Mob Graveyard Found In Mass.
Authorities acting on information from a mob insider on Thursday unearthed the remains of a body believed to be that of Debra Davis, girlfriend of Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi.
Davis disappeared on Sept. 17, 1981, just after a family vacation in Acapulco, Mexico.
Federal investigators arrived within two days and talked to her mother, who told them she believed the person responsible was Flemmi, a top associate of "Winter Hill" gang leader James "Whitey" Bulger, according to her brother, Victor Davis.
Federal prosecutors say Bulger and Flemmi killed Davis after determining she posed a threat to their organization. The two recently were charged with involvement in 21 murders.
The remains were found Thursday near a train trestle in Quincy, not far from the former apartment of Bulger, who has been in hiding since being indicted in 1995. Flemmi is in prison awaiting trial.
The medical examiner was at the scene and the site was covered by a giant yellow and white striped tent. Federal officials would not immediately confirm the finding but a news conference was scheduled for the afternoon.
An attorney for the Davis family, Jeffrey Denner, said family members have been told the body was female, and believe it is Debra Davis. An autopsy is needed to provide definitive identification, but Denner said, "We're comfortable enough with it."
Last month, authorities found the remains of Thomas King at this site. King disappeared in 1975 shortly after besting Bulger in a South Boston barroom brawl.
In the past 10 months, authorities have found the bodies of five other suspected victims of Bulger's gang who were killed as long ago as the 1970s. They were reportedly led to the bodies by Kevin Weeks, a Bulger crony who pleaded guilty in July to federal racketeering charges as part of an agreement to cooperate with authorities.
During each of the excavations at the mob burial sites, Davis' brothers have held a vigil, waiting for word that their sister's body had been found. They were at the site again Thursday.
"Our priority above anything else is to find my sister and properly bury her," Victor Davis said after the last search turned up a body that was not that of Debra.
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