Murder of Edward Deegan

The murder of Edward Charles "Teddy" Deegan occurred on March 12, 1965.^[1] Deegan was shot and killed in an alley next to an office building in Chelsea, Massachusetts at approximately 9:30 p.m..^[1] In 1967 police charged six men with Deegan's murder, and at trial, the prosecution's primary witness was Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal informant Joseph Barboza.^[2] On July 31, 1968, the court convicted Louis Greco, Henry Tameleo, Ronald Cassesso and Peter Limone of Deegan's murder, and sentenced them to the death penalty.^[1] Joseph Salvati and Roy French were sentenced to life imprisonment as accessories to Deegan's murder.^[1] In 1997 Salvati's sentence was commuted by Governor William Weld, and in January 2001, a judge overturned Peter Limone and Joe Salvati's convictions after uncovered FBI documents proved their innocence.^[3] In 2004, Judge Nancy Gertner ruled that federal lawsuits by the families of Louis Greco, Henry Tameleo, Peter Limone and Joseph Salvati had permission to be filed against the United States Government, and in 2007 a landmark decision ordered the United States Government to pay $101.7 million to the accused and their families for wrongful conviction.^[3] The use of FBI informants for the wrongful conviction of four innocent men is noteworthy because it unveiled the corrupt activities that occurred in the FBI during the 1960s.