Free Where the Bodies Were Buried by T. J. English Page A

speculation; it is often the most devastating evidence of all. Judges give fine-tuned instructions to juries on the legal ramifications of state of mind. What is a person thinking? What are they planning? What is on his or her mind as they set about to knowingly commit a criminal act?
    With Martorano, his state of mind was informed by what he knew of how the game was played, and it was this knowledge, stated Carney, that would be the key to judging his credibility as a witness:
    â€œJohn Martorano knew how a gangster could make a deal with the federal government and get extraordinary benefits if he were to provide testimony against others. He knew because he had a good friend who had gone through the process. His good friend was Joseph Barboza. Barboza was the mentor of Martorano. And so what Martorano wanted to do for himself was what Barboza did for himself. And like Barboza, Martorano was just as much a psychopath, a soulless killer without a conscience.”
    Barboza .
    The name echoed throughout the courtroom and down through the ages, rustling the graves of dead mobsters throughout the region.
    To anyone with a historical memory of Boston underworld crime, the name sent chills down the spine. Barboza was a thug and indiscriminate killer who, in the 1960s, made a deal with the FBI. He represented the Original Sin, the first mutant offspring of a law enforcement strategy that would later give birth to Bulger.
    Barboza was the “rosebud” of the Boston underworld. If Carney and the defense team could link the Bulger case to the Barboza era, they would be cutting open the guts of the city’s great whale of corruption. The innards would spew forth a legacy of dirty dealings within the criminal justicesystem in New England that would devastate the region’s image of itself as a cradle of liberty and justice.
    Carney sought to explain to the jury the history of Joe Barboza and his deal with the DOJ back in the 1960s. He explained how Barboza’s criminal partner, Vincent “Jimmy the Bear” Flemmi, brother of Steve Flemmi, had initiated Barboza into the ranks of government informants. Jimmy Flemmi was himself a Top Echelon Informant. Together, Jimmy Flemmi and Barboza had committed a murder and then used their roles as informants to create a false prosecutorial narrative. To protect Jimmy Flemmi, Barboza lied in court. As part of his deal with the government, he admitted his own role in the murder but then framed four men who were innocent of the crime.
    Carney was talking about the case that had led to the wrongful conviction of Joe Salvati. His presentation of these facts to the Bulger jury was clumsy and confusing, and it lacked the appropriate drama. The lawyer’s bloodless delivery belied the shock of what he was saying: Barboza had committed the murder of small-time hood Teddy Deegan along with Jimmy the Bear Flemmi. Then, with the blessing of FBI agents, he took the stand and identified four innocent men. He committed perjury—lied on the stand—so that the government men would have their convictions.
    For Barboza, it had been a sweet deal. He was allowed to lie on the stand to protect his criminal partner and friend. By doing the bidding of a corrupt system, he was set free. And his diabolical lie was kept buried for generations.
    This, claimed Carney, was the lesson learned by John Martorano, an understanding of how the game was played based on historical precedent—the same historical precedent that lay at the heart of the Bulger prosecution.
    The first day of the trial ended in midafternoon. The spectators, attorneys, and reporters spilled out onto the sidewalk in front of the courthouse. The microphones and cameras were in position to receive the various representatives of the case.
    The trial was under a gag order, imposed by Judge Casper, which prohibited the lawyers from speaking with the press about the case. The prosecutors stayed out of the media glare altogether,