New York Times
Ex-F.B.I. Agent Is Charged in a 1981 Gangland Killing
Fri Oct 10 18:48:38 2003
64.140.158.225

New York Times

October 10, 2003

Ex-F.B.I. Agent Is Charged in a 1981 Gangland Killing
By FOX BUTTERFIELD

BOSTON, Oct. 9 -- A former F.B.I. agent who worked with underworld
informants here was arrested on Thursday and charged with helping arrange
the 1981 gangland-style killing of a wealthy Oklahoma businessman,
lawyers and law enforcement officials said.

The former agent, H. Paul Rico, 78, was arrested at his home near Miami
on a murder charge brought by a grand jury in Tulsa, Okla., in the death
of Roger Wheeler, the president of the Telex Corporation and owner of
World Jai Alai, a company with a major gambling business.

Mr. Wheeler, 55, was shot point-blank in the head as he got in his car
after a round of golf by John Martorano, a hit man for Boston's notorious
Winter Hill gang, which was run by James Bulger.

Mr. Rico was chief of security for World Jai Alai when Mr. Wheeler was
killed.

Mr. Martorano, who has admitted killing Mr. Wheeler, testified at the
trial of another former F.B.I. agent, John Connolly Jr., in 2002 that Mr.
Rico had approached him about killing Mr. Wheeler because the gang
believed he had learned they were skimming $1 million a year in jai alai
profits.

Mr. Martorano also testified that Mr. Rico provided him with a physical
description of Mr. Wheeler, the make and license number of his car and
his home address.

Mr. Rico's lawyer, William Cagney III, said his client was innocent, and
he questioned the way the arrest had been made. Mr. Cagney said he had
been told only that the indictment was sealed.

Mr. Cagney suggested that the indictment might have been made by a
"runaway" grand jury not under the district attorney's control.

"It sounds like there is a lot of investigating that is going to have to
be done to make sure all the facts are brought out so that no one's
rights are trampled on," Mr. Cagney said.

The office of the Tulsa County district attorney, Tim Harris, issued a
brief statement on Thursday saying it had "no comment at this time on the
ongoing criminal investigation into the murder of Roger Wheeler." Mr.
Harris's spokeswoman, Susan Witt, declined to answer questions.

The killing of Mr. Wheeler has continued to interest law enforcement, the
news media and the public in Tulsa and Boston, especially because of
longtime reports that there was a connection to the Winter Hill gang and
that active or retired F.B.I. agents might have been involved.

Mr. Connolly was convicted of racketeering for effectively becoming a
member of Mr. Bulger's gang and helping gang members who were his
informants. He is now serving a 10-year prison sentence. Mr. Bulger, who
is known as Whitey, has been a fugitive since 1995, after Mr. Connolly
alerted him about a secret federal indictment charging him with
racketeering and murder.

Frank A. Libby Jr., a lawyer for Mr. Wheeler's widow and four of his
children, said he had not been informed about the indictment or arrest of
Mr. Rico, which he said he found unusual. Mr. Libby noted that the arrest
had been made on an Oklahoma murder charge and that the F.B.I. had not
acted against Mr. Rico. He called that symptomatic of the bureau's
problems in Boston, with agents becoming too close to informants.

"It is difficult to drain the swamp when you've got alligators nipping at
you," Mr. Libby said.

The Wheeler family has filed a $860 million wrongful-death lawsuit
against the Justice Department, Mr. Rico, Mr. Connolly and Mr. Bulger.
The suit was dismissed by a federal district judge in Boston this summer
but is on appeal.

Victor Garo, a Boston lawyer who represents Joseph Salvatti, who was
wrongly sentenced to life in prison for a murder committed by an F.B.I.
informant handled by Mr. Rico, called the arrest of Mr. Rico "huge."

"It is a really major development," Mr. Garo said, "because Rico is an
inside player. He knows a lot of the criminal doings in the F.B.I. when
he was there."

The Tulsa police have tried before to charge Mr. Rico for Mr. Wheeler's
death. In 2001, Sgt. Mike Huff of the city's homicide unit presented an
affidavit seeking charges against Mr. Rico, Mr. Martorano, Mr. Bulger and
Steven Flemmi, Mr. Bulger's top lieutenant. But no charges were brought.

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company


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