[House Report 108-414]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Union Calendar No. 237
108th Congress Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session 108-414
======================================================================
EVERYTHING SECRET DEGENERATES: THE FBI's USE OF MURDERERS AS INFORMANTS
_______
February 3, 2004.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Tom Davis of Virginia, from the Committee on Government Reform
submitted the following
THIRD REPORT
On November 20, 2003, the Committee on Government Reform
approved and adopted a report entitled, ``Everything Secret
Degenerates: The FBI's Use of Murderers as Informants.'' The
chairman was directed to transmit a copy to the Speaker of the
House.
[Selected exhibits 351 through 981 follow:]
MINORITY VIEWS OF HON. HENRY A. WAXMAN, HON. TOM LANTOS, HON. MAJOR R.
OWENS, HON. BERNARD SANDERS, HON. ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, HON. DENNIS J.
KUCINICH, HON. DIANE E. WATSON, HON. STEPHEN F. LYNCH, AND HON. ELEANOR
HOLMES NORTON
With the reservations set forth below, the minority concurs
with the report's findings of serious misconduct by agents of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The report concludes,
among other things, that FBI agents tolerated or encouraged
false testimony in a Massachusetts death penalty prosecution,
protected informants and cooperating witnesses known to have
committed murders and other violent crimes, and hindered state
law enforcement investigations of organized crime. The report
also justifiably criticizes the Bush Administration's Justice
Department for actions such as the unwarranted assertion of
executive privilege that made it difficult for the Committee to
conduct its investigation.
A. THE COMMITTEE'S REPORT CONTRIBUTES TO A GROWING RECORD OF FBI
MISCONDUCT IN NEW ENGLAND
This report adds to a vast public record of FBI misconduct
in New England. Evidence of this wrongdoing first surfaced in
1995 as part of a federal racketeering prosecution against
Francis P. Salemme and others. One of the defendants in that
criminal case, Stephen J. Flemmi, filed pretrial motions
disclosing that he and alleged organized crime leader James
Bulger had been long-time FBI informants and alleging that the
FBI had promised them protection from prosecution in exchange
for their continued assistance.
Mr. Flemmi's pretrial motions led to a year of highly
publicized evidentiary hearings in 1998 before United States
District Judge Mark L. Wolf. Judge Wolf later issued a 661-page
opinion concluding that FBI agents had engaged in serious
criminal misconduct.\1\ He found that Boston FBI agents
protected organized crime figures who committed murders and
other violent crimes; leaked information that resulted in the
murders of witnesses cooperating with law enforcement agencies;
intimidated citizens from pursuing criminal complaints; warned
suspected criminals of investigations and electronic
surveillance, impeding the efforts of other law enforcement
agencies; warned suspected criminals of impending indictments,
enabling them to flee; placed false information in the file of
an informant to divert attention from possible crimes;
solicited and accepted illegal gifts from informants; and lied
under oath.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ United States v. Salemme, 91 F.Supp.2d 141 (D. Mass. 1999).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In January 1999, Attorney General Janet Reno established
the Justice Task Force (JTF) to investigate the interaction of
organized crime informants with current and former FBI
employees from 1960 through 1991. In December 1999, JTF
obtained racketeering indictments against James Bulger, Mr.
Flemmi, and former FBI Special Agent John Connolly. In May
2002, Special Agent Connolly was convicted of racketeering and
obstruction of justice charges and later sentenced to ten years
imprisonment. In October 2003, Mr. Flemmi pleaded guilty to
racketeering charges involving ten murders. As part of a plea
agreement, he implicated another FBI agent, H. Paul Rico, in
the murder of Oklahoma businessman Roger Wheeler. Mr. Rico is
currently facing state murder and murder conspiracy charges in
Oklahoma.
B. RESERVATIONS CONCERNING UNILATERAL MAJORITY INTERVIEWS
The Committee's investigation was largely nonpartisan, and
this report reflects the involvement of minority and majority
members of the Committee. Rep. John F. Tierney, Rep. Stephen F.
Lynch, and minority members who are not on this Committee
played a leading role throughout the process. Minority members
gave necessary votes for grants of immunity and actively
participated in every hearing and field hearing.
Despite the consistent support of the investigation by
minority members, the staff of the previous chairman conducted
dozens of interviews without notice to the minority or an
opportunity to participate. This practice was unnecessary and
unfortunately prevents the minority from supporting significant
portions of the final report.
In particular, the following sections rely extensively on
unilateral majority interviews, which the minority cannot
verify as accurate: (1) section III(A)(4)(iv) entitled
``Anthony Stathopoulos and the Deegan Murder Prosecution,'' \2\
(2) section III(A)(7)(ii) entitled ``Peter Limone,'' \3\ (3)
section III(B)(2) entitled ``Nevada,'' \4\ (4) section
III(B)(4) entitled ``Florida,'' \5\ (5) section III(B)(5)
entitled ``Massachusetts,'' \6\ and (6) section III(B)(7)
entitled ``Rhode Island.'' \7\ Section III(A)(8) entitled
``Efforts to Protect Stephen Flemmi After the Deegan Murder
Trial'' relies primarily on public records, but it also cites
several interviews that the minority cannot verify as
accurate.\8\ The remaining sections of the report are supported
by hearing testimony, Committee records, or public documents,
though many also include citations to unilateral majority
interviews.\9\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ The minority did not participate in the February 21, 2003,
interview with Anthony Stathopoulos, on which this section is based.
\3\ The minority did not participate in the following interviews on
which this section is based: Interview with Richard Luccio, Member,
Massachusetts Parole Board (Sept. 23, 2002); Interview with James W.
Greenleaf, Special Agent in Charge, Boston FBI Field Office (Sept. 25,
2002); Interview with Kevin Burke, Member, Massachusetts Parole Board
(May 30, 2001); Interview with Brian Callery, former Chairman,
Massachusetts Parole Board (June 26, 2001); Interview with Michael
Albano, former Member, Massachusetts Parole Board (Sept. 23, 2002);
Interview with Jack Curran, former Chairman, Massachusetts Parole Board
(June 28, 2001).
\4\ The minority did not participate in the following interviews on
which this section is based: Interview with Robert Daddeico (Oct. 17-
18, 2001); Interview with Charles Lee, former Detective, Las Vegas
Metropolitan Police Dept. (Apr. 4, 2002); Interview with David Hatch,
Detective, Las Vegas Metro Police Dept., Cold Case Review, Homicide
Section (Apr. 4, 2002).
\5\ The minority did not participate in the following interviews on
which this section is based: Telephone Interview with Shelton Merritt,
former Detective, Metro Dade Police Dept. (Dec. 2, 2002); Telephone
Interview with Lewis Wilson, former Special Agent, Florida Department
of Law Enforcement (Dec. 2, 2002).
\6\ The minority did not participate in the interview with Bob
Long, former Sergeant, Massachusetts State Police (Apr. 17, 2001).
\7\ The minority did not participate in the following interviews:
Interview with Richard Israel, former Assistant Attorney General for
Rhode Island (Sept. 26, 2001); Interview with David Leach, former
Assistant Attorney General for Rhode Island (Sept. 25, 2001).
\8\ The minority did not participate in the following interviews:
Interview with Robert Daddeico (Oct. 17-18, 2001); Interview with
Charles Lee, former Detective, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Dept.
(Apr. 4, 2002); Interview with Anthony Ciulla (Dec. 5, 2002); Interview
with Bob Long, Sergeant, Massachusetts State Police (Apr. 17, 2001);
Interview with Shelton Merritt, former Detective, Metro Dade Police
Dept. (Dec. 2, 2001).
\9\ The minority did not participate in the following interviews:
Interview of Joseph Williams, former Supervisor of the Warrant &
Investigation Unit, Massachusetts Parole Board June 29, 2001);
Interview with Joseph Salvati (Mar. 27, 2001); Interview with Chester
Paris, attorney for Joseph Salvati during the Deegan trial (Aug. 6,
2002); Interview with Edward Harrington, former Attorney in Charge,
Organized Crime & Racketeering Section, Boston U.S. Dep't of Justice
Field Office (Dec. 20, 2001); Interview with Dan Rea, investigative
reporter (May 1, 2001); Interview with Joseph Williams, former
Supervisor of the Warrant & Investigation Unit, Massachusetts Parole
Board (June 29, 2001); Interview of Victor Garo, Attorney for Joseph
Salvati (Mar. 26, 2001); Interview with James A. Ring, Supervisory
Special Agent, Boston FBI Field Office (Sept. 25, 2002); Interview with
Chuck Hiner, former Special Agent in Charge, San Francisco FBI Field
Office (Sept. 25, 2001); Interview with Doug Ahlstrom, former Special
Agent, Santa Rosa FBI field Office (Aug. 28, 2001); Interview with Bill
Baseman, former Special Agent, Santa Rosa FBI Field Office (Sept. 25,
2001); Interview with James Southwood, former reporter, Boston Herald
Traveler (Sept. 28, 2001); Interview with Tom Brown, former Detective
Sergeant, Sonoma County Sheriff's Office (Aug. 30, 2001); Interview
with Ron Fahey, former Chief Deputy District Attorney, Sonoma County
(July 9, 2001); Interview of Marteen Miller, former Public Defender,
Sonoma County (July 9, 2001); Interview of Bony Saludes, former
reporter, Press Democrat (July 9, 2001); Interview of Ed Cameron,
former Investigator, Sonoma County District Attorney's Office (July 10,
2001); Interview of Gary Bricker, former U.S. Marshal (July 9, 2001);
Interview of Judge Joseph P. Murphy, Jr. (Aug. 29, 2001); and Interview
of John Partington, former U.S. Marshal (Sept. 24, 2001).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
C. NEED FOR ADDITIONAL INVESTIGATION
During the course of the Committee's investigation, federal
and state prosecutors requested that the Committee refrain from
compelling the testimony of certain witnesses that would
complicate pending criminal prosecutions. Out of deference to
these prosecutors, and because important witnesses such as
James Bulger remain fugitives, the Committee's fact finding
focused mainly on the Deegan murder trial and other early
events of the 1960s and 1970s.
As the report acknowledges, many questions remain about the
FBI's handling of confidential informants and cooperating
witnesses after this time period, and the inquiry remains
substantially incomplete. At the earliest opportunity, the
Justice Department should make a public accounting of its
investigation into the allegedly corrupt relationship between
Mr. Connolly and James Bulger. Finally, the committees of
jurisdiction should continue to review the FBI's human source
program and ensure that appropriate systems are in place to
prevent similar abuses in the future.
Hon. Henry A. Waxman.
Hon. Tom Lantos.
Hon. Major R. Owens.
Hon. Bernard Sanders.
Hon. Elijah E. Cummings.
Hon. Dennis J. Kucinich.
Hon. Diane E. Watson.
Hon. Stephen F. Lynch.
Hon. Eleanor Holmes Norton.
ADDITIONAL MINORITY VIEWS BY HON. JOHN F. TIERNEY, HON. STEPHEN F.
LYNCH, HON. ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, AND HON. BERNARD SANDERS
This Committee's work is not done concerning any
determination of facts relevant to the Federal Bureau of
Investigation's (FBI's) conduct toward informants' testimony.
The Justice Department has withheld potentially significant
information, and several potentially significant witnesses have
not been fully interrogated due to the assertion of on-going
investigations or prosecutions, or because they, at least at
this time, are unwilling to testify.
The Committee should, and we believe it has the obligation
to, continue its work by pursuing as yet unavailable records
and other information from the Department and by interviewing
relevant witnesses once the Department's investigation and/or
prosecutions are complete or if the circumstances occur that
encourage heretofore unwilling witnesses to testify. We believe
further important and helpful information could certainly be
available, and it should be pursued.
More thorough inquiry should have been made on behalf of
the Committee about the relationship between the FBI,
informants, and members of the informants' families and whether
those relationships impacted FBI investigations outside the
scope of Patriarca, Barboza, Flemmi, or ``Whitey'' Bulger's
activities. The Committee should consider whether further and
more in-depth investigation would tend to inform the goals of
its subject hearings or would instead serve only to gather
information, however indicative of improper activity, outside
the scope of purpose for this particular inquiry.
The Committee needs to conduct further efforts aimed at
examining what, if any, Department and Bureau corrective
actions have been undertaken since this scandal first came to
light and the adequacy of same, as well as what actions must be
taken legislatively, through regulation, by oversight activity,
or some combination in order to prevent a continuation or
recurrence of similar events in the future.
Finally, this Committee would be well served, and would
serve Congress well, if it conducted follow-up hearings on the
disgraceful conduct of the Justice Department in its lack of
forthrightness and cooperation. If Congress is to assert its
role as a co-equal branch of the government, and fulfill its
responsibilities of oversight, it must be able to obtain
honest, responsive, and timely information from Executive
departments and agencies, barring some privilege justifying any
failure to appropriately respond to Congress' requests.
The Committee's work should not be considered complete
until the foregoing is accomplished.
Hon. John F. Tierney
Hon. Stephen F. Lynch.
Hon. Elijah E. Cummings.
Hon. Bernard Sanders.
-