Rep. William R. Keating (D-Mass.) is asking Congress to pay the families of two men allegedly killed by James “Whitey’’ Bulger the $8.5 million they were initially awarded by a Boston federal judge, the Boston Globe reported. The Court of Appeals this year tossed out the award on a technicality, saying the families filed the suits too late.
Bulger allegedly killed the two men after learning from the FBI that one of them was cooperating with agents against Bulger, reports Boston.com.
A judge in 2009 found the government responsible for the 1982 deaths of Michael Donahue and Edward “Brian” Halloran. The judge found the government acted irresponsibly by essentially letting Bulger run wild and commit crimes while he worked as an informant. But the Justice Department fought against the judgment, and successfully argued on appeal that the lawsuit had not been filed on time.
The Quincy Democrat reported that Keating filed two bills late Tuesday seeking compensation for the families of Donahue and Halloran because they failed to get justice in federal court.
“I just thought justice wasn’t being served,’’ Keating told the Globe. “I know if it was my family, I wouldn’t feel comfortable sleeping at night until every possible avenue was pursued.’’ The Democrat from Massachusetts filed two bills late Tuesday seeking compensation for the families.
Donahue, a 32-year-old truck driver, was giving Halloran, a 41-year-old associate of Bulger’s, a lift home from a waterfront bar in Boston on May 11, 1982. Bulger and an unidentified associate allegedly opened fire on the car, killing both men. A longtime sidekick of Bulger’s, and fellow informant, Stephen “The Rifleman’’ Flemmi testified in court that John J. Connolly Jr., a former FBI agent, warned him and Bulger that Halloran was cooperating with the feds, even implicating the gangsters in an earlier slaying.
“Flemmi said the tip prompted Bulger to kill Halloran and that Donahue was just an innocent bystander,” reported the Globe.
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