Ex-FBI agent arraigned in mob hit
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H. Paul Rico was transferred Thursday to the medical wing of the Tulsa County Jail, according to police.
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TULSA, Oklahoma (AP) -- A 78-year-old former FBI agent accused in the mob killing of a businessman appeared via video feed for his arraignment Wednesday, sitting in a wheelchair and occasionally moaning before the proceedings began.
H. Paul Rico's attorney told a judge that Rico can stand trial in the 1981 slaying, dropping a request to have his competency evaluated. But attorney Garvin Isaacs said bail should be set immediately so the ailing Rico can be treated.
Prosecutors said the issue of Rico's competency must first be resolved.
Special Judge Mark Barcus arraigned Rico on charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the slaying of businessman Roger Wheeler and set a February 9 preliminary hearing date. A competency hearing is scheduled for Friday.
Rico, appearing through a video feed from the Tulsa County jail, said nothing during the hearing. He suffers from a heart condition, wears a pacemaker and has lost 53 pounds, Isaacs said.
"I am telling you this man is sick, extremely sick," he said, interrupting the judge, who then decided the arraignment would go on.
The competency and bail issues will be addressed at a hearing Friday before a different judge, prosecutor Steve Kunzweiler said.
Isaacs had requested a competency evaluation in December when Rico was being held in the Miami-Dade County Jail in Florida. He withdrew his request Monday, saying that Rico can appreciate the nature of the charges and assist in his defense.
But Kunzweiler said the competency issue must still be heard under Oklahoma law.
"We want to give Mr. Rico his day in court, but we want to follow the law," Kunzweiler said.
Rico was arrested October 9 at his Florida home and transferred last week to Tulsa, where he has been housed in the jail's medical center.
As an FBI agent, Rico cultivated members of Boston's Winter Hill Gang as informants. He later served as security chief at World Jai Alai, which Wheeler owned.
Investigators say Wheeler suspected that Boston gangsters were skimming money from the jai alai business, and Rico helped set up his murder.
Wheeler was shot in the head after a round of golf at Tulsa's Southern Hills Country Club on May 27, 1981. Murder charges were filed 20 years later against Winter Hill Gang members James "Whitey" Bulger, Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi and John Martorano.
Martorano, a confessed hit man, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received a 15-year prison term for killing Wheeler, who also headed Tulsa-based Telex Corp.
Flemmi pleaded guilty in October to 10 murders, including that of Wheeler. Bulger remains at large since being tipped off to his pending indictment in 1995.
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