John Martorano: The Executioner

Steve Kroft Interviews Triggerman Of Boston's Notorious Winter Hill Gang

(CBS)  This segment was originally broadcast on Jan. 6, 2008. It was updated on July 25, 2008.

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.

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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.

so let me get this straight? if i us the gd word i''m condemned to hell, but if i go to chruch and ask for forgiveness i can end up on 60 minutes for murdering dozen of people? huh?

so let me get this straight? if i us the gd word i''m condemned to hell, but if i go to chruch and ask for forgiveness i can end up on 60 minutes for murdering dozen of people? huh?

[patriot12436]

Alicebrown
This 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.

[patriot12436]

I turned away from the Christain faith, it didn''t give me what i was looking for. I still respect the christain religion. It is ran by man so is fallible and they make mistakes like everyone else. You do not condemm a religion because it makes mistakes, you learn from it and try toi move forward in a positive direction.

[dpmj5001]

I cannot believe this guy after killing 20 + people only got 14 years behind bars, while Bill Erpenbeck, a Northern Kentucky home builder convicted of bank fraud has a sentence of 25 years with no chance of a reduced sentence. Please view KyPost.com David..

[dooney8]

I''m pretty sure they already made a movie, and it won an Oscar for best picture. Way to stay on top of current events cajun3. And why would you oppose inceased penalties for rape? Hmmmmm.....

LEXMAN141 has the best post. If you''re story is true it made the comments section worht reading.

[bastiano-2009]

RE Your Martorano story. He insists that he is not a ''stool pigeon'' and is a ''standup guy''.

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!!!

[lexman141]

I represented Mr. Martorano in Tulsa County District Court.

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.

[toshi43]

Incredible. This guy admits killing 20 people and walks free, and in the same country (not sure which state) they''re trying to get rape declared a capital offence. I''ll bet the movie deal''s already in the works.

[cager-lowry]

Martorano will burn in hell justifiably and soon.

[akakjb]

Wow - he got the same amount of Our Fathers & Hail Marys for whacking 20 people that I got in Catholic school for having to make up something to confess (hey, I''m 12 and having to go to confession once a week, how much am I going to have to confess in a week?).

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.

[ostapbender-2009]

You missed a golden opportunity in not having John Martarano interview Roger Clemens. That would be real investigative journalism.

Maybe next time?

[goldvalley1]

This man, unfortunately, was raised a coward and lived the life of a coward. Our young adults should take no credence much less heroism in this man''s beliefs and actions.
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

[cfin5]

Mr. Martorano did what his kind do. He doesn''t disgust me half as much as any crooked cop. I kept reading on to find the demise of the "judas agent".

[brianbwb-2009]

t is just business. No need to get your panties in a wad. As Charlie Chaplin observed, "Kill one and it is murder, kill a million and it is a statistic". Posted by dustfullman

You forgot one, "Kill them all, you''re a God"...

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by Paul783

I understand your sadness at Martorano, but don''t you think it is even worse that the priest gave such a penance?

[paul783]

As a Catholic I was saddened and grossly insulted by the Martorano%u2019s heartless description of the powerful Catholic sacrament of reconciliation. He went on to mention %u201Cthat he had finally gone to confession after thirty years and confessed his (sordid) actions to a priest.%u201D So far, so good, but then he flippantly conveys that the priest said to him %u2013 %u201Csay ten Our Fathers and ten Hail Mary%u2019s and don%u2019t do it again!%u201D I%u2019m sorry, but what could have been a beautiful opportunity for a serious sinner to humbly share about the awesome Mercy of Almighty God - turned into a mockery of the very Church and Sacrament that helped to save his eternal soul.
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.

[dustfullman]

Invoking the First Responders has become synonymous with supporting the troops as a way of questioning the patriotism and judgment of someone who disagrees with the party line. For some reason when the first responders actually do what they are paid for they automatically become heroes. Go George.

[runningralph]

toffeenose,
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.

[burchtree11]

i am sitting here watching 60 minutes as usual on a Sunday evening.
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.