Sen. John Kerry is advocating for victims’ rights with newly proposed legislation.

By Andrew Firestone

Last week Senator John Kerry introduced legislation to deliver unpaid damages to the families of two victims murdered by James “Whitey” Bulger.

The case followed a 2009 decision wherein a federal judge awarded the families of a Somerville man and FBI informant Brian Halloran and his acquaintance Michael Donahue a total of $8.5 million in a wrongful death suit against the FBI. Whitey Bulger, gangster and also an FBI informant, was given Halloran’s name by his handler John Connelly, another FBI informant, who was found responsible for his death. Bulger then subsequently gunned him down personally in 1982.  Bulger also murdered Donahue, an innocent bystander giving Halloran a ride home.

“We can’t place a time limit on these families’ grief or allow arbitrary restrictions to deny them the court-ordered damages they’re due,” said Sen. Kerry. “It’s our job to make this right.”

“If Kerry is going to do that, I applaud him,” said Bobby Martini, author of non-fiction profile Citizen Somerville documenting the Winter-Hill gang, and also brother of Halloran’s widow. “There shouldn’t be no time constraints for the murder. The victims, they’re in pain all those years.”

Earlier this month, an Appeals court denied the families the money, arguing the families did not file their claims for damages on time.  Kerry’s legislation would require the U.S. Treasury to pay the families.