other associates who were present, the US Attorneys decided not to indict Nee or Martorano. The US Attorneys' willingness to ignore Nee's involvement in Barrett's murder has fueled speculation that Nee is a protected federal informant. Nee remained an occasional associate throughout the years and masterminded a 1984 attempt to smuggle seven tons of AK-47 assault rifles to the Provisional IRA. With Bulger's assistance, the guns were loaded aboard the Valhalla, a fishing trawler from Gloucester, Massachusetts. However, the Irish Government had learned of the scheme via Sean O'Callaghan, a police informant in the IRA's Southern Command. As a result, the cargo was intercepted by a combined force of the Irish Navy and the Garda Síochána. The Valhalla's crew was arrested by U.S. Customs agents immediately after returning to Gloucester. The failure of the mission led Bulger to torture and murder John McIntyre, an American member of the Valhalla's crew who had purportedly informed on the scheme to U.S. Customs agents and had agreed to wear a wire on Bulger and Nee. Nee admitted to bringing McIntyre to the South Boston house where Bulger, Stephen Flemmi, and Kevin Weeks were waiting for him. He claims that he believed they were only going to talk to him and that he was disgusted to return later and find the trio about to bury McIntyre's corpse in the basement. On November 30, 1984, Nee picked up McIntyre from a bar and lured him to his house with a case of beer and a promise of a party. At this time, Nee knew that McIntyre was cooperating with federal law enforcement in re the smuggling of 7.5 tons of automatic weapons, machine guns, rocket launchers, plastic explosives, bullet proof vests, and ammunition aboard the Valhalla. 17 months prior, Barrett had been lured to Nee's house and killed there. McIntyre was killed in Nee's house and buried in the cellar next to Barrett's corpse. Nee fled Boston after being informed by Bulger that federal agents were looking for him. After several years in hiding, he was arrested in 1987 and served an 18-month sentence in Federal prison. The statutory sentence he faced for possessing and smuggling those 7.5 tons of armaments was life imprisonment. After his release, in 1989, Nee was motivated increasingly by Irish republicanism, to cut his links to Bulger. He put together a crew of his own and began planning Armored car