In law,a plea is a defendant's response to a criminal charge. A defendant may plead guilty or not guilty. Depending on jurisdiction,additional pleas may be available,including nolo contendere,no case to answer,or an Alford plea.
John William McCormack was an American politician from Boston,Massachusetts. An attorney and a Democrat,McCormack served in the United States Army during World War I,and afterwards won terms in both the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Massachusetts State Senate before winning election to the United States House of Representatives.
William Michael Bulger is an American former Democratic politician,lawyer,and educator from South Boston,Massachusetts. His eighteen-year tenure as President of the Massachusetts Senate is the longest in history. He then became president of the University of Massachusetts.
James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger Jr. was an American organized crime boss who led the Winter Hill Gang in the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville,Massachusetts,a city directly northwest of Boston. On December 23,1994,Bulger fled the Boston area and went into hiding after his former FBI handler,John Connolly,tipped him off about a pending RICO indictment against him. Bulger remained at large for sixteen years. After his 2011 arrest,federal prosecutors tried Bulger for nineteen murders based on grand jury testimony from Kevin Weeks and other former criminal associates.
Thomas Michael "Tom" Finneran,is a radio talk host and former Massachusetts Democratic politician who served as Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from April 1996 to September 2004. He represented the district that included parts of the Boston neighborhoods of Dorchester,Mattapan and Hyde Park as well as parts of the town of Milton for 26 years.
North Carolina v. Alford,400 U.S. 25 (1970),was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed that there are no constitutional barriers in place to prevent a judge from accepting a guilty plea from a defendant who wants to plead guilty while still protesting his innocence under duress as a detainee status. This type of plea has become known as an Alford plea,differing slightly from the nolo contendere plea in which the defendant agrees to being sentenced for the crime,but does not admit guilt. Alford died in prison in 1975.
Salvatore Francis "Sal" DiMasi is a former Democratic state representative in Massachusetts. The former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives originally joined the state legislature in 1979,as a member of the Democratic Party. He eventually resigned from this post in January 2009,just six months prior to being indicted on several Federal charges,including conspiracy to defraud the federal government,extortion,mail fraud and wire fraud. DiMasi was found guilty on 7 of 9 federal corruption charges on June 15,2011. DiMasi is the third consecutive Massachusetts house speaker to later become a convicted felon due to crimes committed in office.
101 Clarendon Street,also known as Columbus Center,was a proposed skyscraper planned for Boston,Massachusetts. If completed,it would have stood as the 25th-tallest building in Boston. Continuing on the trend established by the Prudential Tower in 1964,the completed building would have concealed more of the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90) by utilizing air rights above it. The location would have been above the turnpike,directly to the east of Back Bay station and south of Copley Square in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston. The project would have "united the city’s Back Bay and South End neighborhoods."
Richard Joseph Schneiderhan was a former Massachusetts State Police Lieutenant in the Attorney General's Organized Crime Unit. He was convicted of conspiracy and obstruction of justice stemming from his relationship with gangster Stephen Flemmi and the Winter Hill Gang. Schneiderhan had warned an associate of fugitive mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger that Bulger's brothers' phones were being monitored by the FBI.
The MBM scandal was an American political scandal of the 1970s which involved members of the Massachusetts Senate extorting money from McKee-Berger-Mansueto,Inc. (MBM),the consulting company supervising the construction of the University of Massachusetts Boston campus at Columbia Point.
James A. Kelly Jr. was an American politician who served as a Democrat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1959 to 1965 and the Massachusetts Senate from 1965 to 1979. In 1983,he was convicted of extortion.
Francis H. Woodward is a former American politician who was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993.
Between 1980 and 1981,Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Chairman Barry Locke and the Assistant Director of the MBTA's Real Estate Department Frank J. Walters,Jr. ran a number of kickback schemes at the MBTA. The kickbacks were discovered when newly appointed MBTA General Manager James O'Leary accidentally opened an envelope meant for Locke that contained the proceeds from one of the schemes. A total of seventeen people and one corporation were indicted for their roles in kickback schemes at the MBTA. Locke was convicted of five counts of bribery and sentenced to 7 to 10 years in prison. Locke is the only Massachusetts cabinet secretary to be convicted of a felony while in office since the state's adoption of the cabinet system in 1970.
David Mancovitz was an American attorney and politician from Boston,Massachusetts.
Daniel Henry Coakley was an American Democratic politician and attorney from Massachusetts. He was a key figure in early 20th century Boston politics,as an ally District Attorney Joseph C. Pelletier and as an on-again-off-again ally to Mayor James Michael Curley. As an attorney,he took part in numerous badger game extortion schemes and was disbarred in 1922 for deceit,malpractice,and gross misconduct.
Warren L. Bishop (1890–1939) was an American lawyer and politician who served as District Attorney of Middlesex County,Massachusetts from 1931 to 1939.
Hugh Anthony Cregg was an American lawyer and politician who served as District Attorney of Essex County,Massachusetts,from 1931 to 1959.
John Patrick McGonigle was an American corrections officer and politician who served as Sheriff of Middlesex County,Massachusetts from 1985 to 1994. He was convicted of tax evasion and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering for demanding kickbacks from two of his deputies.
Paul J. Ellison was an American politician who served on the Boston School Committee from 1972 to 1976. In 1976,he was convicted of larceny for endorsing and cashing checks made out to his assistants.
Ernest C. Stasiun was an American politician who served on the Massachusetts Governor's Council from 1959 to 1965. He was convicted of bribery in 1965.
