The Downfall of the Boston Bombers’ Gun Runner

[DonViejo]

Susan Zalkind

Stephen Silva’s life as a drug runner fell apart after his childhood friend Dzokhar Tsarnaev allegedly set off a bomb at the Boston Marathon. But with his somewhat sympathetic defense, why did the government call him to the witness stand, anyway?

Twenty-one-year-old Stephen Silva stared at the court blankly as he identified his childhood friend, the defendant in the Boston Marathon bombing trial, Dzokhar Tsarnaev.

“He’s a person I would consider one of my best friends, back in the day,” he explained. At one point in time, he affectionately called the defendant, “Jizz.”

Prosecutor Aloke Chakravarty held up a photo of them in their black Cambridge Rindge and Latin graduation gowns, red carnations in their lapels, embracing.

Today was the first time the former friends had laid eyes on each other since early April 2013, no more than two weeks before the bombing. Despite his aloof demeanor, testifying was an experience his lawyer Jonathan Shapiro said his client found “weird” and “uncomfortable.” Silva told Shapiro they made eye contact. Tsarnaev appeared somewhat attentive to the testimony, but for the most part acted like he was in detention, per usual.

The last time the two met was in a Cambridge parking lot at Memorial Drive and River Street, near the apartment where Silva grew up.

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/18/the-downfall-of-the-boston-bombers-gun-runner.html