How It All Goes Down
In for a Penny, in for a Pound
- It's 1996, and Cadillac Frank and a Mafioso named Bobby DeLuca are stuck side-by-side in "the Plymouth County Correctional Facility" (3.19.1)
- Both men have been given a recording by their mutual attorney, Anthony M. Cardinale, long-time mob lawyer.
- The recordings are from the government's secret wiretap, and Cardinale wants them to see if anything sounds fishy enough to get the tapes thrown out in court.
- After poring over the tapes, the two men realize that they can hear the whispers of several FBI agents, which means that the FBI lied to the judge about the form of electronic surveillance that they were using.
- Don't worry about the details, just know that this might mean the tapes are not admissible in court. That's score one for Cardinale.
- Cardinale has also figured out that the police had an informant in the room when they were recording, which would further poke holes in the government's argument.
- So he files a motion to force "the disclosure of the identity of various individuals" who served as informants for the case (3.19.23).
- Could this mean what we think it means?
- Cardinale openly references Bulger, but doesn't mention Flemmi, as Flemmi is also a defendant in the case and Cardinale doesn't want to tip his hands too early.
- Despite personally hating Bulger, Wyshak is left in the enviable position of fighting back against Cardinale's request.
- Eventually, Judge Wolf gives in, and agrees to reveal the potentially explosive information in court.
- And so, in 1997, Paul Coffey from the US Justice Department finally reveals what Boston has long suspected: Bulger has been an informant for the FBI for decades.
- Well, we sure hope you're a fan of felines, because this cat is officially out of the bag.