Stephen Flemmi
The Whitey Trial
We’ve heard about the murders in gruesome detail. We’ve read about the shakedowns, the extortion, the drug deals. We’ve retweeted about the racketeering and the outbursts in court. Sometimes the live tweets coming from the federal courtroom of the of the Whitey Bulger trial seemed like dialogue from a script from a Scorsese movie. Sometimes it even seemes a little over the top.
Hold onto your hats:
On Monday and Tuesday, Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, alleged associate of Whitey Bulger, testified against Bulger and even accused him of being a pedophile. Basicallyl, it was the pot calling the kettle black because Whitey’s attorney, Hank Brennan went into detail about the relationship between Flemmi and his stepdaughter Deborah Hussey.
Flemmi had a long-term relationship with Marion Hussey and had been involved her daughter Deborah’s life since she was a toddler. Flemmi admitted to having “consensual” oral sex (his words) with his stepdaughter when she was a teenager and then “helped her out” by giving her money and sending her rehab when she battled drug addiction.
When pressed about his relationship with his stepdaughter, Flemmi lobbed out the statement, “You want to talk about pedophilia — right over there at that table” referring to Bulger. He also accused Bulger of taking a 16-year old girl to Mexico on a trip. (This leaves us with many unanswered questions like who was the 16 year-old girl that went on a Mexican excursion with? And are there any other young girls Whitey had a relationship with.)
After Deborah became a “problem” with her strung out “scenes” around town, Whitey allegedly decided it was time for her “to go.” Flemmi “reluctantly” agreed and was present when Whitey allegedly strangled her to death – although there seems to be discrepancies in Week’s testimony and prior depositions as to who actually strangled Deborah to death, Whitey or Flemmi. But Flemmi did admit to pulling out a “few” of her teeth in order to stop the body from being identified.
The trial resumes tomorrow at 9am. Insider’s tip: for amazing twitter coverage of the trial follow The Boston Globe’s Kevin Cullen @Globecullen
Image by Margaret Small/AP