Boston hit man John Martorano, 20-time killer, who testified that he was "doing the right thing" when he agreed to cooperate with the prosecution.
Manuel Casabielle started on Boston hit man John Martorano, an admitted 20-time killer, who testified that he was "doing the right thing" when he agreed to cooperate with the prosecution. A day earlier, he said Connolly was the source of confidential FBI intelligence that Martorano's Winter Hill Gang used to kill potential witnesses against its members.
"Were you doing the right thing by shooting Herbert Smith, Elizabeth Dixon and Douglas Barrett?" Casabielle asked Martorano."I don't know what you call the right thing," Martorano said. "It's regrettable. But it happened."
Timeline Of Case Regrettable, perhaps, because the killings of two of the three victims were tragically unnecessary — even under the upside-down code of gang justice Martorano expounded as the day wore on. Martorano had been stalking Smith, manager of Boston's Basin Street nightclub, in 1968 because, he said, Smith had "given a friend of mine a beating."He found Smith in a parked car and opened fire. Then he noticed Dixon, 19, and Barrett, 17, a couple of unknowns who happened to be along for a ride. Acting either out of instinct or an abundance of caution, he shot them, too. Although Martorano was not charged until years later, when he agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, he was known for a while as The Basin Street Butcher.
"You said you were doing the right thing by testifying here," Casabielle said. "I want to find out what your definition is of the right thing."
