Connors was a tough customer, an ex-Marine who owned barrooms in Southie and Dorchester, most notably the Bulldog Tavern on Savin Hill Ave in Dot. Naturally bookies hung out there and he was also connected to hijackers. He was tight with Howie Winter, the boss of the Winter Hill Gang. In 1973, the boys at the garage on Marshall Street in Somerville decided that Spike O’Toole had to go. He was one of the last survivors of the McLaughlin gang, and had survived a number of assassination attempts. Connors told the boys that O’Toole had taken to drinking heavily at the Bulldog, and in December 1973, when he staggered out, a gold car full of Hill hitmen was waiting, most notably Johnny Martorano. The autopsy said Spike had been hit 10 times. A year or so later, word got back to Howie Winter that Eddie Connors had begun bragging about his role in the O’Toole hit. Connors had also been arrested in an armored-car heist, and suddenly he seemed to be a major liability. Howie Winter told him to give him a number at a phone booth where he could be called at a certain hour. Connors came up with the number of a booth on Morrissey Boulevard (a number Martorano was able to trace back with the help of his sources in the phone company). One night, in 1975, Connors arrived at the gas station, stepped out of his car and walked to the booth. Just then a car roared up, with Martorano at the wheel. Whitey Bulger and Stevie Flemmi stepped out, Whitey with a pistol, Stevie with a carbine. That was the end of Eddie Connors
 

Eddie Connors was a good athlete, boxing locally and in the Marines.

This photo shows Eddie Connors behind the bar at the Pony Room in South Boston, in the late 1960’s. Connors, a native of Southie, owned a series of bars in Southie and Dorchester. An ex-Marine and a well-known local prizefighter (his nickn, ame, was “the Bulldog”), he became a well-liked businessman in Dorchester who also had his hand in the rackets.
 

In the Old Colony League, South Boston, circa 1950. Connors is in the bottom row, far right. 
 

Jimmy Connors is on the left. Can you recognize the fighter on the right, with his hands on his hips? That’s Joe DeNucci, who is now the state auditor of Massachusetts.

It’s a small world when you’re Whitey and you’re killing people.

This photo promoted a holiday boxing card back in the late 1950’s. On the right is Jimmy Connors, whose brother Eddie would be murdered by Whitey in 1975, after which Whitey escaped in a car driven by Johnny Martorano. Second from the left is Tony Veranis, who would be murdered in 1967 – by Johnny Martorano.