Agent told mobsters he ‘ratted them out’

By ANNMARIE TIMMINS Concord Monitor 9/6/06

A Boston judge yesterday gave a pair of Concord lawyers what they’ve been fighting for for six years: confirmation that the government was responsible for the brutal and horrific murder of John McIntyre, a fisherman whose fatal act was ratting on two mobsters who were also among the FBI’s most valuable informants.

McIntyre was murdered by those mobsters, James “Whitey”Bulger and Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, because an FBI agent warned Bulger and Flemmi that McIntyre was working against them, federal judge Reginald Lindsay ruled yesterday. Lindsay ordered the U.S. government to pay the family of McIntyre $3.1 million.

The money is nice, attorneys William Christie and Steve Gordon, said two hours after hearing the news. (They’ll get about 25 percent of the award; the rest goes to McIntyre’s survivors.) But the bigger win, they said, is seeing the government held accountable.

“At a time when the FBI and U.S. government is looking to take more liberties and freedoms in the name of national security, this gives a reason for reflection,” Gordon said. “Is this a government to which we can trust . . . those liberties that are most precious to us?”

Full article: concordmonitor.com