FBI allowed informants to commit 5,600 crimes

Slyhunter · Aug 5, 2013

If you can't trust LEO who can we trust.

The FBI gave its informants permission to break the law at least 5,658 times in a single year, according to newly disclosed documents that show just how often the nation's top law enforcement agency enlists criminals to help it battle crime.The U.S. Justice Department ordered the FBI to begin tracking crimes by its informants more than a decade ago, after the agency admitted that its agents had allowed Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger to operate a brutal crime ring in exchange for information about the Mafia. The FBI submits that tally to top Justice Department officials each year, but has never before made it public.
Agents authorized 15 crimes a day, on average, including everything from buying and selling illegal drugs to bribing government officials and plotting robberies. FBI officials have said in the past that permitting their informants who are often criminals themselves to break the law is an indispensable, if sometimes distasteful, part of investigating criminal organizations.

"The million-dollar question is: How much crime is the government tolerating from its informants?" said Alexandra Natapoff, a professor at Loyola Law School Los Angeles who has studied such issues. "I'm sure that if we really knew that number, we would all be shocked."
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http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/04/fbi-informant-crimes-report/2613305/
I can understand overlooking victimless crimes but according to this they are ignoring a lot more than that.

Slyhunter · Aug 5, 2013

This is big news.

Jonsa · Aug 6, 2013

Turning the other way when informants commit crimes is a common practice - at least according to both hollywood and the DOJ.

that there doesn't seem to by any concern that the crime fighters are tacitly endorsing crime by criminals they are in intimate contact with is astonishing.

could it be that these are seen as merely ethical trade-offs?
Is there no corrupting influence here, for instance when a couple of $80k/yr agents let their "informant" skim a big chunk of cash from some drug deal or other illegal act?

Nah, the FBI is way to upstanding for corruption. I mean look at their investigation of FBI shooting incidents. Every single one of the 200 plus investigations came to the same conclusion - righteous kill.

that kind of infallibility makes any concern foolish and paranoid.

waltky · Aug 9, 2013

Uncle Ferd says dey gonna fry him inna `lectric chair till he sizzles an' his eyes pop out...

Whitey Bulger jury mulls Boston mob trial verdict
Fri, Aug 09, 2013 - LEGAL LIABILITIES: The judge told jurors they had to be unanimous to find Bulger guilty of any act in the 32 criminal counts he faces, including 19 murders

The statute of limitations does not shield James Whitey Bulger from murder and racketeering charges stemming from crimes more than 30 years old, the US judge overseeing the Boston mobsters trial told the jury on Wednesday. US District Court Judge Denise Casper also set the jury straight on a question about the complicated racketeering law that was raised on the second day of deliberations after nearly eight weeks of testimony.

The jury of eight men and four women approached the judge twice. They asked whether any of Bulgers alleged crimes were committed too far in the past for him to be held accountable and whether jurors needed to be unanimous on his alleged acts of racketeering for a finding. Bulger, 83, faces life in prison if convicted on a list of charges, including 19 murders that he is accused of committing or ordering while heading Bostons Winter Hill Gang in the 1970s and 1980s.

JURY DUTY

Casper reminded jurors the statute of limitations cannot erase racketeering charges and also clarified jury procedures around the most complicated of the 32 criminal counts that Bulger faces: racketeering. That count includes 38 individual acts, including the 19 murders. Casper said that while jurors must be unanimous to find Bulger guilty of any individual act, he only needed to be guilty of two of those acts to be guilty of that racketeering count. If you cannot reach unanimous agreement ... you should make no finding to that act and move on to the next act, Casper instructed the jury. The jury was to take up its third day of deliberations yesterday.

Jurors began deliberations on Tuesday after 36 days of mostly gruesome testimony. Former hit men, FBI agents, drug dealers and other witnesses described brazen killings, corruption of law enforcement, massive drugs and weapons heists and harrowing extortion encounters. Bulger escaped arrest for decades, allegedly with the help of corrupt FBI agents who shared his Irish ethnicity and South Boston upbringing. Prosecutors said the agents turned a blind eye to Bulgers crimes in exchange for information about the Italian Mafia, then a top national FBI target.

RATTY DEFENSE
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waltky · Aug 13, 2013

James 'Whitey Bulger Guilty...

High life brought low: Jury finds 'Whitey' Bulger guilty in killings, racketeering
Mon August 12, 2013 > Bulger was arrested in 2011 in Santa Monica, California, after some 16 years on the lam; He ran Boston's Irish mob from the 1970s through the early 1990s; A jury finds Bulger responsible for the murder of 11 people, guilty of racketeering; He could spend the rest of his life behind bars; Sentencing is set for November

Two years ago, James "Whitey" Bulger -- the famed and much-feared head of the Boston mob -- was sitting pretty in Santa Monica, California. Today, he's sitting in prison, where he could potentially spend the rest of the life. The turn of events was capped Monday when a federal jury found the former mob boss guilty on 31 of 32 counts -- including extortion, money laundering, drug dealing and weapons possession. The jury held Bulger responsible for the murder of 11 people. The 83-year-old Bulger faces a maximum sentence of up to life, plus 30 years in prison. "So many peoples' lives were so terribly harmed by the criminal actions of Bulger and his crew. And today's conviction does not alter that harm, and it doesn't lessen it," said U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz, speaking about the victims and their families. "However, we hope that they find some degree of comfort in the fact that today has come, and Bulger is being held accountable for his horrific crimes," she said. Bulger was accused of involvement in killing 19 people, including two women.

The jury found Bulger played a role in 11 of those murders, and that the evidence did not prove he was involved in seven, stretching back to 1973. The jury made no finding in one murder. Pat Donahue, widow of victim Michael Donahue, cried openly when the verdict was announced. Victim Eddie Connors' daughter, Karen, clenched her fists and said, "Yes" when her father's death by Bulger was proved. But the daughter of victim Francis "Buddy" Leonard left court after the jury did not find enough evidence to link Bulger to his death. "Thirty-eight years ago when my father died, we always knew who killed him. We still know who killed him, and we still cant get any justice," said Connie Leonard, now grown. And victim Debra Davis' brother, Steven Davis, left in disbelief after the jury had "no finding" in her death. Debra Davis was dating Bulger partner Steve Flemmi, and one day in 1981 just didn't come home. "It's hard to digest. With all the years since '81, I've been looking for answers, searching for answers, and I come out with an NF. It's not good enough," Steven Davis told CNN. "I put up a big fight for justice, for answers. Some people say closure. I don't believe in closure, but I believe that I deserve more than an NF. I'm disappointed," he said.

16 years on the lam

The eight men and four women of the jury deliberated for five days, over more than 32 hours, before reaching their verdict. The only count Bulger was not found guilty of was on the alleged extortion of Kevin Hayes, a ticket broker, who had said he was warned in 1994 that he had to give "payoffs" to Bulger in order to operate. Bulger showed no emotion as the verdicts were read. They came after seven weeks of testimony about murder, extortion, drug trafficking, loansharking, bookmaking and other gangster crimes covering the time Bulger ran Boston's Irish mob from the early '70s through late 1994, when he fled the city. The case closes an epic criminal tale that included a life on the lam for 16 years that began when a crooked FBI agent told Bulger that he was about to be indicted on federal racketeering charges.

The gangster who ruled south Boston soon became one of the most wanted men in America. Bulger the FBI informant became Bulger the FBI fugitive. It was the stuff of Hollywood moviemaking, and in fact, Bulger's mob-boss brutality inspired Jack Nicholson's character in the film "The Departed," which was directed by Martin Scorsese and won four Oscars in 2006, including best picture. Then, in 2011, the FBI finally tracked him down: Bulger was living on the other side of the country in an apartment just blocks from the beaches of Santa Monica. He had about $822,000 in cash -- largely $100 bills -- hidden inside a wall in his apartment, located in a tourist haven right beside Los Angeles. Bulger also kept 30 guns in his residence. Daring to the end, Bulger was hiding in plain sight, living under an alias with his girlfriend. They called themselves Charlie and Carol Gasko.

Bulger 'pleased' by the verdict
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