James J. Bulger

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James J. Bulger

FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive
James J. Bulger
Born:	September 3, 1929
Crime:	Racketeering influenced and corrupt organizations (RICO) - Murder (18 counts), Conspiracy to commit murder, Conspiracy to commit extortion, Narcotics distribution, Conspiracy to commit Money laundering, Extortion, Money laundering
Date Added:	August 19, 1999
Number on List:	#458
Currently Top Ten Fugitive

James Joseph Bulger Jr. (born on September 3, 1929) is a wanted fugitive and alleged leader, along with fellow mobster Stephen Flemmi, of the Winter Hill Gang, an Irish-American crime family operating in the region of Boston, Massachusetts. He is the brother of William Michael Bulger who rose to become President of the Massachusetts State Senate and president of the University of Massachusetts.

On August 19, 1999 Bulger became the 458th Ten Most Wanted fugitive listed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and as such he currently remains wanted for racketeering (under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)), murder, conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit extortion, narcotics distribution, money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering and extortion.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Criminal career 2.1 Early career and prison 2.2 The Killeen Gang 2.3 The Winter Hill Gang 2.4 Consolidating power 2.5 Drug Trafficking 2.6 Downfall 2.7 The Fugitive 3 FBI informant 4 Personality 5 Family 6 Urban legends 7 In popular culture 8 Press relations 9 FBI rebuked 10 See also 11 Footnotes 12 References 13 External links

[edit] Early life

Bulger was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, his parents were both Irish immigrants. His father, James Joseph Bulger Sr., worked as a longshoreman. The elder Bulger has been described as an honest, hardworking man who was well respected by all who knew him. His mother, the former Miss Jane Veronica McCarthy, worked as a full time homemaker.

James Bulger was one of six children. When he was a small child, his parents moved the family to South Boston, Massachusetts. They moved into a new public housing project called Old Colony Harbor. James Bulger attended St. Mark's, a parochial school in Dorchester, for the first grade, before transferring to St. Margaret's school.^[1] The memoirs of his brother, former State Senator William Bulger, describe him as a mischevous child fond of pranks. He is further alleged to have once run away to join the circus and to have kept a pet ocelot.^[2]

James Bulger was first arrested in 1943, at the age of 15, for larceny. He then went on to be arrested for assault and battery and armed robbery. At this time he was associated with a juvenile street gang known as "The Shamrocks."^[1] As is still common in inner city neighborhoods like South Boston, Bulger and his fellow Shamrocks were looked up to and admired by many younger boys.

In 1948 Bulger joined the United States Air Force. After completing basic training, he was stationed at the Smoky Hill Air Force Base in Salina, Kansas and later in Idaho. During this time, he spent time in the brig for a number of assaults. In 1950 he was arrested for going AWOL. On August 16, 1952, he received an honorable discharge and returned to Massachusetts.^[1]

[edit] Criminal career

[edit] Early career and prison

After returning to Boston, Bulger wasted no time in returning to his old activities. In 1952 he was involved in the highjacking of a liquor truck. By 1955, he had joined a crew which robbed a string of banks in Rhode Island and Indiana. In January 1956, a Federal warrant was issued for his arrest. Bulger then went on the run and was finally arrested in March 1956 and sentenced to prison in June 1956. He spent time in Federal penitentiaries in Atlanta, Georgia, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and at Alcatraz. He was released in 1965. Some sources have alleged that his brother, Massachusetts State Senator William Bulger, used his political influence to obtain an early release. This, however, has never been conclusively proven.^[1]

[edit] The Killeen Gang

After his release from prison, Bulger worked as a janitor prior to becoming an enforcer for Donald Killeen, the boss of the dominant crime family in South Boston. In 1971, Donald Killeen's younger brother bit off the nose of Paulie McGonagle, one of the leaders of the rival Mullen Gang. A gangland war soon resulted, leading to a string of slayings throughout Boston and the surrounding suburbs. The Killeens quickly found themselves outgunned and outmaneuvred by the younger Mullens.

The end of the war has usually been related as follows. Bulger, realizing that he was on the losing side, secretly approached Howie Winter, the leader of the Winter Hill Gang. He allegedly told Winter that he could end the fighting in South Boston by murdering the leaders of the Killeen gang. Shortly thereafter, Donald Killeen was gunned down outside his home in suburban Framingham, Massachusetts.^[1]

Former Mullen Gang boss Patrick Nee, however, disputes this claim. According to Nee, the slaying of Donald Killeen on May 13, 1972 was carried out, not by Bulger, but by Mullen Gang enforcer Jimmy Mantville.^[3]

Also according to Nee, Bulger and his fellow Killeens fled the city in the aftermath of their boss's murder, fearing that they would be next. Instead of murdering Bulger, however, Patrick Nee arranged for their dispute with him to be mediated by Howie Winter and Mafia Capo Joe Russo (mobster). After a sitdown at Chandler's restaurant in the South End, Boston, the two gangs joined forces with Winter as overall boss.^[4]

[edit] The Winter Hill Gang

In 1972 the Winter Hill Gang sought to control gambling in the North of the city. To do this they had to remove the Notarangeli gang, headed by Indian Joe Notarangeli. Bulger allied himself with the Winter Hill Gang and played an important role in the Winter Hill gang's victory and subsequent domination of organized crime in the Irish-American neighborhoods of Boston. It has been alleged that he was involved in the shooting of two members of the Notarangeli gang that resulted in the death of Al Plummer and wounding of Hugh Shields. Because of this he became an influential member within the Winter Hill Gang.^[1]

By 1973 Bulger was in control of the rackets in South Boston. Special Agent Condon, Bulger's contact in the FBI, noted in his log, in September 1973, that Bulger had been heavily pressuring the bookmakers and shylocks in the area.^[1]

Beginning in 1973, he began to use his influence to remove opposition, by either killing or, after 1975, informing on his rivals. These included former Mullen associate, Spike O'Toole, who was killed by Johnny Martorano and former Mullen Gang veteran Paul McGonagle, who was murdered by Bulger and buried in a shallow grave in Boston's Tenean Beach. It is also alleged that he had direct involvement in the murders of Eddie Connors, in January 1975 and Tommy King and Buddy Leonard in November 1975.^[1]

In 1979, Howie Winter was arrested, along with many members of his inner circle, on charges of fixing horse races. Bulger, who was left out of the indictments, stepped into the vacuum and took over the leadership of the gang. He transferred its headquarters to a garage in South Boston.^[1]

[edit] Consolidating power

When Howie Winter and most of his organization's leadership were sentenced for fixing horse races in 1979, the FBI persuaded Federal prosecutors to drop all charges against Bulger and Flemmi. Bulger and Flemmi then took over the remnants of the Winter Hill Gang and used their status as informants to eliminate competition.

The information they supplied to the FBI in subsequent years was responsible for the imprisonment of several Bulger associates whom Bulger viewed as a threat. But the main victim of their relationship with the Federal Government was the Italian-American Patriarca crime family, which was based in the North End, Boston and in Federal Hill, Providence. After the 1986 RICO indictment of Underboss Gennaro Anguilo and his associates, the Patriarca Family's Boston operations were in shambles. Bulger and Flemmi manipulated the ensuing vacuum to consolidate their control of illicit gambling and drug trafficking in and around Boston.^[1]

By 1988 Bulger headed an organization that ran everything of the rackets (e.g., extortion, loansharking, bookmaking, truck hijackings and gun smuggling) not just in Boston but throughout New England. They were also the main narcotics distributor in the state, receiving their drugs from a Cuban-American gang based in Miami. They were earning so much money that they set up "The X Fund," which was used for payoffs of individuals in politics and law enforcement. It has since been revealed that members of the Boston Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation accepted bribes from the X fund.^[1]

[edit] Drug Trafficking

The Bulger, Weeks, Flemmi trio became heavily involved in narcotics trafficking in the early 1980s. Bulger began to summon drug dealers from in and around Boston to his headquarters. Flanked by Kevin Weeks and Stephen Flemmi, he would inform each dealer that he had been offered a substantial sum to assassinate them. He would then demand a large cash payment as the price for not doing so.

Eventually, however, the massive profits of drugs proved irresistible. Bulger began to micromanage the New England drug scene. In South Boston, most of the gang's drug trafficking was managed by a hand picked crew of athletes led by John Shea. Edward MacKenzie Jr., a former member of Shea's crew, has stated that this was done because Bulger viewed athletes as less likely to abuse the drugs they were selling.

Bulger enforced very strict rules over his dealers, allowing them to sell cocaine and marijuana, but forbidding heroin and PCP. According to Bulger's reasoning, a cocaine addict can still function, while heroin addicts "become zombies." Those dealers who refuse to obey Bulger's rules were beaten and driven out of the neighborhood. To those who obeyed, however, business was good. The Boston drug scene thrived as "Red" Shea and his crew arranged massive drug deals with Colombian and Cuban-American suppliers based in South Florida.

In 1990, however, "Red" Shea and his associates were arrested as part of a joint investigation involving the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the Boston Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police. The entire crew refused to violate the Southie Code and snitch on Bulger, to the fury of investigators who had hoped to build a case against him. It would not be until the 1999 cooperation of Kevin Weeks that Bulger, by then a fugitive, was conclusively linked to the drug trade by investigators.

[edit] Downfall

In 1994, a joint task force of the DEA, the Massachusetts State Police, and the Boston Police Department launched a probe of Bulger's gambling operations. The FBI, by this time considered compromised, was not informed. After a number of imprisoned bookmakers agreed to testify to having paid protection money to Bulger, a Federal case was built against him under the RICO Act.

[edit] The Fugitive

The following December, Bulger was informed by John Connolly (FBI) that sealed indictments had come from the Department of Justice and that the FBI were due to make arrests during the Christmas season. In response, Bulger fled Boston on December 23, 1994 accompanied by his common law wife, Theresa Stanley.

According to Kevin Weeks, this was something that Bulger had long prepared for. As early as 1977, he had acquired documents for himself under the name Thomas F. Baxter. He had also set up safe deposit boxes, containing cash, jewelry, and passports, in cities across North America and Europe including Florida, Oklahoma, Montreal, Dublin, London and Venice. It is estimated that he may have stashed as much as $40 million in various hiding places. When the FBI raided his house they found dozens of how-to books on living on the run.^[1]

Bulger and Stanley initially spent four days over Christmas in Selden, New York before spending New Year's Day in a hotel in New Orleans French Quarter. On January 5, 1995, Bulger prepared to return to Boston, believing that the tip offs had been a false alarm. That night, however, Stephen Flemmi was arrested, outside his restaurant, by the DEA. Michael Flemmi, a Boston police officer and Stephen Flemmi's brother, informed Kevin Weeks of the arrest. Weeks immediately passed the information on to Bulger, who altered his plans accordingly.^[1]

Bulger and Stanley then spent the next three weeks traveling between New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco before Stanley decided that she wanted to return to her children. They then traveled to Clearwater, Florida, where Bulger retrieved his Tom Baxter identification from a safety deposit box. Bulger then drove to Boston and dropped off Teresa Stanley in a parking lot. He then met Kevin Weeks who had brought with him one of Bulger's favorite mistresses, Catherine Greig. Bulger and Greig then went on the run together.^[1]

In his memoirs, Kevin Weeks vividly describes his clandestine meeting with Bulger and Greig in Chicago, Illinois. Bulger fondly reminisced about his time hiding out with a family in Louisiana. He told Weeks, who had become his surrogate son, "If anything comes down, put it on me."^[5]

As they adjourned to a nearby Japanese restaurant, Bulger finally revealed how exhausted he was with life on the run. He told Weeks, "Every day out there is another day I beat them. Every good meal is a meal they can't take away from me."^[6]

On November 17, 1999, Kevin Weeks, who had taken over the leadership of the Winter Hill Gang, was arrested by a combined force of the DEA and the Massachusetts State Police. While awaiting trial in Federal prison, he was horrified to learn that Bulger and Flemmi had been informing on their own underlings. Deciding that, "you can't rat on a rat," he cut a deal with Federal prosecutors, and revealed where almost every penny and body was buried.

James J. Bulger is currently on the FBI Ten Most Wanted list and a reward for US $1 million is being offered for information leading to his capture.

The last confirmed sighting of Bulger was in London in 2002, though in late July 2005, FBI agents were sent to Uruguay to investigate a lead. FBI Agents were also sent to stake out the 60th Memorial of the Battle of Normandy celebrations as Bulger is such an enthusiastic fan of military history. Additionally, Bulger was allegedly sighted in County Cork, Ireland in Summer 2006.

According to sources, in late 2006, it was reported that Bulger was spotted in a San Diego movie theater leaving a showing of Martin Scorsese's film The Departed.^[7][8] However, investigators have not confirmed this sighting as an official spotting of Bulger.

Kevin Weeks has stated his belief that his former mentor has probably been living abroad since 9/11 and is currently unable to return to the United States.

[edit] FBI informant

In 1971 the FBI, searching for reliable information in their battle against the Patriarca crime family, approached Bulger and attempted to recruit him as an informant. FBI Special Agent Dennis Condon was assigned to make the pitch. Although some information is alleged to have been passed on, Condon noted that Bulger was too concerned about his own safety to start working with the FBI.^[1]

In 1974, Bulger became partners with Stephen Flemmi, who had been an FBI informant since 1965. Although it is a documented fact that Bulger soon followed Flemmi's example, exactly how and why he became an informant continues to be debated.

Special Agent John Connolly frequently boasted to his fellow agents about how he had recruited Bulger at a late night, beachfront meeting inside an FBI issue car. Author Howie Carr writes that Bulger had been an off-the-books informant since his teenage years and that, like Flemmi, he had been recruited by Special Agent H. Paul Rico. However, Kevin Weeks—Bulger's surrogate son—considers it more likely that Stephen Flemmi had helped build a Federal case against him. He writes of his belief that Bulger was caught between a rock and a hard place; supply information to the FBI or return to prison.

What is undisputed, however, is that Bulger used his charm and charisma in order to turn his status with the FBI to his own advantage. Special Agent Connolly, who was assigned to monitor him, soon grew to revere Bulger, and viewed him like an older brother. According to Federal prosecutors, Connolly became, for all intents and purposes, a member of Bulger's organization, supplying him with information about investigations and even funneling bribes to at least one other agent.

When John Connolly retired, Bulger is alleged to have set him up with a six figure job at the Boston Edison as the director of security.^[1]

[edit] Personality

Bulger and his associates were looked up to and revered by several generations of South Boston youth. Those who have worked for him describe him as a benevolent but ruthless father figure who took very few steps without carefully considering all possible consequences.

One former associate has described him as follows, "The more work I did for Whitey, the better I liked it. If I received a rare smile from the man, an extra bonus for a job well done, that could keep me going for days. I loved to listen to his theories about the great military strategists of the world - like Caesar, Maximus, Patton, MacArthur - and how they moved deliberately, evaluating every possible move before acting. Nothing could match the high of standing next to the king of South Boston. I did everything I could to win his praise and respect."^[9]

In spite of his ruthless nature, Bulger was capable of genuine acts of kindness toward South Boston's poor. He is known to have personally bought Thanksgiving turkeys and living room furniture for families who could not afford them. Kevin Weeks' memoirs list a number of similar incidents.

Kevin Weeks describes him further as a man who, like many mobsters, lived by a moral code which he had created for himself. For example, he allowed drug dealers to operate in South Boston only as long as they paid him his "cut" and did not sell heroin or PCP. According to Bulger's reasoning, a cocaine addict can still function, while heroin addicts "become zombies."

He watched very little television besides the History Channel and was fond of reading books, especially true crime and military history. He did not drink, smoke, or use drugs.

[edit] Family

Beginning in 1967, Bulgar cohabitated for more than thirty years with Teresa Stanley, a South Boston woman with several children. Bulgar bought her an expensive house in suburban Quincy, Massachusetts, and acted as father to her children while commuting to "work" in South Boston. Like many mobsters, however, he was frequently unfaithful to her with a host of other women and was often absent overseeing the running of his organization. Theresa Stanley has stated that she is planning to publish her memoirs.

Bulgar is the older brother of John "Jackie" Bulgar, a retired Massachusetts court clerk magistrate who was convicted in April 2003 of perjury to two grand juries regarding testimony he gave about contact with his fugitive brother.

Another brother is William Bulgar, formerly an influential leader within the Democratic Party in Massachusetts. In a long political career, he rose from obscurity to become President of the Massachusetts State Senate. After his retirement he was appointed President of the University of Massachusetts. In his 2002 testimony before Congress, Billy Bulgar was grilled by legislators from both parties. He stated that his brother was "vague" about the details of his criminal activities and that he hoped the most brutal rumors about him would be proved false. In addition, he grudgingly admitted to visiting an isolated pay phone in order to speak to his older brother, who was by then a fugitive. [1] As fall-out from these remarks, Billy was forced by Governor Mitt Romney to resign as president of the University of Massachusetts in 2003.

[edit] Urban legends

Due to Bulger's tendency to remain a mystery even to those closest to him, a number of urban legends have grown up around his rise and fall, especially since he was revealed to have been an FBI informant.

According to the book "Black Mass" by Boston Globe writers Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill, Bulger once extorted a winning lottery ticket from the real winner, who had purchased the ticket at one of his stores.

Bulger is alleged to have been a predatory bisexual by persistent rumor. Author Howie Carr writes that a teenage Bulger worked as a male prostitute in Boston's gay bars. He further states that Bulger's acquaintance with FBI agent H. Paul Rico dates from this time. Rico, who according to Carr was a closet homosexual, allegedly recruited Bulger as an informant after meeting him in a gay bar.

Longtime Bulger friend and confidant Kevin Weeks, however, insists that there is no truth to this. "All the stuff and rumors that questioned Jimmy's sexuality were lies spread by the media. He had more women than Hugh Hefner. Guys like Donald Trump weren't even in his league. Whenever we went out to bars and clubs, women of all ages were after him. 'Variety is the spice of life,' he'd say as he enjoyed all of them."^[10]

[edit] In popular culture

Characters based on Bulger have appeared in a number of movies and television programs.

In the Law and Order episode "Brother's Keeper", Detectives Lennie Briscoe and Ed Green investigate a string of murders linked to Cally Lonegan, a devious Irish mob boss dubbed, "The Last of the Westies." Sharing Bulger's FBI deal but lacking his exceptionally high intelligence, Lonegan is eventually stabbed to death in his prison cell before his arraignment. It is implied that Lonegan's murder was ordered by the Mafia boss on whom he had previously worn a wire.

Bulger is also the inspiration for the ruthless crime kingpin Francis "Frank" Costello, who is played by Jack Nicholson in Martin Scorsese's Academy Award winning film The Departed. Costello differs from Bulger in his lack of political connections, apart from his FBI deal.

The most complex portrayal to date appears on the TV gangster drama Brotherhood, which is inspired by Bulger's rumored alliance with his politician brother William. The series, which is modeled after HBO's The Sopranos, takes place in The Hill, a fictional Irish-American neighborhood in Providence, Rhode Island.

As the series dawns, former neighborhood mob boss Michael Caffee (Jason Isaacs) returns to Providence after seven years as a fugitive, hoping to pick up where he left off. Beginning to rebuild his criminal empire, he is quickly drawn into an uneasy alliance with his younger brother Tommy Caffee, who has risen to become the neighborhood's political boss.

Similar to Bulger, Michael Caffee is portayed as living according to a private ethical code, viewing businessmen and politicians as thieves in suits and having few scruples about the use of violence. However, he is also deeply loyal to his fellow gangsters and his family. In one dramatic incident, Caffee forces a neighborhood merchant to sell her store by playing Russian Roulette on her disabled brother.

At the climax of Brotherhood's first season, Caffee is shot in the head by Declan Giggs, a police officer who had been blaming Caffee for making him "go bad."

[edit] Press relations

Author Howie Carr provides an explanation in his book The Brothers Bulger on why the press failed to more vigorously pursue Whitey. When Boston Herald reporter Paul Corsetti began looking into Whitey's possible involvement in a gangland murder, he ran into a stranger in a bar. The stranger told Corsetti, "I'm Jimmy Bulger and I kill people," and pulled out a piece of paper from which he recited Corsetti's address in Medford; the make, model, and license number of his family's cars; and information about Corsetti's preschool daughter's day care. This incident caused Corsetti to wear a .38-caliber revolver to work, and discouraged the Boston media from investigating Bulger again for a number of years.^[11]

In addition, many columnists, especially those working for The Boston Globe, were friendly towards Billy Bulger and downplayed Whitey's criminal enterprises, portraying the gangster as a latter-day 'Robin Hood,' who kept drugs out of South Boston.

According to former associate Kevin Weeks, Whitey was highly fond of reading the newspapers and laughing hysterically at all they got wrong in their coverage of him. "The Boston press is not known for its accuracy," he was fond of saying, "and they never let the truth get in the way of a good story."^[12]

Whitey Bulger has been on the television show America's Most Wanted 12 times. He was first featured in 1995.

In 2007, a New Hampshire newspaper published a story in an April Fool's edition claiming that Bulger had been captured. The Berlin (NH) Daily Sun published an account of FBI agents taking Bulger into custody after a stand-off at the trailer park where he had been hiding. The article jokingly claimed that the FBI was able to force Bulger into surrender by blasting Barry Manilow tunes at the trailer where he was hunkered down. [2]

[edit] FBI rebuked

A US District Court judge found on September 5, 2006 that the mishandling of Bulger and his associate, Stephen Flemmi caused the murder in 1984 of John McIntyre in a lawsuit brought by the victim's family who will receive more than $3 million from the US government. The judge stated that the FBI failed to properly supervise their own agent John Connolly (convicted and jailed in 2002) and also failed to investigate numerous allegations that Bulger and Flemmi were involved in drug trafficking, murder, and other crimes over decades.^[13]

[edit] See also

• FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
• Winter Hill Gang
• William Bulger
• Stephen Flemmi
• John Connolly (FBI)
• H. Paul Rico
• Kevin Weeks
• Patrick Nee

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• The Brothers Bulger: How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston For a Quarter Century, by Howie Carr, Warner, 352 pp., ISBN 0-446-57651-4
• Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill, Harper, 424 pp., ISBN 0-06-095925-8
• Street Soldier; My Life as an Enforcer for "Whitey" Bulger and the Boston Irish Mob by Edward MacKenzie and Phyllis Karas, Steerforth, 256 pp., ISBN 1-58642-076-3
• Brutal; My Life Inside Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob by Kevin Weeks and Phyllis Karas, Regan Books, 304 pp., ISBN 0-06-112269-6
• Rat Bastards: A Memoir of South Boston's Most Honorable Irish Mobster by John "Red" Shea

[edit] External links

• Bulger on FBI's Ten Most Wanted list
• Boston Globe articles and current news
• Info on FBI connections to mob
• Whitey Watch, audio, video, etc.
• Whitey World
• Whitey Bulger on crimelibrary.com
• Law Firm who brought first successful suit, on behalf of John McIntyre, finding the Boston FBI liable for the actions of Bulger and Flemmi
• American Organized Crime - Winter Hill Gang - James "Whitey" Bulger