Man charged 37 years after ‘drug-related’ fatal shooting of a young father, MA cops say
A man has been charged in connection with the fatal “drug-related” shooting of a young father 37 years ago, Massachusetts prosecutors say.
The father, Brian Watson, was 23 when he was killed in 1984 over a dispute related to Irish mob boss and “South Boston gang kingpin” James “Whitey” Bulger’s drug-dealing territory, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
Now, 61-year-old Michael Lewis is accused of shooting Watson while he was sitting in the back seat of a car and dumping his body off of a highway in New Hampshire with another man, a May 27 news release said. Lewis has been indicted on a first-degree murder charge.
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a statement that the “cold-blooded” killing of Watson “hearkens back to a very different Boston” and that the father was “cut down seemingly on a whim.”
“Mr. Watson’s family has endured many, many years of loss and heartache,” he added. “At the very least, they now have some answers.”
On July 28, 1984, Watson’s mother reported him as missing after he had not been seen for roughly 10 days, the news release said.
Around when Watson was last seen alive, Lewis and a second man, “both of whom were involved in the South Boston drug trade,” were looking for a drug dealer whom they wanted to stop from selling drugs in the area, according to the district attorney’s office.
This drug dealer was believed to have told Bulger that the second man was selling angel dust, also known as PCP, in Bulger’s territory, the release said.
“As a result, Bulger demanded $5,000 immediately from the second man, followed by $1,000 a week,” according to the district attorney’s office. This made the second man angry at the drug dealer.
Eventually, Lewis and the man found Watson who agreed to bring the pair to the drug dealer upon their request, the release said. After he got into the back seat of their car, he was shot to death by Lewis while being driven around in South Boston.
About two months later, in September, a man pulled over on Interstate 93 South in New Hampshire when he noticed the decomposed remains of Watson concealed by bushes and trees and called police, the district attorney’s office said. Dental records ultimately confirmed that the body was Watson.
Police in Massachusetts and New Hampshire worked for decades to solve the cold case until “further information developed by investigators this year provided sufficient evidence to move forward with” the arrest of Lewis on May 27, according to prosecutors.
Lewis is due for an arraignment in Suffolk Superior Court on May 31, the release said.
This story was originally published May 31, 2022 at 12:46 PM with the headline "Man charged 37 years after ‘drug-related’ fatal shooting of a young father, MA cops say."
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