Former Boston FBI agent John Connolly seeks release from Florida prison

FLORIDA — Disgraced Boston FBI agent John Connolly, South Boston mobster Whitey Bulger’s handler, is making a new bid for freedom. On Wednesday, Connolly and his lawyers will appear before a three-panel Florida review board asking for a Conditional Medical Release.

Connolly claims he is suffering from terminal cancer. Florida’s Department of Correction has recommended Connolly’s release.

>>>PREVIOUS: Disgraced FBI agent John Connolly seeks compassionate release from prison

If Connolly convinces at least two of the three board members that he is suitable for release, then Connolly will be free for the first time in nearly 20 years. He is serving a 40-year sentence for his role in the 1982 murder of John Callahan in Miami, Fla.

Federal prosecutors said Connolly told Bulger and Steven Flemmi that Callahan was informing the feds about their involvement in the murder of World Jai Alai President Roger Wheeler.

Related: James ‘Whitey’ Bulger dead after transfer to prison in West Virginia

Hitman John Martorano admitted at Bulger’s 2013 trial that he shot and killed his friend John Callahan.

Mary Callahan is John Callahan’s widow. She told Boston 25 News reporter Bob Ward that she is skeptical about Connolly’s claim of terminal cancer.

“If he really is dying and he only has a year to live, then what would be gained to put him back in prison? And maybe he should be home with his family,” Callahan told me. “And I go back the other way and say my husband didn’t get to be home to be with his family.”

Last year, Connolly asked for a COVID-19 release but was turned down. A decision on Connolly’s release is expected during the hearing.

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