Michael S. Flemmi (born July 9, 1937) is an American retired

Boston Police Department The Boston Police Department (BPD), dating back to 1854, holds the primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest municipal police department in the United States. The ...

officer who was convicted to

obstruction of justice Obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, is an act that involves unduly influencing, impeding, or otherwise interfering with the justice system, especially the legal and procedural tasks of prosecutors, investigators, or other gov ...

charge stemming from his relationship with his brother

Stephen Flemmi Stephen Joseph Flemmi (born June 9, 1934) is an American gangster and convicted murderer and was a close associate of Winter Hill Gang boss Whitey Bulger. Beginning in 1975, Flemmi was a top echelon informant for the Federal Bureau of Investiga ...

and the

Winter Hill Gang The Winter Hill Gang is a loose confederation of organized crime figures in the Boston, Massachusetts, area. The gang members and leadership are predominantly Irish-American and Italian-American descent. The organization itself derives its n ...

Early life

Flemmi was born in 1937, to Italian immigrant Giovanni Flemmi (1892–1991), and Mary Irene (née Misserville) Flemmi (1912–2000), who was of Irish descent. He was the last of his brothers Stephen and

Vincent Flemmi Vincent James Flemmi (September 5, 1935 – October 16, 1979), also known as "Jimmy The Bear", was an American mobster who freelanced for the Winter Hill Gang and the Patriarca crime family. He was also a longtime informant for the Federal Bureau ...

. He was raised in the Orchard Park tenement located at 25 Ambrose Street in

Roxbury, Massachusetts Roxbury () is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts. Roxbury is a Municipal annexation in the United States, dissolved municipality and one of 23 official neighborhoods of Boston used by the city for n ...

. His father Giovanni was a bricklayer who, according to fellow mobster

Kevin Weeks Kevin Weeks (born March 21, 1956) is an American former mobster and longtime friend and mob lieutenant to Whitey Bulger, the infamous boss of the Winter Hill Gang, a crime family based in the Winter Hill neighborhood in Somerville, Massachuset ...

, served in the

Royal Italian Army The Royal Italian Army ( it, Regio Esercito, , Royal Army) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfre ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Legal Issues

In 2000, Flemmi was arrested for moving an arsenal of more than 70 weapons from their mother's shed after learning that it was to be the target of a search warrant. In September 2002 he was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison. A year later, he pleaded guilty to selling a load of Stephen's stolen jewelry for $40,000. By 2003, his brother Stephen Flemmi knew he was at the end of his tether. In October, Flemmi pleaded guilty in

U.S. District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

in Boston to 10 counts of murder and accepted a sentence of life in prison without parole. He made the decision as a part of a deal to reduce the sentence for his brother, Michael Flemmi.

U.S. District Judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

Richard G. Stearns said it was difficult to sentence Flemmi, because he had done some good work during his 30 years as a Boston police officer. While incarcerated, Flemmi's register number was 23391-038. He was released from prison on September 2, 2011.

References

* Lehr, Dick; O'Neill, Gerard (2000). ''Black Mass: The Irish Mob, the FBI, and a Devil's Deal''. New York:

PublicAffairs PublicAffairs (or PublicAffairs Books) is an imprint of Perseus Books, an American book publishing company located in New York City and has been a part of the Hachette Book Group since 2016. PublicAffairs was launched in 1997 by Peter Osnos. ...

. . * Cullen, Kevin; Murphy, Shelley (2015). ''Whitey''. * Carr, Howie (2011). '' Hitman: The Untold Story of Johnny Martorano''. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Flemmi, Michael 1937 births Living people Boston Police Department officers People from Boston People convicted of obstruction of justice Winter Hill Gang