Joseph Salvati and Peter J. Limone may soon be compensated for being framed by the FBI. The two men, along with Louis Greco and Henry Tameleo, spent decades in prison after FBI officials withheld evidence implicating a key informer who was actually responsible for the murder of Edward “Teddy’’ Deegan. The convictions were not overturned until 2001, and by then both Greco and Tameleo had died in prison, leaving their families to join with Salvati and Limone in suing the bureau.

 

The plaintiffs won their civil case in 2007, but the Department of Justice refused to pay the settlement and wanted to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. But Solicitor General Elena Kagan, responsible for making such an appeal before the high court, decided it was time for the government to compensate the victims and their families.

 

The parties are expected to receive more than $100 million in damages. Salvati is now 77 years old. Limone, who was rearrested in 2008 and charged with running a sports gambling ring, is 75.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

US Won’t Appeal Verdict in Case of Four Framed by FBI (by Jonathan Saltzman, Boston Globe)

The Exonerated (by Jan Goodwin, Reader’s Digest)

Hoover's F.B.I. and the Mafia: Case of Bad Bedfellows Grows (by Fox Butterfield, New York Times)

An Innocent Man Goes Free 33 Years After Conviction (by Carey Goldberg, New York Times)