Boston Mob Boss "Whitey" Bulger Captured

WBUR exclusive booking photo of James 'Whitey' Bulger

 

Whitey Bulger in 1994

The former boss of the Boston mob, James "Whitey" Bulger,  who had spent the last 15+ years on the run from the FBI, was finally captured in Santa Monica, CA on Wednesday afternoon.  He and his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig, had been living a rather normal, modest life in an apartment in southern California.  They used the aliases Charles and Carol Gasko, and were reportedly found to have over $800k and dozens of weapons inside their apartment.  Bulger is wanted on numerous federal charges including extortion, money laundering, RICO conspiracy, and RICO murders of atleast 19 known individuals.  And that is just the murders that the government know about.  After being extradited back to Boston, the Feds are hoping that Bulger will help them tie up many loose ends in regards to all of the crimes that he oversaw throughout the 70's, 80's and 90's.  Best of luck with that, becasue I presume as with most mobsters, the code of omerta is most important to Bulger.  Though he is notorious for becoming a confidential informant for the FBI, it's hard to imagine him giving up much information when he is now 81 years of age, with a few years left anyway.  The biggest question many are pondering is how Whitey Bulger and Catherine Greig could go unnoticed for so long while still living a relatively public life.  Even though they had taken up residence over 3,000 miles away from Boston, Bulger had been on the FBI Ten Most Wanted List for 12 years, and numerous documentaries, including 16 appearances on America's Most Wanted, as well as the Martin Scorcese movie "The Departed" were made depicting the life of the former crime boss.  The Boston Police Department has long been known for it's corruption and one has to wonder if Bulger's whereabouts were known and the police and Feds knowingly turned a blind eye.  To think that it took a trained team of elite Navy Seals operating on a covert nightime raid to capture Osama Bin Laden, yet the man right next to him on the Most Wanted List was able to frequent long walks on the beach in southern California in broad daylight.  But after considering the FBI allowed him to continue his day to day criminal activities while he was also an informant, I suppose it really isn't all that surprising.  In the end, Bulger won't face the death penalty in Massachusetts though he does face murder charges in Oklahoma and Florida that could ultimately lead to capital punishment.  Upon his capture, authorities reported Bulger was in poor health so it will be interesting to see how long he actually stays alive behind bars.