BOSTON -- A former FBI agent whose job it was to enforce the law has been convicted of breaking it. Jurors decided Tuesday that former Boston agent John J. Connolly Jr., 61, got too close to local mobsters.

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The panel decided Connolly was guilty of warning criminal informants that they were about to be indicted and of trying to help them after they were arrested.

NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that Charles Prouty, the special agent in charge of the Boston FBI bureau, said after the verdict that Connolly's conduct caused serious damage to the reputation of the FBI.

During a news conference following the jury's decision, U.S. attorney Michael J. Sullivan said the verdict was proof of what Connolly had become.

"Today's verdict reveals John Connolly for what he became: a Winter Hill gang operative masquerading as a law enforcement agent," Sullivan said.

Connolly was found guilty of one count of racketeering, two counts of obstruction and one count of making a false statement to the FBI.

He had no comment about the verdict, but his attorney Tracy Miner released a statement saying, "We are pleased that John Connolly was found not guilty of the most serious acts alleged in the indictment. Of the 14 racketeering acts charged, nine were found not to have been proven," she said. Connolly was not found guilty of leaking the names of three men who were later killed.

Sullivan made reference to a 1983 FBI training film where Connolly advised against getting too close to criminal informants. For more than a decade, Connolly was considered a star in the bureau's successful efforts to dismantle the New England Mafia.

"It was an affront to every decent, honest law enforcement officer who ever investigated the crimes of Stephen Flemmi, James "Whitey" Bulger and their criminal associates," Sullivan said.

The jury found Connolly guilty of tipping off Bulger, Flemmi and former New England mob boss Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme in late 1994 that they were about to be indicted.

Bulger's Winter Hill Gang was an Irish crime syndicate that ran loansharking, gambling and drug operations in the Boston area. Bulger and Flemmi were also top-echelon informants who ratted out the Mafia -- their criminal rivals -- to the FBI.

Bulger fled in 1995 and remains a fugitive on the FBI's "Most Wanted" list. Salemme also fled, but was arrested seven months later in Florida. Flemmi is serving a 10-year prison term and still awaiting trial in 10 murders.

"This case has taken a hard toll on all of us. There's a lot of victims out there right now and unfortunately there's three more victims, at least, in John Connolly's family. Three fine young boys that have to live through this," said State Police Col. Tom Foley.

Sentencing was set for Aug. 7, and Connolly remained free on his original $200,000 bail. U.S. District Judge Joseph L. Tauro rejected a request by prosecutors to revoke Connolly's bail before sentencing.