US judge faults FBI in 1982 slayings

US judge faults FBI in 1982 slayings
Tells prosecutors to settle mob cases;
Ex-agent's role taints argument

By Jonathan Saltzman
Globe Staff / November 20, 2007

A federal judge in Boston ruled yesterday that the FBI
was responsible for the 1982 execution-style deaths of
two men who were allegedly slain by members of the
Winter Hill gang and urged prosecutors to settle for
damages with the families.

In unusual comments from the bench, US District Judge
Reginald C. Lindsay pointed out that the government
itself had argued in several high-profile criminal
prosecutions that Edward Brian Halloran and Michael
Donahue were slain because a rogue FBI agent tipped
off fugitive mobster James "Whitey" Bulger that
Halloran was an informant.

As a result, Lindsay said, a trial was not necessary
in the families' wrongful death civil suits to determine
whether the government was liable. The judge said he
will hold a trial next year to decide what damages
the government owes the families of Halloran and
Donahue

In a stern rebuke to the government, Lindsay also
urged the prosecutor, Andrew Kaplan, to relay a
message to US Department of Justice officials: Avoid
a trial by settling the Halloran and Donahue lawsuits
and at least four others filed by families of other
people allegedly killed because of the FBI's
mishandling of Bulger and other criminal informants.

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