John Connolly

Who is John Connolly?

John J. Connolly, Jr. is a former FBI agent, who was convicted of racketeering and obstruction of justice charges stemming from his relationship with Irish mobsters James J. "Whitey" Bulger, Steve Flemmi, and the Winter Hill Gang. Connolly was released from federal prison June 28, 2011, and was transferred to Florida state prison to serve the remainder of his sentence for his 2008 second degree murder conviction.

State police and other federal officers had been trying to imprison Whitey Bulger for years, but Bulger evaded capture until 2011. As the FBI handler for Bulger and Flemmi, Connolly had been protecting them from prosecution by feeding Bulger information about possible attempts to catch them.

Connolly was indicted on December 22, 1999, on charges of alerting Bulger and Flemmi to investigations, falsifying FBI reports to cover their crimes, and accepting bribes. In 2000, he was charged with additional racketeering-related offenses. He was convicted on the racketeering charges in 2002 and sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.