When he was representing Whitey Bulger at his 2013 murder trial, Hank Brennan had to tell the judge why the serial killer refused to speak before his sentencing.

“He believes the trial was a sham,” Brennan told Judge Denise Casper.

A sham? You call the Whitey trial a sham, Hank? When it comes to sham trials, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Now, all these years later, Brennan returns to the limelight, not as a defense lawyer, but as a special prosecutor of Karen Read, who has already endured one sham trial and now faces a second one in January.

That trial is going to be Sham 2.0. And instead of decrying governmental overreach against Whitey, which he did (unconvincingly), this time Brennan will be tasked with trying to frame Karen Read.

Ironic, because in 2013, despite all evidence to the contrary in the Bulger case, Brennan in fact seemed to believe that cops were capable of railroading people they don’t like to protect their corrupt cronies.

In his closing in federal court, Brennan even brought up the fate of a crooked FBI agent from Boston who lied on the witness stand as a defense witness for Whitey.

“They’ll crush you,” Brennan said. “They bully him, they berate him, they crush him. That’s what happens when you’re not with them, you’re either with them or you’re against them.”

Paging Karen Read….

Whitey had two lawyers – Brennan and Jay Carney, who was the lead guy, older and more jaded about his mobster client. Brennan, on the other hand, developed a massive man crash on Whitey. It was weird, how much he seemed to idolize the monster.

After Whitey was murdered, Brennan handled the lawsuits for the hack Bulger family against the feds. They were laughed out of court, naturally. Brennan also attended Whitey’s funeral.

It’s safe to say that when Whitey yelled “Jump!” Brennan answered back, “How high?”

And now Brennan goes on the payroll of Meatball Morrissey, who was elected to the state Senate back in the days when it was run by… William M. Bulger, Whitey’s younger brother.

When Billy Bulger yelled “Jump!” Meatball likewise answered back, “How high?” Meatball was Billy Bulger’s butler.

So you can understand why Meatball had his nationwide search for Hank. They’re both in “the element,” as they used to say.

Brennan appears to be at least the fourth special prosecutor that Meatball has hired to continue his twisted jihad of retribution and revenge against Karen Read et al.

Turtleboy, Karen Read’s biggest supporter who was thrown into jail for two months, is now being chased by at least three of Meatball’s special prosecutors.

They’re all hacks too, just like Meatball himself and Brennan.

Consider Robert Cosgrove, a retired hack judge and another member of the Meatball Mafia. He was picked to go after Turtleboy in a ridiculous case, but maybe he needs the dough.

In addition to whatever Meatball has been paying him, Cosgrove currently gets two – count ‘em, two – state pensions. As a former hack in the Norfolk County DA’s office, his kiss in the mail comes to $64,264 a year.

As a retired judge, Cosgrove collects a separate pension, of $139,301 a year.

Total annual grab: $203,565.

Can’t Meatball find anyone already on his payroll to try what he believes, however delusionally, is an important case? And don’t even get me started on Meatball’s detectives from the State Police, who by their own account spend much of their time searching for nude photos on female defendants’ cell phones….

The question in this Karen Read case is whether she has been made the patsy for other corrupt bad actors who likely murdered her boyfriend. In the Whitey trial, Brennan was all in on the frame-up theory.

Whether it’s in South Boston or in Canton, it’s all about the cover-up, and what career criminals will do to avoid getting caught.

Stevie Flemmi was Whitey’s partner-in-crime who became a prosecution witness against him. Brennan was assigned to cross-examine Flemmi. He questioned Flemmi at length about how he murdered Deb Hussey, his stepdaughter, after taking her shopping.

Brennan: “You didn’t tell her you were going to murder her?”

Flemmi: “Of course not.”

Brennan: “You lied to her, yes?”

Flemmi: “Is that a sensible question?”

Brennan: “And you dumped her body in an unmarked grave?”

Flemmi: “It wouldn’t make sense to mark the grave.”

Then Brennan pointed out how, after Deb’s body was buried in the basement, Flemmi had tried to present himself as a victim, telling Deb’s mother that he would hire a private investigator to find her.

Flemmi: “Mr. Brennan, that’s all part of the cover-up.”

Brennan: “You wanted to assure them in the sense that you didn’t know where Debbie was, isn’t that true?”

Flemmi: “It’s all part of the cover-up, yes. When you commit a murder, you cover up on it, you don’t admit to people. I don’t know if you’re aware of that, you should be. You’re an attorney.”

Talking about a different murder, Flemmi again mentioned how clueless Brennan seemed.

Flemmi: “You don’t understand the underworld at all, nothing. You’re an attorney. You don’t know what’s going on in the world. I’m giving you the real world.”

I wonder if Brennan realized that Stevie Flemmi was just trying to educate him how a cover-up must be run, in Boston or in Canton.

Probably not, because by taking on the job of prosecuting Karen Read, Hank Brennan will be trying to do to Karen Read exactly what he accused everybody else of doing to his hero, Whitey Bulger.

What a sham.

(Order Howie’s new book, “You Understand American?” at amazon.com or howiecarrshow.com.)