According to recently released FBI files on Winter Hill boss James “Whitey” Bulger and enforcer Stephen “the Rifleman” Flemmi the two informants provided plenty of intelligence on the New England Cosa Nostra family.
Surprisingly the informant files show that Flemmi provided the feds with much more information on the New England mob then Bulger ever did. The files indicate that Bulger was an informant from 1975 up until 1990 but Flemmi was an informant going all way back to 1967. Many believed that since Bulger was the boss of the Winter Hill gang he was likely the one providing the feds with the majority of the information on the Patriarca crime family and was the more useful snitch. But Flemmi being Italian had far better access to members of the crime family and it was evident in several references found with in these informant files.
“Stephen Flemmi”
Flemmi was even offered membership into the Italian Mafia but declined because he found it more lucrative working with Bulger’s Winter Hill gang and being protected by the FBI through Bulgers contacts. These files are sure to surface during the upcoming Whitey Bulger trial set to begin in June. The governments key witness in the case will be Flemmi himself as he testifies against his old boss but there is no love lost between the two and Flemmi claims he once thought about killing Bulger. Target 12 takes a look inside these informant files and dives into the kind of information Bulger and Flemmi were supplying the feds with against the Patriarca family mobsters including one time boss Raymond Patriarca and high ranking capo Matty Guiglialmetti among others.
