Top Echelon FBI Informant
Coincident with the South Boston cocaine indictments and the Boston Herald article, Tim Connolly received reliable information that he was being "setup by Bulger and Flemmi" with the DEA. As a result, Tim Connolly sought legal advice and counsel from private attorney Tom Reilly. Reilly was working in private practice while running his campaign for Middlesex County District Attorney. Later, as Middlesex DA, Reilly would aggressively prosecute both Bulger and Flemmi from 1991-1994. It was Tom Reilly who developed the legal strategy against Bulger and Flemmi that used bookmakers to help make the case under the RICO statutes. Tom Reilly would eventually be elected Massachusetts Attorney General and served from 1999 to 2007.
After hearing Connolly's story, Reilly put him together with the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, A. John Pappalardo. After some legal wrangling and a grant of immunity, Connolly agreed to become a Top Echelon informant on Bulger and Flemmi. His Top Secret Operation was dubbed "Close Shave" or "Clean Shave" by his FBI handlers. They figured that Bulger would slit Connolly's throat if he ever found out he was wearing a wire and recording conversations. Connolly reportedly wore a wire for four years, gathering evidence, while the government's case was slowed by ex-FBI Agent John Connolly and corruption within the Boston FBI office.
Read more about this topic: Timothy A. Connolly 3rd
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