“On top of the OBVIOUS motive there’s one hell of a message to be sent to anyone out there who has information damning to ‘you know who’.”
Oh really, what message would that be? Fuddy wasn’t testifying or disclosing anything to anyone, so if she had a secret, she was keeping it. So it would seem, if someone was sending a message, it must be “go to the press right now, and tell everything you know, because keeping your mouth shut won’t help you”.
Do you really think that is a “message” that makes a lot of sense?
How do you know she was keeping secrets? Zullo is making an announcement next month. That you-know-who three letter agency monitors phone calls, Emails, etc.. How do you know she wasn’t about to spill the beans or at least divulged something worrisome to the you-know-who’s?
You don't kill someone with a secret who has disclosed that secret. That just compounds your problem. You kill someone who possesses that secret undisclosed so that it surely will not be disclosed.