During his multi-day testimony Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi’ has accused Whitey Bulger as being a murderer and pedophile. But the worst insult may have been when Flemmi called Bulger a snitch.
Flemmi, the key witness in Bulger’s trial for racketeering, extortion and 19 counts of murder, is currently serving a life sentence for ten murders. Bulger remained on the lam for the past decade until he was eventually arrested in California in 2011.
According to previous testimony, Bulger believed that being a “rat” was the worst thing anyone could do.
During Flemmi’s four days on the stand, he has detailed how he and Bulger carried out numerous crimes during their career together; detailing how he pleaded guilty to counts of money laundering, extortion, perjury and murder. Flemmi’s testimony is part of a deal that would allow him to avoid the death penalty.
“Was Mr. Bulger an informant?” Assistant US Attorney Fred Wyshak asked in court.
Flemmi replied that he was.
“What was the nature of your relationship?” Wyshak asked.
“Strictly criminal,” Flemmi said.
During Tuesday’s testimony Flemmi revealed that he and Bulger shared a criminal past regarding Deborah Hussey, Flemmi’s stepdaughter by common-law marriage.
During previous days’ allegations, Flemmi admitted to engaging in sexual acts with the young girl two separate times, during what Flemmi called “a moment of weakness.”
“A girl who called you ‘Daddy’ consented to have sex with you?” Bulger’s attorney, Hank Brennan asked.
Flemmi stated that the sexual abuse was “consensual,” and that it only took place after Hussey started using drugs and became “a different person.”
During Tuesday’s testimony, Flemmi testified that years later he watched as Bulger strangled Hussey with a rope. But Bulger’s defense team suggested Flemmi strangled Hussey with his bare hands.
When Flemmi denied the accusation, the defense retorted “Is it hard for you to accept the fact that you strangled somebody who sat on your knee as a little girl?”
While Bulger has admitted to numerous crimes throughout the trial, he has not copped to the killing of Debra Davis, another one of Flemmi’s longtime girlfriends.
The “Rifleman” described, in gruesome detail, how he and Bulger together carried out the murder of Flemmi’s then-girlfriend, Debra Davis, in 1981.
Flemmi claimed that he didn’t want to kill his girlfriend, but said Bulger thought she knew too much about their criminal activity.
“I’ll take care of it” Bulger allegedly told Flemmi.
Bulger, who knew Flemmi didn’t have the heart to kill his girlfriend, lured Davis into an empty house in South Boston. Flemmi watched as Bulger strangled Davis and dragged her down a flight of stairs, not stopping until she stopped breathing.
Flemmi then wrapped his dead girlfriend in a tarp and brought her corpse down to the Neponsit River at dark. He buried her body as Bulger sat and watched on.
Flemmi told the court that the incident “is going to affect me until the day I die.” One juror supposedly shed a tear.
