Michael Donahue, a friend of Halloran's from Dorchester, incidentally ran into him at the restaurant. Whitey Bulger, Boston crime boss and elusive fugitive, dead in prison at 89 By Paul Duggan October 30, 2018 at 9:44 p.m. EDT Boston Irish mob boss Whitey Bulger, who spent 16 years evading. This earned Shea a legendary reputation in South Boston. In June 2012, Greig pleaded guilty to conspiracy to harbor a fugitive, identity fraud, and conspiracy to commit identity fraud, receiving a sentence of eight years in prison. [102] Bulger was indicted in Florida for the murder of Callahan and in Oklahoma for the murder of Roger Wheeler, and could have received the death penalty in those states. He was beaten to death by the inmates when he was in his wheelchair, soon after he arrived there. ", "Black Mass: 9 Movie and TV Characters Inspired by Whitey Bulger", "Comic-Con: 'The Blacklist' Inspired by Whitey Bulger's Capture", "The Blacklist: Showrunner John Eisendrath Talks about the Show's Inspiration, Getting Inside the Mind of a Criminal, Casting James Spader, and More", Hitman: The Untold Story of Johnny Martorano: Whitey Bulger's Enforcer and the Most Feared Gangster in the Underworld, Betrayal: Whitey Bulger and the FBI Agent Who Fought to Bring Him Down, "Top 10 Most Wanted Criminals in the World 2018", Court Ruling Denying Compensation to Victims Families, Bulger's FBI Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitive Alert, "James 'Whitey' Bulger capture means on FBI's Most Wanted List, two down, eight to go", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Whitey_Bulger&oldid=1142774879, Two life sentences plus five years, forfeiture of $25.2, Bulger is mentioned considerably in the book, The character of Frank Costello (played by, "Notorious mob boss Whitey Bulger found dead in prison" from, This page was last edited on 4 March 2023, at 08:47. This amount was second only to Osama Bin Laden's capture reward on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. When Bulger arrived at the United States Penitentiary in Tucson there were other famous inmates there, including Brian David Mitchell, Steven Dale Green and Montoya Snchez.[97]. This led to him meeting more experienced criminals and finding more lucrative opportunities. MURDERED CRIME boss James 'Whitey' Bulger was made to suffer prior to his death if the disturbing details that have surfaced online are to be believed. The subject that interests so many, the life and the activities of my brother James is painful and difficult for me. That night, as always, he was talking in his obnoxious loud voice. Eventually, however, the massive profits of drugs proved irresistible. Bulger and Flemmi stepped into the ensuing vacuum to take control of organized crime in the Boston area. Donahue was survived by his wife and three sons. "[35]:231232 As they adjourned to a nearby Japanese restaurant, Bulger finally revealed how exhausted he was with life on the run. The Florida Commission on Offender Review voted 2-1 in favor of releasing John . Known as one of the nation's most notorious criminals and fugitives, Bulger - nicknamed "Whitey" for his bright platinum hair - was the head of a violent South Boston crime ring known as . Rumors had abounded long before then, since it was unheard of for a criminal of Bulger's stature to go for years without even an arrest. Only it wasn't Paulie. [84] Before his 1987 death by drug overdose, McGonagle reportedly held Bulger responsible for the murders of his brothers, twins Donald and Paul McGonagle, who were killed in the fighting which occurred during the Mullen-Killeen gang war. [56] Valhalla rendezvoused 120 nautical miles (220km; 140mi) off the west coast of Ireland with the Marita Ann, an IRA ship that had sailed from Tralee. Bulger was able to begin taking part in counseling with a prison psychologist at the Tucson facility. Their father was a machinist from Glasgow, Scotland, and their mother was from Canada, as was Bulger's father. Connolly frequently boasted to his fellow agents about how he had recruited Bulger at a late-night meeting at Wollaston Beach inside an FBI-issue car. [42]:123125. On June 3, Paul E. Coffey, the head of the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the Department of Justice, gave a sworn statement admitting that Bulger had been an FBI informant. [21][22][23] In 2022, Fotios Geas, Paul DeCologero and Sean McKinnon were charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in Bulger's death.[24][25][26]. [105] This was the third homicide at the prison in a 40-day span. The true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf. After listening to the pitch, Bulger is said to have responded, "Alright, if they want to play checkers, we'll play chess. [93], In September 2015, Greig was indicted on a charge of criminal contempt stemming from her refusal to testify before a grand jury about whether other people aided Bulger while he was a fugitive. Flemmi has identified the second shooter as Patrick Nee, who has denied the allegation and has yet to be charged. On September 13, 1984, Bulger, Weeks and Nee supervised the loading of Valhalla. Prosecutors allege that a mere 12 hours after Bulger arrived at USP Hazelton, he was found dead in his cell. But Jimmy and I usually ended up laughing at most of the news stories, as time and time again the media had it wrong, over and over again holding to their pledge to never let the truth get in the way of a good story. If he had a gun on him, he would go out in a blaze of glory rather than spend the rest of his life in jail. Those guys have been giving up everyone for thirty years. "James 'Whitey' Bulger is captured but not in a bookstore". 170 18K views 2 years ago The last known photos of late notorious gangster Whitey Bulger are being released for the first time, along with the story behind what happened while he was on the run. [20] Bulger, who was in a wheelchair, was beaten to death by inmates on October 30, 2018, within hours of his arrival at Hazelton. '"[35]:59, Strangely enough, Jimmy, told me, 'Louie's last words to me were a lie.' Three men, including a Mafia hitman, have been charged in the 2018 prison killing of notorious Boston crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday. "[71], A reward of US$2million had been offered for information leading to his capture. As Donahue and Halloran drove out of the parking lot, Weeks signaled Bulger by stating, "The balloon is in the air" over a walkie-talkie. A week later, Tommy was dead. [] And I'm not particularly sympathetic to some of the people involved, some of the victims' families. James Joseph Bulger Jr. was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts on September 3, 1929 - a month before the stock market crash.show more content. Halloran lived long enough to identify his attacker as Bulger associate James Flynn, who was later tried and acquitted. [59], After fleeing Boston, Bulger and Stanley spent four days over Christmas in Selden, New York, before spending New Year's Day in a hotel in New Orleans's French Quarter. A wrongful death lawsuit, which described Bulger as "perhaps the most infamous and well-known inmate" in federal prison since Al Capone, claimed that Bulger was "deliberately sent to his. He pleaded not guilty to 48 charges, including 19 counts of murder, extortion, money laundering, obstruction of justice, perjury, narcotics distribution and weapons violations. [31] Nee disputes this, claiming that Killeen was murdered by Mullen enforcers James Mantville and Tommy King, not Bulger. [76][77] A day later, "using a ruse, agents and other task force members lured Mr. Bulger out of his apartment", "arrested him 'without incident', then went in the house and arrested Greig". [43]:54 Morris not only proved himself unable to rein in Connolly's protection of Bulger, but even began assisting him. [122] He testified: "I do not know where my brother is. He told Weeks, who had replaced him as head of the Winter Hill Gang, "If anything comes down, put it on me. Bulger remained at large for sixteen years. Winter Hill was never the same as far as wise guys go," he said. They didn't ask me to go, not that I would have wanted to. [42]:127134[42] Soon after, Donald's sole surviving brother, Kenny, was jogging in Boston's City Point neighborhood when Bulger called him over to a car and said, "It's over. In Hunting Whitey: The Inside Story of the Capture & Killing of America's Most Wanted Crime Boss, authors Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge reveal how notorious gangster Whitey Bulger finally got caught. [81], In a 2011 interview, Kevin Weeks expressed surprise at Bulger's decision to cooperate after his arrest. According to an interview conducted with Globe reporters Kevin Cullen and Shelley Murphy, Weeks "estimated that Whitey made about thirty million dollars most of it from shaking down drug dealers to let them do business on his turf. [95], Greig served much of her eight-year sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Waseca in Minnesota,[96] but was also detained at various points in Rhode Island ahead of proceedings in the criminal contempt case. Oct. 29, 2021 1:45 AM PT. However, while awaiting trial in Rhode Island's Wyatt federal prison, Weeks was approached by a fellow inmate, a "made man" in the Patriarca family, who told him, "Kid, what are you doing? In 1993 and 1994, before the pinches came down, Jimmy and Stevie were traveling on the French and Italian Riviera. He would have gotten lung cancer. [35]:5759 Litif told an outraged Bulger he was also going to kill his partner, "Joe the Barber", whom he accused of stealing from the bookmaking operation. Apparently, the inmate was not motivated by any personal issues with Bulger, but commmitted the near-fatal assault so that he would be sent to solitary confinement, allegedly to avoid paying for drugs he had acquired from other prisoners. He had always said you had to be ready to take off on short notice. Flynn remained the prime suspect until 1999, when Weeks agreed to cooperate with investigators and identified Bulger as one of the shooters. The other Bulger children, William Bulger and John P. Bulger, excelled at school; James Bulger Jr. became drawn into street life. Coffey stated that since Bulger was accused of "leading a criminal enterprise" while working as an informant and was also now a fugitive, he had "forfeited any reasonable expectation" that his identity would be protected. But I don't think they'll ever catch him. After the 1972 truce, Bulger and the Mullens were in control of South Boston's criminal underworld. [68][69][70], Bulger was captured as a result of the work of the Bulger Fugitive Task Force, which consisted of FBI agents and a Deputy U.S. [17] On November 14, he was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences plus five years by U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. And now he wanted to kill a friend of Jimmy. [128] According to Cyr, "He used to say that there were four people he would turn up on a street corner for: Douglas, me, Billy, or his mother. Yet at that moment, in that restaurant in New York, I sensed that he had moved to a new place in his mind. "Don't worry about it", Bulger responded. After his release, Bulger worked as a janitor and construction worker before becoming a bookmaker and loan shark under mobster Donald Killeen, whose gang, The Killeens, had dominated South Boston for over twenty years. Connolly confirmed Bulger's suspicions of McIntyre, leading Bulger and Flemmi to consider murdering McIntyre for his betrayal. At Coleman, Bulger started experiencing night terrors, which he attributed to the experiments he had taken part in while incarcerated in the 1950s, where he had been administered LSD. "[35]:207, In his memoirs, Kevin Weeks related his participation in an attempt to assassinate reporter Howie Carr at his house in suburban Acton. He was one of the most infamous criminals to ever be killed behind bars. The former organized crime boss was killed after being transferred to Hazelton Federal Prison in West Virginia, according to NBC News. A. Sometimes they took girls, sometimes just the two of them went. [97] However, rumors circulated that the psychologist[citation needed] was too sympathetic to Bulger, and may even have allowed him to use her cell phone. "[35]:53, At the time, Weeks was about to get married and, shortly before the wedding, informed Bulger that he was having difficulty finding a seat for Litif at the reception. Bulger met with Weeks at Malibu Beach in Dorchester, where Weeks brought Bulger's girlfriend, Catherine Greig. After his retirement he was appointed President of the University of Massachusetts system. Jimmy had prepared for the run for years. James "Whitey" Bulger, the murderous Boston gangster who benefited from a corrupt relationship with the FBI before spending 16 years as one of America's most wanted men, has died in A gang war resulted, leading to a string of killings throughout Boston and the surrounding suburbs. Bulger, the ruthless leader who was at the helm of the South Boston-based Winter Hill Gang, was convicted in 2013 for his involvement in a slew of crimes, including 11 murders. Bulger's third petition for parole, in 1965, was granted after he had served nine years in prison. And he meant it. [116] Bulger's death came as a relief to many Bostonians, especially for family members of his victims;[105] Steven Davis, whose sister Debra was reportedly killed by Bulger in 1981, stated that "[h]e died the way I hoped he always was going to die. [89] She was represented in the criminal proceedings by the prominent criminal attorney Kevin Reddington of Brockton, Massachusetts. Weeks stated that Carr was targeted because he was "writing nasty stories about people, he was an oxygen thief who didn't deserve to breathe." It was during the war that Bulger set out to commit what Weeks describes as Bulger's first murder, of Mullen member Paul McGonagle. Up until then, I always believed he thought there was a chance he had beat the case. He quietly served a long prison sentence and refused to admit to having paid protection money to Bulger, Flemmi and Weeks. Bulger, realizing he was on the losing side, secretly approached Howie Winter, the leader of the Winter Hill Gang, and claimed he could end the war by murdering the Killeen leadership. [74][78] [75][76] The Boston Globe identified the tipster as Anna Bjrnsdttir, a former model, actress, and Miss Iceland 1974, who lived in Bulger's neighborhood. [33] By then he had joined a street gang known as the "Shamrocks" and would eventually be arrested for assault, forgery and armed robbery. His eyes had nearly been gouged out and his tongue almost cut off;[108][109][110] a law enforcement official described Bulger as "unrecognizable". It was my good friend John Martorano." Martorano rapidly became one of the Winter Hill Gang's most prolific enforcers under the tenures of Howie Winter and Whitey Bulger. If he saw them coming, he would take them with him. that Bulger, in exchange for favorable treatment in sentencing, would have much to tell authorities about corruption at the local, state and federal levels, which allowed him to operate his criminal enterprise for so long. On July 7, 1996, a federal grand jury in Boston returned a 29-count indictment against Bulger and four other leaders of the Winter Hill Gang and the Patriarca Family; Bulger was indicted on 13 counts of racketeering. That night, however, Flemmi was arrested outside a Boston restaurant by the DEA. The 89-year-old was discovered unresponsive at the maximum security facility shortly. [74] Carmen Ortiz, U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said "she believes the death penalty is not an option in the federal charges Bulger faces in her district, but that he could face the death penalty for two cases outside the district". Weeks immediately passed the information on to Bulger, who altered his plans. Guards immediately undertook lifesaving measures, officials said, but he was pronounced dead. They stepped into the power vacuum and took over the leadership of the Winter Hill Gang, transferring its headquarters to the Lancaster Street Garage in Boston's West End, near the Boston Garden. They overheard two of the agents who were listening in on the bug mention that they should have told one of their informants to give "a list of questions" to the other wiseguys. There was no way that would be allowed. The two stations share studios and. Bulger had also set up safe deposit boxes containing cash, jewelry and passports in locations across North America and Europe, including Florida, Oklahoma, Montreal, Dublin, London, Birmingham and Venice. Although by this time he was aware of Bulger's FBI deal, he was determined to remain faithful to the neighborhood code of silence. 'He was color coordinated,' Jimmy told me. Marshal. Bulger coldly responded, "We're not friends anymore, Louie. [85] The body of Paul McGonagle, of whom Greig's sister Margaret was a widow, lay hidden and buried for 25 years on Tenean Beach in Dorchester. [] I remember that we were walking out of the hospital the night that he died, and he was holding my hand. [79] In Florida, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said, "After a 16-year delay, I will be working to ensure that a Miami jury has the opportunity to look [Bulger] in the eyes and determine his fate". it had been bullshit when Connolly told me that the files hadn't been disseminated, that they had been for his own personal use. After reporting the story for several days, Corsetti was approached by a man who said, "I'm Jim Bulger and if you continue to write shit about me, I'm going to blow your fucking head off. Bulger and Greig then went on the run together. [97] Bulger, who started his imprisonment with a rigorous exercise regime, was by this point using a wheelchair. Whitey Bulger Death Bulger passed away on 30th October 2018 in the United States Penitentiary, Hazelton in West Virginia. He smoked. [37], Bulger and eighteen other inmates, all of whom had volunteered in return for reduced sentences, were given LSD and other drugs over an eighteen-month period. Most of South Boston's cocaine and marijuana trafficking was under the control of a crew led by mobster John Shea. [127] Bulger and Cyr began living together in 1966, when Cyr was 21 and a waitress at a North Quincy caf. [57], When Valhalla crew member John McIntyre was arrested "for trying to visit his estranged wife", he confessed his role in the weapons smuggling to the Boston Police. He said that during his days as a fugitive he often went back and forth across the border to Mexico to buy medicine for his heart disease. [citation needed] The seizure marked the complete end of any major attempt by the IRA to smuggle guns out of the United States, which ended three years earlier with the arrest of the primary IRA's gunrunner George Harrison by the FBI. I would see, over and over again, that some of these people had been arrested for crimes that were mentioned in these reports. Bulger only had one son, Douglas . Donahue was shot in the head and killed instantly. Three men were charged Thursday in connection with the 2018 death of notorious mobster James "Whitey" Bulger, federal prosecutors announced. The 89-year-old Bulger was jailed in 2013 for the murder of 11 different . His tone was a little more serious, and there wasn't as much joking as usual. In a decision that would prove costly to him, Donahue offered Halloran a ride home. [31]:49 In May 1938, the Mary Ellen McCormack Housing Project was opened in the neighborhood of South Boston. Bulger was 89 when he was . Whitey Bulger was a prominent figure in Boston's organized crime scene from the 1970s until the mid-'90s when he fled the area. BOSTON (AP) A funeral Mass was held in Boston Thursday for notorious gangster James ''Whitey'' Bulger, who was killed last week hours after he arrived at a troubled . Their base was the Transit Caf in South Boston, which later became Whitey's Triple O's. The two of them traveled all over Europe, sometimes separating for a while. He was serving two life sentences for. [43]:300301, On September 5, 2006, federal judge Reginald C. Lindsay ruled that the mishandling of Bulger and Flemmi caused the 1984 murder of informant John McIntyre, awarding his family $3.1million in damages. Of Arab descent, he had a mustache like Saddam Hussein. [84] She and Bulger lived together for a time at her home in Squantum, a section of Quincy. [122] In April 2003, the committee voted "to grant William Bulger immunity to obtain information concerning Whitey's whereabouts and the FBI's misuse of informants. [122] Following this testimony, Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney waged an extended and ultimately successful effort to get William to resign from the presidency of the University of Massachusetts, which he finally did in August 2003. [48], In 1995, Bulger and Flemmi were indicted on racketeering charges along with two Boston mafiosi, Frank Salemme and Bobby DeLuca. [2][3] On December 23, 1994, Bulger fled the Boston area and went into hiding after his former FBI handler, John Connolly, tipped him off about a pending RICO indictment against him. Later that same night, Jimmy killed Buddy Leonard and left him in Tommy's car on Pilsudski Way in the Old Colony projects to confuse the authorities. [citation needed], Greig initially indicated that she would go to trial rather than accept a plea bargain. By then he was 81 years old. Jimmy shot him right between the eyes. The killing, Nowalk said, took all of seven minutes. Among them was the trio's fear of wiretaps and policy of never discussing their business over the telephone or in vehicles. He'd never return to South Boston. He then killed McIntyre and went upstairs to take a nap while Weeks and Flemmi removed the corpse's teeth with a pair of pliers and buried it in the basement. Geas and DeCologero are accused of striking Bulger, 89, in the head several times in October 2018, causing his death, the district attorney's office said. Bulger was beaten to death at USP Hazelton in October 2018 hours after he was transferred from a prison in Florida, where he had been serving a life sentence for 11 murders and other crimes.. It is still unknown why Cosmo Dinardo and his accomplice Sean Kratz ended the lives of four men over marijuana deals, but there are some theories that can help explain why Dinardo devised his evil plan. In 1943, 14-year-old Bulger was arrested and charged with larceny. His health also declined due to a lack of exercise. James "Whitey'' Bulger, the ruthless Boston gangster who eluded authorities for 16 years before being captured and then convicted in 2013 of participating in 11 murders, has died at a prison in. They also reported themselves unable to agree about the murder of Debra Davis, though Bulger had already been found liable for her death in a civil suit. Even before he went on the run, he would always say, "Let's all go to hell together." [53], Throughout the 1980s, Bulger, Flemmi, and Weeks operated rackets throughout eastern Massachusetts including loansharking, bookmaking, truck hijacking, arms trafficking, and extortion. During the mid-1980s, Bulger began to summon drug dealers from in and around Boston to his headquarters. After Bulger's arrest, Cyr announced her support of him,[131] stating: If he wanted to see me, I'd be happy to. [92] In March 2012, however, Greig pleaded guilty to conspiracy to harbor a fugitive, identity fraud and conspiracy to commit identity fraud. Bulger replied, "You've stepped over the line. The disappearance of four young men took the media by storm, and it soon became a national headline. [citation needed], In the summer of 1991, Bulger and Weeks, along with associates Patrick and Michael Linskey, came into possession of a winning Massachusetts Lottery ticket which had been bought at a store he owned. After evading the police for 16 years - for twelve of which he was on. "[119], On August 18, 2022, three men were indicted in connection with the beating death of Bulger: Fotios Geas, Paul J. DeCologero, and Sean McKinnon. He was 81 years old at the time of the arrest. [94] In April 2016, U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV sentenced Greig, then midway through her sentence for harboring Bulger, to 21 months on the contempt charge, pushing her release date to late 2020. In the hours after Boston crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger was found beaten to death in his prison cell, three inmates were hauled away to solitary confinement. On January 5, 1995, Bulger prepared to return to Boston, believing that it had been a false alarm. Jimmy drove straight to his mentor Billy O'Sullivan's house on Savin Hill Avenue and told O'Sullivan 'I shot the wrong one. Bulger reminisced fondly about his time hiding out with a family in Louisiana. [4] Bulger provided information about the inner workings of the Patriarca crime family, his Italian-American Mafia rivals based in Boston and Providence, Rhode Island. Few people probably did. Bulger was captured in California in 2011 after a 16-year manhunt. Tommy's second and last mistake had been getting into the car with Jimmy, Stevie, and Johnny Martorano. In a 2004 interview, Stanley stated that she was planning to publish her memoirs;[44] however, she died of lung cancer in 2012 at the age of 71.[133]. For example, one murder was of Whitey's partner's exgirlfriend. "[35]:57, Litif had been stealing money from his partners in the bookmaking operation and using the money to traffic cocaine, and had not only refused to pay Bulger a cut of his drug profits but committed two murders without Bulger's permission. Nevertheless, he received an honorable discharge in 1952 and returned to Massachusetts. You're out of business. He had to give it up. Three years after he was bludgeoned to death in a West Virginia prison, no one has been charged in the beating death of murderous Boston crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger. [31], In late August or early September 1974, Bulger and an accomplice reportedly set fire to an elementary school in Wellesley to intimidate U.S. District Court Judge Wendell Arthur Garrity Jr. over his mandated plan to desegregate schools in the city of Boston by means of busing. I can't believe he's so chatty right now. Agents found "more than $800,000 in cash, 30 firearms, and fake IDs" at the apartment. Officials finally confirmed on Thursday the brutal way Whitey was whacked in October 2018. She has been living quietly in South Boston with her twin sister Margaret McCusker. Senate president: A mix of family, Southie, power", "Ancestry offers Whitey and Billy Bulger", "Boston Crime Boss James 'Whitey' Bulger Wanted for Murder", "The CIA's Secret Quest For Mind Control: Torture, LSD And A 'Poisoner In Chief', The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War, "I-Team: Whitey Bulger's Notebook Chronicles LSD Prison Testing", "Whitey bulger: i was a guinea pig for cia drug experiments", "Gangster's Life Lures Host of Storytellers", "Bulger linked to '70s antibusing attack", "New Book Offers Glimpse Into 'Whitey' Bulger's Early Years", "Gerard O'Neill, Boston Globe Investigative Reporter, Dies at 76", "A Voice for Those Silenced in a Mobster's Reign", Former State Police Lieutenant Convicted Of Obstruction, "Mob underling's tale of guns, drugs, fear", "Mike Barnicle: The best friend a gangster could have: When Whitey Bulger was at the peak of his power, he could always count on a friendly columnist to do his P.R.