Jeremiah T. O'Sullivan (died February 10, 2009) was a Boston-based federal

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

for the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

at a time when Federeal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents collaborated with

Winter Hill Gang The Winter Hill Gang was a loose confederation of American organized crime figures in the Boston, Massachusetts area. It was generally considered an Irish mob organization, with most gang members and the leadership consisting predominantly of ...

leader

James "Whitey" Bulger James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger Jr. (; September 3, 1929 – October 30, 2018) was an American organized crime boss who led the Winter Hill Gang, an Irish mob group based in the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts, northwe ...

. He was subsequently accused of participating in a scheme to grant immunity to Bulger to commit violent crimes in return for information about the

Patriarca crime family The Patriarca crime family (, ), also known as the New England Mafia, the Boston Mafia, the Providence Mafia, the Boston–Providence Mafia,

. O'Sullivan was a lawyer in the 1970s and 1980s, prior to becoming the head of the New England Organized Crime Strike Force."Ex-Prosecutor Tells of Ties Between F.B.I. and Mob"
Fox Butterfield, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', December 6, 2002 In 1970, he was the Deputy Assistant Attorney-General for the Commonwealth of

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. In February 1979, federal prosecutors indicted numerous members of the Winter Hill Gang, including boss

Howie Winter Howard Thomas Winter (March 17, 1929 – November 12, 2020) was an American mobster who was a Crime boss, boss of the Winter Hill Gang, an Irish mob group in Somerville, Massachusetts, a northwestern suburb of Boston. Early life Winter was born ...

, for fixing horse races. Bulger and his right-hand man Steve Flemmi were originally going to be part of this indictment, but

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

(FBI) agent John Connolly and his supervisor John Morris were able to persuade O'Sullivan to drop the charges against them at the last minute. Bulger and Flemmi were instead named as unindicted co-conspirators. In 2009, Connolly was sentenced to forty years in prison for

second-degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excus ...

. Morris was granted

immunity Immunity may refer to: Medicine * Immunity (medical), resistance of an organism to infection or disease * ''Immunity'' (journal), a scientific journal published by Cell Press Biology * Immune system Engineering * Radiofrequence immunity ...

in exchange for a

testimony Testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. Etymology The words "testimony" and "testify" both derive from the Latin word ''testis'', referring to the notion of a disinterested third-party witness. Law In the law, testimon ...

against Connolly. In 1998, O'Sullivan suffered a heart attack and several strokes after being asked to testify about Bulger and Flemmi. He remained in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

for a month. Five years later, O'Sullivan spoke in front of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

during the

Committee on Government Reform The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the main investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee's broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one of the most influential and powerful pan ...

's investigation of the FBI's Boston branch. He stated that he knew some

informants An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...

were committing murder and that they had relationships with FBI, but O'Sullivan said he did not act upon the situation because he was "intimidated by the bureau". O'Sullivan denied having personally provided protection to Bulger and his associates. In 2012, he was identified by defense lawyers in a racketeering case as having provided

to Bulger. O'Sullivan died on February 10, 2009, at the age of 66.Jeremiah O'Sullivan Obituary
Legacy.com (February 13, 2009) In the 2015 film ''Black Mass'', O'Sullivan was portrayed by Lewis D. Wheeler.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:O'Sullivan, Jeremiah Date of birth missing 2009 deaths American lawyers Organized crime in Boston United States attorneys for the District of Massachusetts United States Department of Justice officials