Updated news on the Gambino, Genovese, Bonanno, Lucchese and Colombo Organized Crime Families of New York City.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Mob victims get money, but pain will never leave


English: Mug shot of James J. Bulger.
“Yeah, we got the money, but look at what we paid,” Steve Davis said yesterday afternoon, shortly after learning the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the $1.35 million award to his family by U.S. District Judge William Young back in 2009.
“In some ways, I feel like this is nothing more than a receipt on a debt that the government will never really be able to repay to us,” Davis added.
Debra Davis was among the 19 people whose deaths have been attributed to James “Whitey” Bulger and Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, a couple of stone-cold killers who enjoyed the protection of the FBI as confidential informants for more than two decades.
Flemmi, now serving a life sentence for his part in these mass murders, has already confessed to having Bulger strangle his former girlfriend more than 30 years ago, when she tried to end their relationship. Davis’ remains were pulled out of a Quincy marsh more than 10 years ago.
“I’ll tell you something right now,” Davis said, his voice breaking, “yeah, sure, I wanted this victory. I wanted it for my mother who died waiting for it. I wanted it for all these years I had to look at Flemmi and have him lie to my face about what happened to Debbie.
“I spent more than half of my life trying to piece together what happened to her, even though I knew Stevie was responsible for all of it. But who could we turn to? The government wasn’t going to help us. Not then. So, yeah, we got the money. But it isn’t easing my pain. I still wait on a trial for that scum, Bulger, that may never happen.
“And I’ll tell you one more thing: Money isn’t the solution for the kind of memories that haunt me or all the bad things I live with every day in my head.”
Yesterday’s appeals court ruling also validated the $1.15 million awarded to the widow and children of Louis Litif, a South Boston bookmaker in the Bulger organization, whose bullet-riddled body was found in the South End, back in 1981.
Litif, who used to play handball with Bulger’s convicted FBI handler, John Connolly, had talked about going to police against the mobster kingpin.
Yesterday, Ed Berkin, who represented the Litifs and climbed a steep hill to win this settlement, gave all credit to a pair of veteran law-enforcement officials who worked the case for years.
“Everyone who’s been hurt in the case over the years owes a huge debt of gratitude to Lt. Steve Johnson of the state police and Agent Dan Doherty of the DEA. They were both relentless in their work and sensitive to everything these families were going through.
The court also awarded $350,000 to the family of Deborah Hussey, the stepdaughter Flemmi killed, allegedly with Bulger’s assistance, because he viewed her drug-laden threats as a possible menace to his malignant underworld enterprise.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view/20220121mob_victims_get_money_but_pain_will_never_leave/


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