaders of the Winter Hill Gang (also known as the Irish Mob)" (First Circuit, 2000)
Source
United States v. Salemme, 91 F. Supp. 2d 141 (D. Mass. 1999)
Rights
Biography on this page is limited to what the cited federal records state.

On the record

  • 1965 — United States v. Salemme, 91 F. Supp. 2d 141 (1999): "Beginning in 1965, Flemmi secretly served as a very valuable and valued confidential informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation," recruited by Special Agent H. Paul Rico.
  • 1967 — United States v. Flemmi, 225 F.3d 78 (2000): "By 1967, the FBI had designated both men as top-echelon informants."
  • 1976 — 91 F. Supp. 2d 141: "In 1976, the FBI played a pivotal role in forging a formidable, enduring partnership between Flemmi and Bulger."
  • 1990 — United States v. Connolly, 341 F.3d 16: "Shortly after Connolly retired from the FBI in 1990, however, Bulger and Flemmi were 'closed' as FBI informants."
  • 5–10 January 1995 — 91 F. Supp. 2d 141: he was arrested on a criminal complaint on January 5, 1995 and indicted with Bulger, Salemme and others on January 10.
  • 11 September 2000 — 225 F.3d 78 reversed the district court's suppression order, holding that FBI agents acting on their own could not confer use immunity on him.
  • 2003 — United States v. Bulger, 816 F.3d 137 (2016): "In 2003, Flemmi pled guilty to twelve murders, extortion, narcotics crimes, money laundering, obstruction of justice, perjury, and firearms charges." He testified at Bulger's 2013 trial.

The role line quotes a district court finding and the First Circuit’s description. The First Circuit also calls Bulger and Flemmi “two reputed organized crime figures”; “reputed” is the court’s word. The 1999 findings about FBI conduct were reversed in part on a legal ground, as the 2000 opinion explains. “The Rifleman” is quoted from the 2011 Donahue opinion. The 2007 Connolly opinion spells the first name Steven. No opened record gives his birth or death date.

Records

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. Flemmi, 225 F.3d 78 (1st Cir. 2000)First Circuit opinion of September 11, 2000 reversing the district court's suppression order and holding that FBI agents acting on their own cannot confer use immunity on an informant.itemUnited States v. Salemme, 978 F. Supp. 343 (D. Mass. 1997)Judge Wolf's memorandum of May 22, 1997, unsealed in part in June 1997, granting hearings on motions to suppress three sets of electronic surveillance, including the 1989 Medford recording, and ordering discovery on whether certain men were Government informants.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.itemUnited States v. Connolly, 504 F.3d 206 (1st Cir. 2007)First Circuit opinion of October 16, 2007 affirming the denial of former FBI agent John J. Connolly, Jr.'s motion for a new trial on newly discovered evidence.itemUnited States v. Bulger, 816 F.3d 137 (1st Cir. 2016)First Circuit opinion of March 4, 2016 affirming James J. Bulger's racketeering conviction and life sentences after a three-month trial, and rejecting his claim that a prosecutor had given him immunity.itemMcIntyre v. United States, 367 F.3d 38 (1st Cir. 2004)First Circuit opinion of May 10, 2004 in two Federal Tort Claims Act suits against the United States arising from the FBI's handling of informants Bulger and Flemmi. It turned on when the claims accrued.itemDonahue v. United States, 634 F.3d 615 (1st Cir. 2011)First Circuit opinion of February 10, 2011 reversing Federal Tort Claims Act judgments for the families of two men killed on Bulger's orders, on the ground that the suits were untimely, while calling the FBI's conduct reprehensible.itemFBI Vault, James (Whitey) Bulger, Part 05: Boston memorandum of June 23, 1995 on the January 1995 indictmentPart 05 of the FBI's Bulger file is mostly withheld. Its readable pages include a June 23, 1995 Boston communication summarizing the indictment's allegation that the "Winter Hill Gang" and the "PATRIARCA LCN Family" conspired to control organized crime in Boston.itemEverything 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.