-Caveat Lector-
Personally, I would like to see former Special Agent H. Paul Rico
spend the rest of his life in prison. Fat chance anything will be
done to him, though.
-
http://boston.com/dailyglobe2/006/metro/Court_frees_Limone_after_
33_years_in_prison+.shtml
Court frees Limone after 33 years in prison
By Ralph Ranalli, Globe Correspondent, 1/6/2001
AMBRIDGE - One arm cradling a bouquet of yellow roses, the
other wrapped tightly around his tearful wife, Peter Limone walked
out of Middlesex Superior Courthouse yesterday a free man after
allegedly being framed for murder by the FBI and spending 33
years in prison, four of them on death row.
''Mr. Limone's long wait is over,'' said Middlesex Superior Court
Judge Margaret Hinkle, prompting applause and tears from a large
group of relatives and supporters of Limone in the East Cambridge
courtroom.
Hinkle, who said it was ''now time to move on,'' granted a joint
motion by defense lawyers and Suffolk District Attorney Ralph C.
Martin II's office to give Limone, 66, a new trial and vacate his life
sentence.
After spending half his life behind bars for the murder of Edward
''Teddy'' Deegan in 1965, Limone was freed largely on the basis of
secret FBI documents uncovered by a Justice Department task
force investigating corruption in the bureau's use of organized crime
informants.
The documents, which were never turned over to defense lawyers in
the Deegan case, suggest that a onetime FBI informant, Vincent J.
''Jimmy the Bear'' Flemmi, planned Deegan's murder, not Limone.
The key witness against Limone - hit man-turned-FBI-witness
Joseph ''The Animal'' Barboza - was Flemmi's best friend.
The documents say that an informant told the FBI who the
participants in the murder were, and Limone and the three men
convicted along with him weren't among them.
The documents also suggest that FBI agents not only covered up
evidence that Limone and three other men were wrongly convicted
in order to protect Flemmi and his gangster brother, Stephen - an
FBI informant for nearly 30 years - but also knew about the Deegan
murder plot in advance and did nothing to stop it.
''The conduct of the bureau at the time of the murder of Mr. Deegan
and the trial of Mr. Limone tarnishes that agency,'' said Hinkle, a
former assistant US attorney.
Limone had harsh words yesterday for the bureau, particularly
former Special Agent H. Paul Rico, who was Barboza's FBI handler
and is reportedly a target of the Justice Department corruption task
force.
''He framed me. He knew what he was doing,'' the silver-haired
Limone said of the agent, who is retired and living in Florida. ''He's
scum. He set it all up.''
Overall, however, the mood of the Limone family was joyful and free
of bitterness and rancor.
Flanked by his wife, Olympia, his four children, and six of his eight
grandchildren, Limone spoke mostly of his gratitude for the people
who stood by him and helped him over the years, particularly his
relatives and his attorney, John Cavicchi.
''I just give thanks to the good people I have been involved with,'' he
said. ''I am very happy.''
Prison, he said, was ''very hard, every day in there, knowing I was
innocent.'' His time was made even harder by watching two
codefendants, Henry Tameleo and Louis Greco, die in prison while
their appeals were rejected by court after court.
Defense lawyers allege that Barboza and the FBI framed Limone,
Tameleo, Greco, and a fourth codefendant, Joseph Salvati, in order
to settle personal scores and to satisfy a mandate from FBI
headquarters to make cases against the underworld.
Tameleo was believed to be a top figure in the Patriarca New
England crime family and Limone and Greco were reputed
associates.
Salvati, who owed Barboza money, had his life sentence
commuted by Governor William F. Weld in 1997. Martin's office
also filed motions with Hinkle Thursday to vacate Salvati's
sentence and grant him a new trial.
Assistant District Attorney Mark Lee said the newly discovered FBI
documents were a key factor - along with other recently uncovered
witness statements and evidence indicating Limone and Salvati's
innocence - in their decision to drop their opposition to a new trial.
''The documents painted a very compelling picture,'' Lee said.
''What happened here was wrong enough for us to come into court
and say that this mandates a new trial.''
Publicly, Martin's office had no comment on whether they would
pursue a new trial or drop the case, but privately, sources close to
the office called it a practical impossibility because of the age of
the case, the doubts cast on it by the FBI documents, and the fact
that Barboza was murdered in 1976.
Limone and his lawyer said they would wait before considering
whether to file a civil lawsuit against the FBI or state prosecutors.
Cavicchi, however, said that based on what has been paid to other
wrongfully imprisoned defendants, ''$5 million might be a good
starting point.''
This story ran on page B1
