Durham’s foes in the courtroom weren’t just the mafia. The result was a pair of gangsters terrorizing Boston with an effective get-out-of-jail free card. He’s a by-the-book kind of guy. Both were convicted and sentenced to five years in prison. And importantly, NRPLUS members help keep NR going. Today’s cancel culture harkens back to the excesses of the McCarthy era. Sullivan calls him “an avid Boston Red Sox fan” and a devout Catholic. As the attorney general recalls it, there was no issue with cooperation from the CIA; then-director Michael Hayden “was well aware of the need to cooperate and that Durham would act with scrupulous fairness. Blunt joins four fellow GOP senators in opting not to run in 2022. A month ago, rumors were that John Durham was closing up shop on his inquiry into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation. Twitter Feed. Durham was co-prosecutor, and the brothers attempted every trick in the book to get a mistrial declared. Luckily, it seems like his whole life has prepared him for this moment. . He also warned Bulger about a federal indictment in 1994, prompting Bulger to go on the run. They were all convicted, and the case led to subsequent convictions of Palazzolo, a Bonanno capo. “My career has been as fulfilling as I could […] (The Senate confirmed him unanimously, with home-state senator Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) calling him “a fierce, fair prosecutor” who “dedicated his life to public service and the pursuit of justice.”) Durham is nicknamed, inevitably, “the Bull,” and his reputation makes clear he doesn’t take any of it from anyone. And if he does not bring charges, it is extremely unlikely that any other prosecutor could have succeeded; regardless of what the official did, the evidence would not be there to convict or sustain a conviction. At the time of the trial, Francis weighed more than 470 pounds. Durham and his team of agents and prosecutors have worked tirelessly to conduct extraordinarily thorough and complete preliminary reviews and investigations. John Durham has resigned as U.S. attorney for Connecticut. Whether Durham or AG Bill Barr does anything with the evidence is an unknown; however, according to Ratliffe there is enough detail in the evidence provided to show […] I am grateful to his team and to him for their commitment to ensuring that the preliminary review and the subsequent investigations fully examined a broad universe of allegations from multiple sources. Every gang member charged in the murder was sentenced to life in prison. She concluded that the firings were inappropriately political but not criminal, and that there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone with lying to Congress or investigators. “Steve Flemmi claimed that he had been told by the FBI supervisor, John Morris, that ‘you can commit any crime you want as long as you don’t clip anyone,’ meaning as long as you don’t kill anyone,” Durham said. The following year, Durham nailed several officials of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters for embezzling union health-plan funds. “For anyone who thinks that AG Barr and John Durham are on a fishing expedition around the world following ‘conspiracy theories,’ I have a bridge to sell you in the Sahara. Though the question remains unanswered: What really happened to him? Welcome. But the appointment of Durham received no backlash, and in fact received praise far and wide. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. By the end of the year, Rowland admitted that he had paid nothing for the work but pledged to pay the full price. In May, U.S. attorney general William Barr selected Durham, a longtime prosecutor with a résumé so sterling it nearly glows, to investigate the origins of the special counsel’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, and whether it was properly predicated. He was put on the FBI’s Most Wanted List, listed with the second-highest amount of reward money next to Osama bin Laden, and he remained at large for 16 years. Durham said that he will resign effective Sunday at midnight. The defendant complained of back pains rendering him unable to be present for the continuation of his trial.”, Unbeknownst to the brothers, a federal wiretap had recorded other mob-connected figures John Gregory “Buster” Ardito, a capo in the Genovese crime family, and Vincent Pollina. Durham is nicknamed, inevitably, “the Bull,”, Even on Death Row, Religious Liberty Must Be Protected, The International Criminal Court’s Latest Anti-Israel Salvo, Hillary Clinton Claims If Trump Is Acquitted It's 'Because The Jury Includes His Co-Conspirators', Biden Administration Backs Bill That Would Force Cops to Stop Women in the Street for No Reason, Democrats Squander Their Impeachment-Trial Moment, Kamala Harris Disputes Dr. Fauci, Insists Biden Administration Is 'Starting from Scratch' on Coronavirus, Senator Roy Blunt Announces He Will Not Run for Reelection, Conservative Group to Spend $10M on Election Security Reform Efforts in Swing States, Manchin Open to Filibuster Reform, Says Process 'Should Be Painful', New York State Senate Majority Leader Calls for Cuomo's Resignation, What China Really Wants: A New World Order, Activists Want to Force Caregivers to Starve Dementia Patients to Death. He is not afraid to reach conclusions that will disappoint or frustrate Attorney General Barr or President Trump. . Andy Byers (PhD, Durham University) is the Leech Fellow, St John’s College, Durham University. He was appointed as interim U.S. Attorney in … As if all of this weren’t enough, Durham had a hand in coming close to cracking one of the biggest criminal mysteries in modern American history, the 1990 robbery of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The first was a skull and crossbones with the words, “White Power,” and a note saying, “Kill all the n*****s for Santa Claus.” The other “appeared to be an oval-shaped insignia. “She, too, went about her work quietly, and has a reputation similar to Durham’s for skill and an intense dedication to doing the job,” Mukasey said. Durham supervised the negotiations of the resolution of the governor’s case, which led to Rowland’s guilty plea and subsequent term of imprisonment of one year and one day. “He thinks about the work, period — not about how it will be received in this or that quarter, or what caricatures people with a motive or a bias may draw of his work or of him. Connolly had applied to the FBI and been turned down, but on August 1, 1968, John McCormack, then the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and part of the Boston political machine, wrote a letter to his friend the FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, touting Connolly’s attributes. President Trump has authorized U.S. Attorney John Durham to present classified information to a grand jury as part of his investigation into the … To say Durham is tight-lipped is an understatement; he lets his courtroom arguments speak for him and rarely talks to reporters at all. It is for that reason that I think he will be unaffected by the pressure of how his work will be received and how he will be portrayed — indeed, how some in the media have already started to portray him.” Mukasey said Durham reminded him of the title of Franklin Roosevelt adviser Louis Brownlow’s autobiography, A Passion for Anonymity. If you enjoyed this article, and were stimulated by its contents, we have a proposition for you: Join NRPLUS. ‘Not a Man Who Is Motivated or Influenced by a Political Agenda’ Once again, his work in the courtroom would speak for itself. I ended up talking to him at length and then taking care of the problem.”, Once he was investigating the destruction of the tapes, Durham didn’t discuss his work with Mukasey. He and his team are extremely unlikely to leak. Those rumors appear to have been false Since then, we’ve learned that Durham was appointed as a special counsel to continue his work even into a possible Joe Biden administration. The Justice Department also created a page on the agency’s website dedicated to Durham’s investigation, much as it did during the special counsel probe led by former FBI Director Robert Mueller into the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia. We are dedicated to serving individuals and families, youth and adults with programs in areas such as counselling, employment, literacy, housing, parenting, addictions, and … When he spoke, people listened. The number-one priority of the FBI at the time was taking down the LCN in the United States. He then presented two drawings Palmer had made in prison. World Book Day Thursday 4th March ... Powered by Durham County Council. John Durham’s career is full of big, high-stakes, politically charged cases, but this one is the biggest, highest-stakes, and most politically charged of all. — Morgan Chalfant (@mchalfant16) February 26, 2021 Another letter followed in October. According to court records, “while driving a 1975 Cadillac convertible, one of his older vehicles, Francis Curcio was struck broadside by a hit and run truck. The Hill 1625 K Street, NW Suite 900 Washington DC 20006 | 202-628-8500 tel | 202-628-8503 fax. Marie & District, John Howard Society of Thunder Bay & District, John Howard Society of Waterloo-Wellington, John Howard Society of Windsor-Essex County, https://www.durhamimmigration.ca/en/work-and-study/income-tax-clinics.aspx. Facebook; Twitter; congress. The governor’s deputy chief of staff, Lawrence Alibozek, had developed a notorious reputation for bribery. He won a conviction of William Dodge, leader of the Ku Klux Klan in southern New England, on charges of illegal possession of firearms, silencers, and explosives. In Durham’s questionnaire for the Senate while awaiting confirmation to be a U.S. Attorney, he was asked to list his written work. . Garland cruises through confirmation hearing as GOP support solidifies He is methodical, but he is always working.”. My understanding is that he will continue on as special counsel investigating the origins of the Russia probe, after AG Barr move last year. Investigators dug through his property and underneath a shed in his backyard, looking for clues to the theft, and found what appeared to be a price list for each of the items. Around the same time, Grasso’s right-hand man, “Cadillac Frank” Salemme, had been shot outside an International House of Pancakes but survived. I continue to believe that our nation will be better for it.”, The lack of criticism for Durham’s decision in the CIA cases is a bit surprising, considering how routinely the agency was denounced by lawmakers, commentators, and activists, particularly at that time. Working for Trump does not change you — it reveals you. “You are only authorized to bring a prosecution if you believe, based upon the evidence that you have, that you are likely to be able to prove a case not to the probable cause standard, which is all that is required to arrest somebody, but if you believe you can prosecute the case and prove that case beyond a reasonable doubt, and beyond that, that you would be able to sustain that conviction on appeal,” Durham said. Share on Twitter. ... Share on Facebook Share on Twitter … There are some things that no one should have the right to force others to do. The identity of the truck was never obtained and it was represented to the police that it had left the scene of the accident without its driver revealing his identity. One of my sons is a prosecutor, and he’s prosecuting these MS-13 people. U.S. Attorney John H. Durham Encourages People with Information about U.S. Capitol Incursion to Contact FBI. . “While the LCN was playing checkers, the Irish were playing chess. (RELATED: Barr Taps John Durham To Serve As Special Counsel) Where were the details of Trump’s actions while the riot raged? “The FBI had plenty of regulations and policies in place,” Durham said in his speech. I mean, there are some actual rules here. At the trial, Durham argued that Connolly “functioned as a member of a criminal enterprise . Durham and his co-counsel won convictions of both Curcios on all counts, and then went after John Ardito and Pollina for obstruction of justice. US Attorney General Bill Barr appointed US Attorney from Connecticut John Durham to investigate the origins of Spygate in May of 2019. As Sullivan describes Durham, “He will be in constant pursuit of the truth and the facts and the evidence. The effort will including digital and television ads, volunteer issue advocacy campaigns and lobbying state legislatures directly in eight swing states. It is unusual for an agent to work in his old home city so early in his career, but Connolly had made a name for himself by tracking down and arresting Patriarca crime-family hitman “Cadillac” Frank Salemme in Manhattan the previous year — the same infamous gangster who would end up getting shot outside the International House of Pancakes decades later, whose assailants would be prosecuted by Durham. If you were sarcastic, he understood you were being sarcastic. It is an awesome power that we have, that should only be used in appropriate instances. All part of the plan.” (One of Miller’s duties at the department had been announcing that Durham would not press charges in the CIA-videotape investigation. Alas, Gentile stuck to his denials and served out his sentence. Asked whether he believed William Bulger really didn’t know where his brother was hiding, Durham said, “How much did he know? Members get all of our content (including the magazine), no paywalls or content meters, an advertising-minimal experience, and unique access to our writers and editors (conference calls, social-media groups, etc.). If John Durham is able to pull off a real investigation, if he exposes the corruption of these people and they actually get arrested and they’re actually tried for their crimes, well then that man is a legend and he will be read about in the history books for hundreds of years. U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, John Durham, announced his resignation from that postition on Friday. Meanwhile, Connolly leaked information that kept Bulger one step ahead of the Massachusetts State Police, the DEA, and any other law-enforcement effort against him. “John doesn’t need to raise his voice. Two additional women accused Cuomo of sexual harassment on Saturday, bringing the total number of accusers to five. In 2010, Elene Guarente, the widow of Boston mob associate Bobby Guarente, told the FBI that six years earlier, her mob-associated husband had handed over several of the museum’s stolen masterpieces to his best friend, Robert Gentile, in a seafood-restaurant parking lot in Portland, Maine. Durham wrapped up the investigation in December of that year and concluded that no criminal charges were warranted. During the trial, Gus Curcio had an in-court medical “episode” that was purported to be a heart attack. Flemmi pleaded guilty to racketeering and ten murders and is serving a life sentence. “When you buy the suit, the jacket and pants come together. He’s such a straight shooter and a fair person.”, But whether Durham is more accurately compared to a bull or a pussycat, he could bare his teeth. U.S. Attorney Donald Stern had recommended Durham for the job, and he told the Associated Press in an interview years later, “We didn’t go to Washington with a list. John Durham (R), who had been appointed as special counsel by former AG William Barr (Getty Images), has resigned (United States Department of Justice) The US Attorney for the District of Connecticut, John Durham, has announced his resignation … Robert L. Deitz was senior counsel to then–CIA director Michael Hayden from 2006 until February 2009 and handled many negotiations with Durham during the investigation into the tapes. In late October, the New York Times quoted unnamed sources who said that Durham’s probe had officially become a criminal investigation, meaning he now has the power to subpoena for witness testimony and documents, to convene a grand jury, and to file criminal charges. Alibozek provided authorities with a roadmap of all the illicit deals in the Rowland administration and was spared prison, sentenced to a year of home confinement and five years of probation. “He had some interest in organized crime and recruiting informants. “John Le Carré wrote in The Russia House, ‘Some things are necessary evils, some things are more evil than necessary.’ That is the fundamental question of what was going on in Boston,” Durham said in his lecture at the University of St. Joseph. So far only one FBI lawyer has been charged with making a false statement in Durham’s investigation. Who is Durham, this rare-as-a-unicorn figure who can reassure lawmakers, talking heads, and court-watchers on both sides of the aisle, in an era when everything seems destined to turn into a loud partisan food fight? To avoid the perception that the FBI was investigating itself, Durham used U.S. Gentile denied all the allegations, arguing that if he’d had any of the paintings, he would have turned them in for the reward money. On October 28, Barr did a rare televised interview and said of Durham, “He’s a 35-year veteran of the department. Through community offices across the province, we provide programs and services that help people affected by the justice system develop key life skills, navigate issues of criminal justice, and build productive futures after incarceration. The judge excused the jury and cleared the courtroom, and Curcio was taken by ambulance to Hartford Hospital, where doctors determined that there was nothing wrong with him. The Twitter reviews are in for Chris Wallace’s interview with John Brennan, and it was far from a smashing success Posted at 2:46 pm on December 6, 2020 by Jacob B. The focus was the protection of the natural resources belonging to the tribe as a whole and those possessed by individual tribal members.”. The John Howard Society of Ontario works toward effective, just and humane responses to crime and its causes. If you enjoyed this article, we have a proposition for you: Join NRPLUS. At the beginning of his third term, Rowland faced accusations that he sold a Washington, D.C., condominium at an inflated price and that state contractors had given him a sweetheart deal on improvements to his weekend home. They shot the mechanic’s seven-year-old daughter, Marcelina Delgado, in the head. “It is true that oftentimes the only way you can attack those organizations is through the use of informants. Maybe accusations that are lodged against somebody are untrue, and again we can destroy a person if that information gets out.”, Fat Frannie, Buster, the Wild Guy, and Cadillac Frank The Senate is likely to fall short of the two-thirds vote needed to convict Trump. , The Loft, The Firehouse and Newcastle Youth Centre. The 22-page indictment against him listed bribes ranging from envelopes of cash, limousine rides, stays at posh hotels, and, in a detail right out of a novel, $10,000 in gold coins. “Oh, he’s a pussycat — very nice, very funny. By 1991, Durham was leading the prosecution of the New England Family of La Cosa Nostra. This leak was not related to the Russia investigation or the Steele dossier, according to Robert Litt, the former counsel to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, who was interviewed by Durham as part of the investigation. Share on Google+ By June 2011, Durham recommended opening full criminal investigations regarding the death of two individuals while in United States custody at overseas locations, and closing the remaining matters. Durham was one of a small handful of prosecutors Mukasey interviewed. If so, Durham would be the rare kind of right-wing hack who helped send Connecticut’s three-term GOP governor, John Rowland, to prison. Translated speeches from a leading Beijing figure pull back the veil on their plans to ‘buy out the U.S.’. Great reputation for non-partisanship. . A year later, the Department of Justice decided not to press charges in those cases, either. (WTNH) — The U.S. Attorney for Connecticut John Durham announced Friday he is resigning. Where was the evidence to support their specific charge of incitement? He’s strong but quiet.”. Former FBI Attorney… ‘I Don’t Worry about the Mafia. Throughout all these high-profile cases, Durham remained an exceptionally private figure. FBI special agent John Connolly Jr. had grown up in South Boston with mobsters James “Whitey” Bulger and Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, as well as Whitey Bulger’s younger brother William Bulger, who was elected to the state house in 1960 and state senate in 1970. It was here that Durham started amassing an impressive collection of scalps in the courtroom, with enough colorful and notorious characters to fill seasons of a cable drama series about mobsters. Durham is a registered Republican, but there’s no indication that he even blinked at the prospect of taking down the most prominent GOP official in the state. Durham will not speak to the press at all until he is done, and probably not even then. He’s thorough and fair. They formed a devil’s alliance, with Bulger mostly providing information that led to arrests against the Italian mob, La Cosa Nostra, but left the Irish mob mostly intact. Good sense of humor. In 2015, Durham revealed in U.S. District Court that Gentile had been recorded negotiating the sale of stolen Gardner paintings with an undercover operative. The former attorney general recalls that unlike the other prosecutors interviewed, Durham said he had no plans to keep the public informed about the progress of his work. He’s notoriously shy about speaking about himself.”, But in his subsequent remarks, Durham made it sound like his reticence to speak publicly wasn’t mere shyness so much as deliberate strategy to serve justice: “One thing that I try to bear in mind, and try to encourage in new young prosecutors, particularly those who are making their bones or cutting their teeth, is an awareness of the incredible power that is wielded by law enforcement, and perhaps federal law enforcement in particular. The circumstances were suspicious, to say the least. As the relationship continued, Connolly accepted cash and expensive cases of wine, and leaked information that led to the killing of three witnesses. I’d be shocked if he is done before November 2020, meaning Trump will be able to attack the FBI as being under a cloud throughout the campaign. Get our conservative analysis delivered right to you. Durham announced that he will leave the post at midnight Sunday.. personally, I don’t worry so much about like, the Mafia. The day after the second letter, Hoover replied that Connolly would become a special agent, and Connolly was transferred to Boston in 1973. Tweets by St John's CE (Aided) News and Events Shildon Town Council want your views on retaining Secondary Education in Shildon. Unnamed sources told the Washington Post that Durham brought CIA lawyers, operatives, and others before a federal grand jury and probed for inconsistencies in their accounts; some witnesses testified four or five times. “The one story I heard about him at the time was that there had been a Hartford Courant article about him that mentioned him going to Mass three or four times a week, and that he had gotten a call from his mother wanting to know what about the other days,” Mukasey said. The Department of Justice never elaborated on why Durham didn’t recommend charges in the destruction of the tapes, but one complication was that the burning of the 92 tapes on November 9, 2005, was authorized in a cable sent by Jose Rodriguez Jr., head of the agency’s directorate of operations. ‘You’re the Only Things Standing between the CIA and an FBI Raid’ He makes his way back to Boston, and Connolly approaches [then state senator] Billy Bulger, who he appreciated for his political help, and asks what he can do for him to thank him for all the help he had provided. A message from State Auditor John Geragosian on the death of State Auditor Rob Kane: On behalf of the Auditors of Public Accounts, we are shocked and saddened by the death of our friend and colleague, Rob Kane. Follow JHS Durham on The John Howard Society of Durham Region (JHS) is a non-profit, social service agency in Ontario Canada. “He is confident Scott Palmer has seen the error of his ways?” Durham asked, according to press accounts. But be prepared.”, On Capitol Hill, Democrats such as Representative Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), Representative Adam Schiff (Calif.), and Senator Mark Warner (Va.) haven’t criticized Durham by name but have made statements expressing fears that the Department of Justice has “become a vehicle for President Trump’s political revenge” or “a tool of political retribution.”, George Papadopoulos is the former low-level Trump-campaign foreign-policy adviser who became a major player in the FBI’s investigation into the campaign’s ties to Russia and pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators. The two men had discussed the Curcio case and expressed a desire for a mistrial, then discussed what drugs could simulate a heart attack, and according to a subsequent indictment, “one or both of the Curcios taking a medication which he was advising them to take which when they went to court and took water, after having taken this medication, would immediately cause them to vomit.”. At some point, some particularly ill-informed critic of the administration may try to paint Durham as a right-wing hack or Republican loyalist. “Connolly’s forte was not investigating cases, he wasn’t doing bank robberies or white-collar crime or the like,” Durham said in his speech at University of St. Joseph. While introducing Durham at the University of Saint Joseph speech, Boyle mocked Durham’s one discernible flaw, a questionable fashion sense: “John wears a suit to work every day — dark suit, light shirt, modest tie. After law school, he spent two years as a legal intern at the Connecticut Planning Commission on Criminal Justice, and then spent two years as Volunteer in Service to America, the precursor to AmeriCorps. You would think it wouldn’t be that hard,” Boyle said. They’re not an obvious threat to you. Facebook Twitter Flipboard John Durham has announced that he is resigning as the U.S. attorney for the state of Connecticut, but will stay on as the special counsel as he continues to review and investigate the origins of the Russia probe into former President Donald Trump.