THE NEXT STEP IN THE INVESTIGATION OF THE USE OF INFORMANTS BY THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE: THE TESTIMONY OF WILLIAM BULGER HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JUNE 19, 2003 Serial No. 108–41 Printed for the use of the Committee on Government Reform ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpo.gov/congress/house http://www.house.gov/reform U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 89–004 PDF WASHINGTON : 2003 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 09:36 Oct 02, 2003 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 D:\DOCS\89004 HGOVREF1 PsN: HGOVREF1 COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM TOM DAVIS, Virginia, Chairman DAN BURTON, Indiana HENRY A. WAXMAN, California CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut TOM LANTOS, California ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida MAJOR R. OWENS, New York JOHN M. MCHUGH, New York EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York JOHN L. MICA, Florida PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York STEVEN C. LATOURETTE, Ohio ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland DOUG OSE, California DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio RON LEWIS, Kentucky DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri CHRIS CANNON, Utah DIANE E. WATSON, California ADAM H. PUTNAM, Florida STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts EDWARD L. SCHROCK, Virginia CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee LINDA T. SANCHEZ, California JOHN SULLIVAN, Oklahoma C.A. ‘‘DUTCH’’ RUPPERSBERGER, Maryland NATHAN DEAL, Georgia ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan Columbia TIM MURPHY, Pennsylvania JIM COOPER, Tennessee MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio CHRIS BELL, Texas JOHN R. CARTER, Texas ——— WILLIAM J. JANKLOW, South Dakota BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee (Independent) PETER SIRH, Staff Director MELISSA WOJCIAK, Deputy Staff Director ROB BORDEN, Parliamentarian TERESA AUSTIN, Chief Clerk PHILIP M. SCHILIRO, Minority Staff Director (II) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 09:36 Oct 02, 2003 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 D:\DOCS\89004 HGOVREF1 PsN: HGOVREF1 C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on June 19, 2003 ............................................................................... 1 Statement of: Bulger, William, president, University of Massachusetts ............................. 33 Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by: Bulger, William, president, University of Massachusetts, prepared state- ment of ........................................................................................................... 36 Burton, Hon. Dan, a Representative in Congress from the State of Indi- ana, prepared statement of .......................................................................... 12 Clay, Hon. Wm. Lacy, a Representative in Congress from the State of Missouri, prepared statement of .................................................................. 25 Davis, Chairman Tom, a Representative in Congress from the State of Virginia: David Davis affidavit ................................................................................ 00 Harold Brown affidavit ............................................................................. 00 Michael Barnicle affidavit ........................................................................ 00 Peter Agnes affidavit ................................................................................. 00 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 4 William Bulger subpoena .......................................................................... 30 William Nally affidavit ............................................................................. 00 Tierney, Hon. John F., a Representative in Congress from the State of Massachusetts: Carl Gustin affidavit ................................................................................. 00 Information concerning James Stover and J. Michael Doyle ................ 00 Waxman, Hon. Henry A., a Representative in Congress from the State of California, prepared statement of ........................................................... 8 (III) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 09:36 Oct 02, 2003 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 D:\DOCS\89004 HGOVREF1 PsN: HGOVREF1 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 09:36 Oct 02, 2003 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 D:\DOCS\89004 HGOVREF1 PsN: HGOVREF1 THE NEXT STEP IN THE INVESTIGATION OF THE USE OF INFORMANTS BY THE DEPART- MENT OF JUSTICE: THE TESTIMONY OF WILLIAM BULGER THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 2003 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:56 a.m., in room 2154, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Tom Davis (chairman of the committee) presiding. Present: Representatives Tom Davis of Virginia, Shays, Burton, LaTourette, Mrs. Davis of Virginia, Platts, Schrock, Duncan, Mur- phy, Mr. Turner of Ohio, Carter, Janklow, Blackburn, Waxman, Maloney, Cummings, Kucinich, Tierney, Clay, Watson, Lynch, Van Hollen, Sanchez, Norton, Bell, Delahunt and Meehan. Staff present: Peter Sirh, staff director; Melissa Wojciak, deputy staff director; Keith Ausbrook, chief counsel; Ellen Brown, legisla- tive director and senior policy counsel; Robert Borden, counsel/par- liamentarian; Anne Marie Turner, counsel; David Marin, director of communications; Scott Kopple, deputy director of communica- tions; Teresa Austin, chief clerk; Joshua E. Gillespie, deputy clerk; Corinne Zaccagnini, chief information officer; Brien Beattie, staff assistant; Phil Barnett, minority chief counsel; Kristin Amerling and Michael Yeager, minority deputy chief counsels; Karen Light- foot, minority senior policy advisor and communications director; Anna Laitin, minority communications and policy assistant; Tony Haywood and Althea Gregory, minority counsels; David McMillen and Denise Wilson, minority professional staff members; Earley Green, minority chief clerk; Cecelia Morton, minority office man- ager; and Christopher Davis, minority staff assistant. Chairman TOM DAVIS. The Committee on Government Reform will come to order. We are here today to receive testimony from William Bulger. During the 107th Congress, the committee conducted an investiga- tion of the FBI’s misuse of informants in New England from 1964 until the present. The committee held a number of hearings and conducted hundreds of interviews under the leadership of then Chairman Dan Burton. Mr. Bulger’s testimony is the next step in the committee’s investigation into the use of informants by the De- partment of Justice. James Whitey Bulger was an informant for the FBI in Boston. Whitey Bulger was repeatedly able to avoid arrest due to informa- (1) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 09:36 Oct 02, 2003 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 D:\DOCS\89004 HGOVREF1 PsN: HGOVREF1 2 tion illegally leaked to him by his FBI handler, John Connolly. When Whitey Bulger was finally indicated in 1995, he received ad- vance warning from Connolly and fled. Federal and State authori- ties continued to look for him. Whitey Bulger is currently wanted on 18 counts of murder, as well as other racketeering offenses, some of which were committed during his tenure as an FBI inform- ant. He is currently listed on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list. As a result of John Connolly’s improper relationship with James Bulger, Connolly was convicted of racketeering and obstruction of Justice and is now serving a 10-year prison sentence. I don’t believe it is a coincidence that current FBI Director, Bob Mueller, recently asked former Attorney General Griffin Bell to conduct a review of the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility. The revelations about John Connolly’s conduct call into serious question the deterrent value of the FBI’s internal review process. Connolly grew up in the same south Boston neighborhood as the Bulger family. As an adult, John Connolly was a friend of James Bulger’s brother, William. William Bulger served as president of the Massachusetts Senate from 1978 to 1996 and is currently the president of the University of Massachusetts. Pursuant to subpoena, William Bulger appeared before this com- mittee on December 6, 2002. At that time, Mr. Bulger exercised his fifth amendment privilege and refused to testify. On April 9, 2003, this committee voted to grant William Bulger immunity to obtain information concerning Whitey’s whereabouts and the FBI’s misuse of informants. The purpose of this hearing is to get to the truth about the im- pact the misconduct of John Connolly had on the proper function- ing of State government in Massachusetts. The record of this com- mittee’s investigation plainly establishes that the FBI’s improper relationship with its informants corrupted and distorted the efforts of State law enforcement. Joseph Salvati went to prison for 30 years for the Deegan murder when the FBI had evidence that Salvati was not the killer. This hearing, however, will focus on whether the relationship be- tween John Connolly and Whitey Bulger benefited Whitey Bulger’s brother William Bulger while he was a high ranking, elected offi- cial in Massachusetts. The issues include; whether as a result of that relationship the FBI improperly protected or advanced Mr. Bulger’s career during his tenure in the Massachusetts