Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi became the latest Boston gangster to take the stand in Miami in the murder trial of ex-FBI agent John Connolly. He didn’t disappoint.
The Rifleman in 1965
By Shelley Murphy
Boston Globe Staff
MIAMI — A slim and graying Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi took the stand this morning and offered a Florida jury a primer on the history of Boston’s gang wars.
Wearing wire-rimmed glasses, Flemmi, 74, acknowledged that he killed 10 people from 1974 to 1984, 10 murders that have him serving a life sentence. The gangster was laying the groundwork for what is expected to be two days of testimony against his former FBI handler, John J. Connolly.
Staring expressionless, Flemmi described his introduction to murder in 1964, when he helped “clean up and remove the body” of a victim of a gang battle. Prosecutor Fred Wyshak asked whether Flemmi had been involved in the 1965 murder of Charlestown gang leader Edward “Punchy” McLaughlin. For Full Story
