Ex-FBI agent convicted in racketeering trial

BOSTON -- A former FBI agent who spent years cultivating mob informants was convicted Tuesday of protecting gangsters and warning three of them they were about to be indicted.

John J. Connolly Jr., 61, was found guilty on four of the five counts he faced, including racketeering, obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI. Sentencing is Aug. 7.

Prosecutors said he got too close to his informants, including gangsters James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen Flemmi.

Bulger and Flemmi were leaders of the Winter Hill Gang, an Irish crime syndicate in Boston. They were also informants who ratted out the Mafia -- their criminal rivals -- to the FBI.