4.2.12 WC: 191694 successfully prosecuted for it by the State Attorney’s Office. The problem was that several years had passed between the murder and the prosecution and Connolly had a plausible statute of limitations argument on appeal. I was asked by State Attorney Rundle to consult with her appellate lawyers and to prepare them for what they expected would be a grueling oral argument. I agreed and worked with them, and with federal prosecutors in Boston, on the appellate brief. I also conducted a “moot court” in which I played judge and asked the hardest questions I could come up with. The “moot court,” as it turned out, was more grueling than the actual argument, and the prosecution won the appeal. It was the first time I recall cheering when I heard that the prosecution had won an appeal. There is nothing more corrosive to the administration of justice than corrupt law enforcement officials (except, perhaps, corrupt judges, several of whom Billy Bulger had appointed to “his” bench). The Bulger gang is now history. Whitey and Connolly are in prison, probably for the rest of their lives. Billy is “retired” from politics, but still widely admired by some in Boston, who ought to know better. 214 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_017301