Court Officer Is Lost in Fall from Boat

Court officer is lost in fall from boat

A Middlesex County Sheriff's boat patrolled Winthrop Harbor yesterday as part of the effort to find court officer Anthony Tufo, 60, of Quincy, who reportedly fell out of his motorboat Thursday near Winthrop's Deer Island. (David Kamerman/Globe Staff)

Email|Print|Single Page| Text size –+By Peter Schworm

Globe Staff / July 5, 2008

When a prisoner broke free and tried to flee Quincy District Court this spring, court officer Anthony Tufo immediately took off in pursuit. He chased the escapee down the courthouse stairs, then dove headlong to tackle him, crashing into a glass window in his attempt.

The prisoner was quickly apprehended, and Tufo was rushed to the emergency room with lacerations on his head and face. Despite his injuries, he returned to work that same day.

Tufo, 60, of Quincy, who is married with children, was the target of a massive search yesterday in Boston Harbor after he reportedly fell out of a 34-foot motorboat Thursday evening. Co-workers said he was just as devoted to his friends and family as he was to his job.

"He would do anything, for anyone, at any time," said Mark S. Coven, a Quincy District Court judge. "Everyone at the courthouse has a very deep affection for Tony."

While rescuers held out hope for much of yesterday as they scoured the waters around Winthrop's Deer Island, by day's end resignation had set in.

"It's a recovery effort, at this point," said Paul Flanagan, the fire chief in Winthrop, who has known Tufo for 30 years. An 87-foot cutter was expected to search throughout the night, Coast Guard Petty Officer Connie Terrell said. At sunrise today, a Jayhawk helicopter was scheduled to fly out to reassess the situation, she said.

Flanagan said Tufo, who ran the Boston Marathon in April and has competed in triathlons, was traveling from the Winthrop Yacht Club to Charlestown when he apparently fell overboard, rescue officials said. Flanagan said Tufo had gone to the ship's bow, shortly after leaving port, to remove the ship's bumpers, and possibly slipped or suffered a heart attack.

"That's the last anyone saw of him," he said. "Anything could have happened, I guess."

Tufo had not been drinking alcohol, Flanagan said, and the seas were relatively calm at the time. The six other passengers on board notified authorities when they realized Tufo was missing, which was probably within a few minutes of the accident, Flanagan said.

Tufo was not wearing a life jacket, rescue officials said, and was not a strong swimmer, according to Flanagan.

But Flanagan said Tufo's fitness and athleticism would have allowed him to make it to safety if healthy, leading the fire chief to believe that he either suffered a heart attack or was pulled under the motorboat.

The boat, named the Nina Maria, was out of Braintree and owned by lawyer Joseph Flaherty, Flanagan said. Flaherty was the spokesman for Rachel Entwistle's family during the recent murder trial of Entwistle's husband, Neil.

Flaherty declined to comment yesterday, as did Tufo's family. Tufo, who is married with children, is the brother-in-law of Norfolk County Sheriff Michael Bellotti.

Tufo's disappearance occurred just before a powerful storm swept through the area, creating rough seas and complicating search efforts. Two small Coast Guard boats and a helicopter postponed their search about 10 p.m. Thursday, while a cutter from Woods Hole continued to search throughout the night.

At dawn yesterday, a Jayhawk helicopter took to the air to search, and vessels from the Coast Guard, the Massachusetts Port Authority, State Police, and fire departments in Quincy, Winthrop, and Hull scoured the waters between Logan Airport and Deer Island.

Well into yesterday afternoon, rescue officials continued to treat the search as a rescue mission, despite the dwindling odds.

"We don't know how he fell off, but we're all just focusing on finding him," said Terrell. "He's in excellent physical condition, and this remains an open, active search."

Flanagan, who met Tufo in the late 1970s working in construction together, went to the Winthrop Yacht Club on Thursday to see Tufo, but narrowly missed him. A short time later, he was helping lead the search effort.

"He was a tremendous guy," he said.

Boater’s absence not noticed at first

Search continues for Quincy boater

By Laurel J. Sweet
Saturday, July 5, 2008 - Updated 2 years ago
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Award-winning court and crime reporter Laurel J. Sweet has been featured in the ABC miniseries "Boston 24/7" and the 9-11 documentary motion picture "Looking For My Brother."

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A state court officer slipped off a cabin cruiser operated by a retired state police homicide commander in Boston Harbor Thursday, but the man’s absence went unnoticed for several minutes by seven others aboard the vessel, authorities said yesterday.

The Coast Guard was hoping to enlist a helicopter last night to bolster its air-and-sea search for Anthony “Tony” Tufo, 60, of Quincy, who apparently fell off the 37-foot Nina Maria, a pleasure craft owned and operated by attorney Joseph Flaherty.

Photo by Mark Garfinkel

Occupants of the ’Nina Maria’, including boat owner Joe Flaherty, facing camera, are questioned by police.

Photo by Mark Garfinkel

Coast Guard officials search by sea and air, above, during a thunderstorm Thursday, for Quincy man Anthony ‘Tony’ Tufo.

Questions linger after DA explains a life lost at sea

By Jonathan Saltzman

Globe Staff / September 28, 2008

It seemed like the perfect way to start the July Fourth weekend: Eight men and women, including a retired commander of a State Police homicide unit and three current State Police homicide detectives, spending a lazy afternoon on a pleasure boat in Boston Harbor.

'Nobody can believe that seven people didn't see this guy [Tufo, at left] fall off,' said Rudy Cataldo, a childhood friend.

LOST AT SEA

But the July 3 outing ended with anguish and painful questions after a member of the party, a well-liked Quincy court officer, vanished in the harbor as, one witness described it, he prepared to pull in protective fenders from the port side of the boat. Everyone, including four men trained to observe their surroundings, told authorities they never saw a thing.

The Coast Guard launched an intensive air-and-sea search, but it was as if 59-year-old Anthony U. Tufo had vaporized. A lobsterman found his body nine days later, floating in the harbor near a runway at Logan International Airport.

On Thursday, Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe released the results of a police investigation into the death. His 1 1/2-page memorandum concluded that the fa ther of three fell overboard when no one was looking, struck the propeller of the motorboat and died of massive injuries. O'Keefe called it a tragic accident.

"The one thing this case illustrates is that you're out on the water, you're going very slowly, it's a beautiful day and everybody's enjoying themselves - you still have to be very, very careful on a boat," he said in an interview.

Investigators specifically looked into whether the owner and pilot of the 37-foot Sea Ray, Joseph F. Flaherty, was impaired by alcohol, but found no evidence that he was, O'Keefe said. He was not given a breathalyzer test.

Flaherty is the retired commander of the State Police homicide unit at the Suffolk district attorney's office and is married to a daughter of former state attorney general Francis X. Bellotti, the former Nina Bellotti. Tufo, a Quincy District Court officer for 16 years and avid marathon runner, was married to another Bellotti daughter, the former Mary Elizabeth Bellotti.

But Tufo's sister, Bella Travaglini, a freelance writer who contributes to the Globe, said she still finds a central question about her brother's death unfathomable.

"I find it difficult to reconcile in my mind how no one saw my brother go off that boat," said Travaglini, who was among family members recently briefed by O'Keefe on his findings. In a reflection on her brother published in the Globe this month, Travaglini wrote, "Seven other sets of eyes, and no one saw anything."

Rudy Cataldo, a friend of Tufo's who was on the boat, said he, too, finds the death incomprehensible - and he was there.

"Nobody can believe that seven people didn't see this guy fall off the boat," said the Andover real estate agent. "And nobody did. Nobody saw it."

Flaherty, whose boat was named the Nina Maria after his wife, could not be reached for comment at his law office or on his cellphone.

'Nobody can believe that seven people didn't see this guy [Tufo, at left] fall off,' said Rudy Cataldo, a childhood friend.

LOST AT SEA

Tufo's widow said in a brief phone interview that O'Keefe had recently shared his findings with her, but she declined to comment on them.

Since her husband's death, she has hired a well-known Boston lawyer, Thomas R. Kiley, whose clients include an A-list of political insiders. Kiley said he is seeking to have the probate court appoint her as the administrator of Anthony Tufo's estate in preparation for the filing of legal action, such as an insurance claim.

Francis Bellotti, the 85-year-old father-in-law of Tufo and Flaherty, did not return phone calls to his law office in Boston.

The accident occurred on a Thursday, a few hours after Flaherty and Tufo had traveled in the boat from Braintree to Charlestown to pick up three State Police detectives, two court stenographers, and Cataldo.

Authorities have confirmed that the three detectives were Sergeant Robert Murphy, Kevin Condon, and Tim MacDougall, who work in the Suffolk district attorney's homicide unit. Murphy declined to discuss Tufo's death last week; the other detectives did not return phone calls. The detectives had taken vacation time for the outing and were off duty, said David Procopio, a State Police spokesman.

O'Keefe would not identify the court stenographers, the only women on the boat, but said they were friends of the detectives.

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley turned over the case to O'Keefe to avoid a potential conflict of interest, given that Flaherty used to run the Suffolk homicide unit and the detectives work there. Boston Police Detective Lieutenant Robert Merner handled the investigation.

After Flaherty and Tufo picked up the six passengers about 2:30 p.m., Cataldo said, several had drinks and shrimp above deck in the sunshine while the boat was secured in Charlestown. They then traveled to the Winthrop Yacht Club, where the group ran up a tab of $97 on appetizers and drinks, Cataldo said, before setting off for the return trip to Charlestown by 5:20 p.m.

Flaherty and Tufo had each probably had a few drinks during the afternoon, Cataldo said, but "there was nobody that was drunk on that boat."

About 10 minutes after the boaters began their return trip in windswept, choppy waters, Cataldo said, Tufo asked Flaherty whether he should pull in the fenders. Flaherty said sure. Cataldo said he saw Tufo - who like the other passengers was not wearing a life jacket - walking along a catwalk and holding onto a railing. Cataldo turned to chat with Flaherty.

A moment later, Cataldo said, he looked up but didn't see Tufo.

"I said, 'Where's Tony?' and Joe says he must have been in the cabin," Cataldo recalled. "I went down in the cabin and looked around and I didn't see him. I came up and I said, 'Joe, he's not there.' He said, 'Are you kidding me?' "

As puzzlement turned to panic, Flaherty radioed for the Coast Guard, which sent a boat to the Nina Maria within minutes, Cataldo said.

O'Keefe said a Coast Guard officer boarded the Nina Maria, interviewed all seven passengers, and found no indication that Flaherty was impaired. O'Keefe said the officer had no probable cause to ask police agencies that also responded, including the Boston police, to give a breathalyzer test.

"The evidence is clear that there was no impairment, with respect to the issue of alcohol," O'Keefe said.

Some of the passengers told authorities that they had felt a splash around the time Tufo vanished and thought the boat hesitated, but presumed it was because of choppy water or the wake of another boat, O'Keefe said.

The Nina Maria ultimately returned to the Winthrop Yacht Club and the Coast Guard began an intensive search for Tufo despite a powerful thunderstorm.

Winthrop Fire Chief Paul Flanagan, a longtime friend of Tufo who helped in the search, said Flaherty initially said Tufo probably disappeared somewhere near Deer Island, but moved the location about a quarter-mile west, closer to the airport, a few days later.

On July 12, Tufo's body was found. An autopsy listed the causes of death as bleeding to death and drowning.

O'Keefe said toxicology tests showed Tufo had alcohol in his body "consistent with what he was reported to have had to drink," but O'Keefe declined to provide specifics.

Procopio said the "troopers on the boat, like so many others who knew Mr. Tufo, are grieving the loss of a good man."

Cataldo, who met Tufo when they were in high school, said he lost his best friend in an instant.

"This thing happened so fast that it's astounding," he said. "I still can't believe it to this day."

Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at .

DA O'Keefe involved in yet another questionable investigation; Cahoon Museum touted

09/28/08 · 6:39 am :: posted by CCToday ShareThis

Questions linger after DA O'Keefe explains a life lost at sea
"Nobody can believe that seven people didn't see this guy fall off the boat"

O'Keefe would not identify the court stenographers, the only women on the boat, but said they were friends of the detectives.

The accident occurred on a Thursday, a few hours after Flaherty and Tufo (above) had traveled in the boat from Braintree to Charlestown to pick up three State Police detectives, two court stenographers, and Cataldo.

O'Keefe would not identify the court stenographers, the only women on the boat, but said they were friends of the detectives.

But Tufo's sister, Bella Travaglini, a freelance writer who contributes to the Globe, said she still finds a central question about her brother's death unfathomable.

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09/28/08 @ 3:08 pm

bittersweet [Member] writes: