July 27, 2008
John Martorano: The Executioner
Steve Kroft Interviews Triggerman Of Boston's Notorious Winter Hill Gang
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Play CBS Video Video The Executioner In his first interview, infamous Boston mob triggerman John Martorano coolly explains why and how he murdered 20 people to protect his friends, family and his gang's business. Steve Kroft reports.
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John Martorano (CBS)
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There are few men alive today with the underworld credentials of John Martorano, and even fewer who are out of prison and walking the streets. For more than a decade, Martorano was the chief executioner for Boston's Winter Hill Gang, a loose confederation of Irish and Italian-American gangsters run by James "Whitey" Bulger.
Martorano, a former Catholic altar boy and high school football star, became a cool and calculating killer. But as correspondent Steve Kroft first reported in January, he is perhaps best known as the government witness who helped expose a web of corruption and collusion involving the mob and the Boston office of the FBI.
For years, he was one of the most feared men in Boston, and this is why: Martorano says he never kept count of how many people he killed. "Until in the end, I never realized it was that many," he tells Kroft.
Asked how many, Martorano says, "A lot. Too many."
"Do you have a number?" Kroft asks.
"I confessed to 20 in court," Martorano replies.
"You sure you remembered 'em all?" Kroft asks.
"I hope so," Martorano says,
Martorano had to remember them all. It was part of a deal he cut with the federal government that put him back on the streets of Boston after only 12 years in prison -- a little more than seven months served for each of the 20 people he killed, many of them fellow gangsters, and many of them at close range after looking into their eyes.
Asked if he always killed people by shooting them, Martorano tells Kroft, "I think I stabbed one guy."
"But you like guns," Kroft remarks.
"Well, it's the easiest way I think," Martorano says.
Martorano says he did not get any satisfaction out of the fact that people were afraid of him. "But everybody likes to be respected for one thing or another," he admits.
His manner is unemotional and detached, and he speaks with the brevity of a professional witness, which he has become. His testimony helped wipe out one of the largest criminal enterprises in New England, for which he served as chief executioner. But Martorano is no psychopath, and he doesn't much like the term "hit man."
"The hit man is…that sounds to me like somebody that's getting paid to a paid contract. I mean, you could never pay me to kill anybody," he says.
"A lot of people would say you're a serial killer," Kroft remarks.
"I might be a vigilante, but not a serial killer," Martorano says. "Serial killers, you have to stop them. They'll never stop. And they enjoy it. I never enjoyed it. I don't enjoy risking my life but if the cause was right I would."
Martorano says he "always" felt like he was doing the right thing. "Even if it was wrong, I always tried to do the right thing."
If you believe Martorano -- and the Justice Department does -- he killed out of a sense of loyalty and duty. He sees himself as a stand-up guy, a man of his word, which is why he decided to talk to 60 Minutes.
It goes back 50 years, when Martorano was a star running back on the Mount St. Charles Academy football team in Rhode Island. One of his blockers was the late 60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley.
He promised Bradley he would sit down with him and tell his story, but Bradley died unexpectedly before Martorano got out of prison.
"I never thought I'd be sitting here with you, I thought I'd be here with Ed. But I'm sitting here because Ed wanted me to sit here and I'm honoring that," Martorano explains.
"I know one of the questions that Ed wanted to ask you. In sort of the way that Ed asked those questions, I think he wanted to be sitting here and say, 'What happened Johnny?' Why was it do you think that you went in different directions?" Kroft asks.
"Well, I think it was mainly the influence of my father and his principles and his values that he pushed onto me," Martorano explains.
His father owned an after hours club called Luigi's in a rough Boston neighborhood known as the "Combat Zone." It was a hangout for hoodlums who would become Martorano's role models, and many of them shared his father’s simple Sicilian values.
"He was the oldest son, and he taught me 'You're the oldest son and this is your heritage. You've got to take care of your family and be a man. I don't care what else you are, you’ve got to be a man,'" Martorano says.
Produced By Tanya Simon
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See all 35 CommentsThis you can fid in all faiths as no one is perfect. Still we do not condemm because of the acts of some the whole religion.
LEXMAN141 has the best post. If you''re story is true it made the comments section worht reading.
Bulls__t! He knows what a standup guy is. A standup guy by definition does not send his asscoiates to prison. Capice?
He is a RAT!!!
My representation was pro bono. After this seemingly avuncular entered his plea and received his sentence, he looked me in the eye and said "Skip, thanks for all your help, when I get out I''ll take care of you" (I think he meant payment). I replied "John forget we ever met." I never heard from him again.
But I do understand his just assimilating to his environment. You see it everywhere, from ''da hood'' to what''s thought of as upper class society. People really are a product of the environment they grow up in. That doesn''t make anything this guy did right but I agree with the deal the government cut with him. The potential for good to come out of the deal vs. society''s need for retribution has definitely borne out. If you''re particularly worried about this guy being on the streets of Boston, I wouldn''t worry. I''m sure there''s someone else out there with the same upbringing as his that will satisfy you before too long.
Oh, and leafsintrees, the mental health center called and they want you to go back on the meds. And please bring back their monkey - they''re afraid you''re being a bad influence on it.
Maybe next time?
Sometimes being physical is necessary unto defence. For example; The day I needed to save Dave VanGorder (drafted by the Reds to replace Johny Bench when he retired) from a bull mastiff of a mans assault on him. Dave was taking a beating until I stepped in and convinced the perpetrator his life was mine to take, and take with my bare hands if he didn''t repent and change his perspective. To the astonished belief of all who was present, the man walked away without as much as a scratch. (Easily verifiable via Dave VanGorder himself.) By the way, Dave never used (IPID)!! Yet he could throw out the fastest base runner, (without getting up off his knees) if he thought he could steel second on Dave.
Gerard J Washburn
You forgot one, "Kill them all, you''re a God"...
I understand your sadness at Martorano, but don''t you think it is even worse that the priest gave such a penance?
Yes, God is merciful and will forgive ANY sin we confess with a contrite heart, but God is also perfectly just. Salvation is ultimately between God and the sinner, but our %u201Cregretful%u201D Martorano will most likely have to pay his dues in this life and the next. The concept of Purgatory is no longer in vogue in our secular humanist society, but that doesn%u2019t mean it doesn%u2019t exist as the Church teaches it! The Catholic Church teaches us that, yes, if our killer was contrite he will eventually be with God in heaven only through the actions of Jesus dying of the cross for us, but his soul may spend a very, very long time in purgatory until our coldhearted hero gets it right - and eventually figures out what the virtues of love, compassion and forgiveness are.
I think the majority would agree with you that the crack dealers should be put back into their neighborhoods to wreak more havoc. The only ones who might disagree are the first responders who have to deal with the havoc. I''m sure their old neighborhoods would love to have them back.
I am stunned you would spend a minute of your time on that convicted
gang killer. Hes a piece of garbage as shown by his lack of remorse on the interview.people like this DO NOT deserve ANY recognition by anyone. You usually do a pretty good job informing the public on IMPORTANT people and activites in this nation and the world. You missed the boat with this piece. I think you owe the viewing public an apology.
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