Departed for 40 Years: Former FBI Agent Who Inspired Movie Character Is Sentenced for Witness Killing

Former FBI agent John “Zip” Connolly has received a 40 year sentence for his role in the killing of a witness who was going to testify against his associates in the Mob. Connolly was the inspiration of Matt Damon’s character in the movie “The Departed.” The sentence is a practical death sentence for the 68-year-old former agent.

The Miami jury and the judge concluded that Connolly had become a mob associate himself while working with figures like James ‘Whitey’ Bulger who ran the Winter Hill gang in Boston in the 1980s. This included receiving money from the gang.

He was convicted for his role in the 1982 murder of businessman John Callahan, whose was shot repeatedly and left in the trunk of a car at Miami Airport.

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