Mercy Otis

Media Hitman knocked off by Finneran "Hit Job"

The Barbarians are eating their young 
But you CAN tell the rats by their color
 

Last week,  WRKO Hitman Howie Carr claimed he was the victim of a "Hit Job" by former Massachusetts Speaker of the House, Tommy Finneran. 

Carr, who makes a living by destroying the lives of people by reporting innuendo and uncorrobaratted rumors about the personal lives of others, felt "a bullet in the back of his head" in a live radio interview with Governor Patrick when Carr's collegue, Tom Finneran said the following: 

"Hey, I've got a proposal for the Governor.  The Governor and I are going to take Howie Carr for a ride (in the Governor's new Cadillac).  Three will leave, only two will come back.  We'll take a little pool on who it is." 

According to Herald reporter, Laurel Sweet, with Governor Patrick  "chuckling in the background," Finneran went on to refer to the Massachusetts State Police by telling listeners:

"And by the way, the staties are here and these are good guys.  They ain't going to be talking, either.  I know.  So it will be three in the car who leave, only two will come back.  No questions asked."  

 Carr, who is notorious for writing Brothers Bulger , once claimed "Whitie" and the Irish Mafia chased Carr down, forcing Carr to hide in a Southie graveyard to avoid an indescribable fateful end.  After Finneran's obvious humor, Carr, a self-proclaimed media hitman, then ratted out to Richard G. Stearns, the Federal Judge who sentenced Finneran to 18 months' unsupervised probation for pleading guilty to obstruction of justice:

Carr ratted: "I think (Stearns) ought to send (Finneran) to jail.  That's where he belonged in the first place and this just reiterates it."  Carr alleged in his letter to the judge that Finneran's joke was a threat and is "tantamount to witness intimidation."

Yet although he has made a living throwing mud on people and has publicly said he enjoys kicking people while they are down, Carr's efforts to inform the feds will be futile.  Although he is not an elected official, Carr is a notorious radio personailty and gossip columnist.  Because of this Carr meets the definition of being a "public figure."  Paraphrased from the 1964 U.S. Supreme Court Decision, New York Times Company vs. Sullivan:  "A person (in this case Carr) can not successfully sue for libel or slander if he or she is a public figure for something someone else said about him or her unless this person (Carr) can prove that the writer (Finneran) knew it wasn't true when he or she first wrote it."

Finneran, who did not know that Carr would acted the way he did when he said his joke, appears he will be protected.  On the other hand, Howie "The Rat" Carr, who has been protected by this Supreme Court case for all the years of torment that he joyfully and unmercifully put on hundreds of lives throughout his bloody, reckless career as a media hitman, got a taste of his own medicine... He was the victim of a "Hit-Job" by Tommy "Guns" Finneran.  May the "Rat" rest in peace. 

Read the Herald story in whole here:

Also read about the New York Times Vs. Sullivan (1964) here.