Feds dig for mob victims in Hopkinton
by Maggie Mulvihill, Jonathan Wells and Franci Richardson
Wednesday, November 14, 2001
Armed with information from former New England Mafia boss Francis P. ``Cadillac Frank'' Salemme, authorities began digging yesterday in Hopkinton for the bodies of two brothers allegedly murdered by Salemme and gangster Stephen ``the Rifleman'' Flemmi, 34 years ago.
Salemme, 67, who has been cooperating in the ongoing probe of Boston crime lord James J. ``Whitey'' Bulger, Flemmi and their allies in local law enforcement, told authorities precisely where the bodies of Edward J. ``Wimpy'' Bennett and his brother, Walter Bennett, were buried, sources said.
Salemme, who is imprisoned in Kentucky, was flown to Boston last week and led investigators to the rifle range at the Hopkinton Sportsman's Association and indicated where the Bennetts' remains could be found, sources said.
``He pointed the spot right out,'' said one law enforcement source. At the end of the day yesterday, authorities had not recovered any human remains, but they are expected to resume digging early this morning.
Massachusetts State Police Maj. Thomas Foley, who is heading the criminal investigation into the Bulger gang, refused to say yesterday who investigators were looking for in the ground at the Hopkinton hunting club.
``This is a long period of time we're dealing with. It's based on long-term memory,'' Foley said, confirming only that the excavation was expected to yield at least one organized crime murder victim. ``We wouldn't start a dig like this unless we were confident we'd be successful.''
Before they were murdered in 1967, Edward and Walter Bennett, along with brother William Bennett, controlled a large gaming and loan-sharking enterprise in Dorchester and Roxbury.
Salemme and Flemmi carried out the Bennett murders to curry favor with New England Mafia bosses who felt the Bennett brothers were operating on their turf, officials have said.
According to court documents, Edward Bennett was killed in January 1967 and Walter was slain the following April. Neither body was ever found.
William Bennett, who had pledged to avenge his brothers' murders, was found dead in a snowbank in Dorchester eight months later.
If the Bennett brothers' remains are found, it will bring to eight the number of alleged Bulger and Flemmi murder victims dug out of Massachusetts soil.
Since January 2000 authorities have unearthed six bodies from makeshift graves in Dorchester and Quincy. Investigators were directed to those burial grounds by Bulger's longtime lieutenant, Kevin Weeks, who is in prison and cooperating.
Flemmi, 67, is currently charged with 10 murders, but the Bennett brothers are not among them. In May, as part of a plea bargain, federal prosecutors withdrew those murder charges and Flemmi pleaded guilty to multiple racketeering charges. In August, he was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison but has yet to go on trial for the other murders.
It was unclear yesterday what benefit Salemme might derive by directing authorities to the Hopkinton grave site, considering the federal government dismissed charges that he participated in the Bennett murders when he pleaded guilty in 1999 to racketeering and other crimes.
Sources said Salemme's chief motivation was revenge against Flemmi, his longtime criminal partner, who secretly served for decades as an informant for the Boston FBI, providing incriminating evidence against local Mafia figures.
One law enforcement source said yesterday Salemme ``wants more time off'' the three years that remain on his federal sentence.
Salemme's decision to lead authorities to a Mob graveyard could be just a warm-up for much more damaging testimony he is expected to give. In March, the Herald reported that Salemme has agreed to testify against Flemmi, Bulger and the two former FBI agents who handled them as informants - John J. Connolly Jr. and H. Paul Rico.
According to a sealed federal court filing examined by the Herald, Salemme has already provided information to the grand jury on Connolly, Flemmi and Bulger. In addition, Salemme has agreed to provide ``significant additional assistance'' in the federal government's ongoing probe of Rico's dealings with Flemmi as an informant and the agent's possible involvement in a 1981 murder.
Connolly is awaiting trial on an array of criminal charges involving his extraordinarily close relationship with Bulger and Flemmi.
Bulger, who is charged with killing 19 people, disappeared in 1995 shortly before he was indicted. He has been a fugitive since and is now ranked second on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List - behind Osama bin Laden - with a $1 million reward offered for information leading to his capture.
In December, 1999, Salemme told a federal grand jury that Connolly, the former FBI agent, tipped Flemmi to the impending 1995 indictment against Salemme, Flemmi and Bulger. Flemmi was arrested in downtown Boston as he prepared to flee, and Salemme and Bulger went on the lam.
