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Boston Globe
22-05-2025
- Boston Globe
Globe sues 5 Mass. police departments in effort to shine light on shadowy world of confidential informants
Advertisement In an effort to shine a brighter light on this murky underworld, the Globe last week filed lawsuits against five of the state's largest police agencies, seeking to force broader disclosure. The lawsuits were lodged against the police departments of Boston, Worcester, Springfield, and New Bedford, as well as Massachusetts State Police, the state's largest law enforcement agency. All failed to comply with public records requests from the Globe. 'The public has the right to know how often its police departments build cases upon unidentified informants, what the practices are for using and protecting these informants, and ensuring this shadowy system is serving justice,' the Globe's editor, Nancy Barnes, said in a released statement. A recent Globe Spotlight Team series, Related : Advertisement Massachusetts, unlike some states, doesn't have a single law on the books governing the use of confidential informants. And the Bay State has been the site of numerous scandals involving CIs over the decades — ranging from the FBI's years-long protection of the ruthless South Boston gangster and informant James 'Whitey' Bulger to the 2013 demise of University of Massachusetts Amherst student Eric Sinacori, who died of a heroin overdose after police pressed him into service as a CI. The lawsuits against the police departments in Springfield, Worcester, and New Bedford, as well as the State Police, are similar: They accuse each agency of violating the public records law by 'wrongfully refusing to comply with' a request for documents that would show the scope and cost of each agency's network of confidential informants. Each of the suits asks a Superior Court judge to order the release of the records, free of charge, and to award attorney's fees. The Globe's suit against the Boston Police Department is broader than those filed against the other agencies, seeking records related to several search warrants as well as information about informants. It asks a judge not only to order the department to provide the Globe with the requested records and attorneys' fees, but also to issue an injunction against the department and the city over what the Globe's lawyers, Jonathan Albano and Samuel Thomas, call their 'serial violation of the Public Records Law.' Advertisement Boston police headquarters in Boston on June 9, 2021. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff Not only did Boston police officials decline to provide any of the records sought by the Globe, they also ignored subsequent orders from the state's Supervisor of Public Records directing the department to comply. Sergeant Detective John Boyle, a Boston police spokesman, told the Globe the request could not be satisfied because the BPD lacks a central database that can be searched for such records. The Globe repeatedly pointed out that the department's regulations say they do have such a database, which is cited in the BPD's policy manual. Boston police also refused to provide records related to the late Michael A. White, a drug dealer and suspected informant for the BPD who played a key role in a In refusing to provide those records, Boston police said that confirming or denying that White — who died in 2002 — was an informant would reveal exempt information, as well as violate the privacy rights of White's 'family members or close personal associates.' The Globe's complaint noted that Boston police failed 'to cite any excuse for its serial noncompliance' with records law. The newspaper's attorneys wrote that absent an injunction, the department 'will regard itself as free to continue its serial violation' of the law. While about one in four police departments in Massachusetts simply didn't respond to the Globe's informant-related inquiries, another group of agencies provided only minimal information. Twenty-one police departments, including eight of the 10 largest in Massachusetts, refused to divulge almost anything about their CI programs — such as how many registered informants they have and how much they have paid them. Advertisement Of the nearly 340 departments Mostly, these are smaller agencies, including a number of university police departments. But there are some larger ones as well, including the police department in Brockton — one of the state's 10 biggest cities — and Revere, which makes regular use of CIs, according to the survey. Over the last five years, Revere has had 37 registered informants working for its police department. Revere was one of seven departments, along with those in Boylston, Hanson, Stoneham, Wellfleet, Webster, and Sterling, that reported using CIs but having no written policy on their use. Of the agencies that responded, the one with the most active informants was the Quincy Police Department, which reported 212. Next was Norwood, which reported 106 active informants. Together, those two municipalities accounted for more than a third of the total number of CIs that Massachusetts police departments have acknowledged using — a fact that underscores how incomplete the data provided to the Globe is. Likewise, the towns and cities that responded to the Globe collectively reported paying informants more than $300,000 over the five years ending Dec. 31, 2023. But more than half of that sum — $161,146 — was paid out by just four departments: Fitchburg, Gardner, Leominster, and the MetroWest Drug Task Force, a consortium led by Framingham police. The payments for those departments worked out to an average of about $890 per informant. Read the lawsuits filed by the Globe Dugan Arnett and Andrew Ryan of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Gordon Russell can be reached at
Boston Globe
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
The Boston Globe recognized as Pulitzer Prize finalist in public service, editorial writing, and illustrated reporting and commentary
'As I have said many times, our best work requires a village of journalists to bring it to life,' Globe editor Nancy Barnes wrote in an email to staff. 'Such was the case with our Steward health care work, bringing together journalists from the Spotlight team, the business team, the health care team, visuals, audience, the copy desk, and digital and print designs. It was a spectacular body of work, and most importantly, it was work that served the public at the highest level.' ProPublica won the public service award for a Advertisement The Pulitzer board Advertisement Globe contributors Ernesto Barbieri, a Boston-area nurse, and Jess Ruliffson, a graphic journalist who teaches at Boston University, were named finalists for the illustrated reporting and commentary award for 'Our editorial series on Boston public schools was a terrific team effort that made the case for how the system could strengthen its programs if it took the hard road of closing underused schools,' Globe editorial page editor Jim Dao said. 'And our finalist in the illustrated reporting and commentary category, 'True stories from an ICU,' was a beautifully drawn, powerfully written description of the everyday drama inside one of the region's ICUs.' The illustrated reporting and commentary award went to Ann Telnaes, a former cartoonist at the Washington Post who resigned from the paper earlier this year after the editorial page editor The only other New England organization recognized was Frontline, the documentary series produced by GBH, which was named a finalist in investigative reporting along with the Associated Press for its three-year Linda Henry, the chief executive of Boston Globe Media, said in a statement that the recognition underscores the Globe's mission of serving its community: 'We are proud of the work we do and honored to see the depth and quality of our journalism recognized as a Pulitzer finalist in three categories this year.' The Globe has won 27 Pulitzer Prizes in its history, having most recently Advertisement The organization last won the Aidan Ryan can be reached at
