Aging ex-FBI agent John “Zip” Connolly can remain a free man in Massachusetts, a Florida parole board has ruled.
The prediction that he’d be dead by now has, obviously, been proven incorrect. Still, the Florida Commission on Offender Review is allowing Connolly to convalesce indefinitely with his wife in the Bay State, the Herald has learned. His next review with be in “two to seven years.”
Connolly was convicted of second-degree murder in 2008 for wearing his FBI-issued sidearm when he met with mobster James “Whitey” Bulger in Boston to warn him of what businessman John Callahan knew. Bulger was murdered in a West Virginia prison in 2018.
Callahan, the former president of World Jai Alai, was shot dead by John Martorano, one of Bulger’s hitmen. Martorano testified he was working for Bulger when he killed Callahan, who was also a friend of his. Bulger wanted Callahan dead because the Boston businessman could implicate them in a 1981 slaying of another World Jai Alai executive.
This madness has left Callahan’s widow, Mary Callahan, to cope and carry on as best she can. News of “Zip” Connolly’s lucky break left her with mixed emotions on the eve of Easter.
“You have to forgive, but you don’t have to forget,” Mary Callahan, who like Connolly is 80-plus years old, said. She added a victim’s advocate with the Florida parole commission told her Thursday Connolly can remain out of jail.
“He’s home with his family and his wife. We don’t have that,” Mary Callahan, a mother of two, added. “I’m glad I don’t have to make another decision on what to do — they’ve already decided. But this doesn’t mean it all isn’t hard. I think of our loss and it is huge.”
The commission voted 2-1 in February of 2021 to send the disgraced G-man back to Massachusetts on a medical release because he had about a year to live after being called “terminally ill.”
The Herald has filed a public records request with the Florida commission seeking the minutes and audio of Connolly’s hearing that took place Wednesday. Mary Callahan said she was notified by mail too late to dial in for that hearing.
Connolly’s lawyer did not return messages left by the Herald.
Connolly is also collecting a pension, as the Herald previously reported.
He kept his pension, despite being convicted of second-degree murder in 2008, because Congress passed the Hiss Act in 1954 that allows lawmakers, and therefore federal employees, to keep their retirement benefits unless convicted of espionage or treason.
The interstate compact signed by Connolly allowing him to relocate home with his wife in Massachusetts states “termination of supervision” is set for December of 2047.