Whitey Bulger

Appeals court orders new judge for case.

Read the order (written by retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter).

Why didn't they run that book excerpt about Whitey Bulger in Love on Valentine's Day? Who doesn't love a good romantic yarn? OK, one in which the protagonist was busy choking one girlfriend to death in front of the other until an underling pulled him off her, but still.

Seems he's signed up to play Bulger in one of the 3,000 upcoming movies about the murdering thug, based on Black Mass by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill.

Seems Bulger was having chest pains.

The Globe reports.

UPDATE: Sheesh, whatever happened to the days when you could trust stuff you read online? The Herald's O'Ryan Johnson tweets neither mobster nor moll is in transit anywhere - due to a computer glitch at the Bureau of Prisons, they've been marked as "in transit" since June.

Jack Gately checks Whitey Bulger's prison record and discovers that, like Sal DiMasi yesterday, he's also "in transit" (DiMasi is spending the night in Brooklyn). Chuck Turner, however, continues to bunk in West Virginia, while Dianne Wilkerson remains ensconced in Stamford.

A federal appeals court today ordered the government to pay nearly $3 million to the families of three people murdered by Whitey Bulger when he was under FBI protection.

In two rulings issued today, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston said enough was enough, Bulger and pal Stephen Flemmi were able to kill people because they knew the government wouldn't touch him and that the government should pay for its role in the murders of Louis Litif, Debra Davis and Deborah Hussey.

South End Textiles has come up with an activity for idle hands - download their 8 1/2x11 PDF, print it out and go to town (or Santa Monica).

There is photographic evidence of Whitey wearing each of these outfits, even the cowboy get-up. Not sure if he ever wore Gerry Cheever's goalie mask, but couldn't resist adding it.

Dana Reichman Gitell spotted this guy just standing there in Dedham this morning.

Dan Kennedy analyzes the Globe's explanation on how it found the identity of the woman who turned in Bulger and why it didn't put her at any more risk than she already faced - thanks to the FBI saying a few months ago that the winning tip came from Iceland and, really, how many Icelanders would Bulger and Grieg have run across in Santa Monica? Also, he recalls how the rampaging Herald kept mocking the Icelandic connection until it got showed up on basic street reporting (the Globe got the name by talking to neighbors, doh).

The Globe provides the definitive look, including the identity of the cat-loving Icelander who brought him down.

Channel 4 is conflicted:

WBZ's Jim Armstrong spoke off camera with the widow of one of Bulger's alleged murder victims. She's disgusted by the idea someone would not just make such a costume, but that anyone else would dress up as a man accused of murdering 19 local people.

But it seems, if you're not personally connected to the man or his legendary wrath, you might be OK with it.

The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit today upheld an earlier decision to toss an $8.5 million verdict against the FBI for its role in letting Whitey Bulger and his henchmen kill an informant and the guy who was giving him a ride home, saying the families filed their lawsuit three weeks after the expiration of the statute of limitations.

In February, a three-judge panel overturned a lower-court award to the families of Brian Halloran and Michael Donahue. In the ruling today, the entire court voted 5-2 to reject the families' request for a rehearing.

The feds claim Whitey Bulger made several trips back to Boston from his California hideout "to take care of some unfinished business."

The allegation is in a motion filed by the US Attorney's Office in Boston today that asks a federal judge to force Bulger's brothers William, former state-senate president, and John, disgraced former court clerk, to swear they have no intention of helping their brother out with his legal bills.

According to the filing, Bulger admitted to federal agents he'd visited Las Vegas, Mexico and Boston during his 16 years on the lam:

Bob Ryan explains why Whitey has more personal honor than Billy.

A judge today ordered prosecutors to meet with Whitey Bulger's temporary attorney on Monday to see if the alleged murdering racketeer has any money that could be used to pay for a lawyer without fear it would be seized by the government.

The Herald tells us about Bulger's new home in the maximum-security wing of MCI Plymouth.

The Globe reports Bulger talked to feds about life on the lam, including slipping into Mexico to buy pills for an alleged heart condition. Also, could Bulger dish on the Gardner Museum thefts?

Alleged thug's brother swarmed by reporters. Photo by Ryan Boyle. More photos.

Tommy Donahue, whose father Michael was one of the 19 people Whitey Bulger is charged with murdering, talked to reporters after the court appearance yesterday:

Don't be fooled by this old man. ... He's a scumbag ... I hope he gets the chair.

Read the 1995 indictment against Bulger and his cronies for racketeering (1.6M PDF file). Somebody let Maria Stephanos at Channel 25 know; she tweets this morning:

The Wall Street Journal reports FBI agents lured him outside through a phone call claiming a storage locker of his had been broken into - and that after the arrest, they found guns hidden in books and cash stuffed in the walls of the apartment.

Brian McGrory writes there is finally justice for all in Bulger's capture. But Howie Carr, who perhaps knows Bulger better than any other member of the local media, says it's too late:

He's caught, and we're all happy, but let's be honest. Whitey won. He's going to jail for 20 minutes before he kicks the bucket. Do you think he believes in the afterlife?

For those who don't remember (raises hand), Salon recounts one of Barnicle's more infamous columns, after a guy won a $14 million lottery jackpot and then claimed Bulger was actually part owner of the ticket (purchased at the South Boston liquor store Bulger took over by threatening to kill its owner's child):

Hey, good things happen to good people, right? Of course, there is an army of malcontents who refuse to believe that the result of a mere game of chance is on the level when the cash cow moos at the doorstep of a man - Bulger - who, according to illegal eavesdropping by FBI agents and their cheap equipment (And I will show you how lousy their stuff is), runs a vastly overrated criminal enterprise in the area. ...

So, lay off Jimmy Bulger. For the first time in his life, he got lucky, legitimately, and won the lottery. Knowing him, he probably already has handed out money to St. Augustine's, figuring that when he goes - and the odds on that are better than winning Mass Millions - there will be some people left behind who will say, "Not a bad guy."

Slurp, slurp.

James W. Bulger has a Twitter account:

Does anyone know if Stevie Fleming is on here? Would love to catch up

Then again, the 66 bus has a Twitter account, too:

There's a better chance of catching Whitey Bulger than me being on tim...umm...wait, nevermind.

Other fake Boston-area Twitter accounts.

On the FBI Web site today.

The murdering thug from South Boston was arrested in Santa Monica, CA yesterday, the Los Angeles Times reports.

He was picked up with girlfriend Catherine Elizabeth Greig, 60, the Times says.

Bulger had been on the lam since 1994, when now disgraced and convicted FBI agent James Connolly tipped him off that other feds and state police were closing in on him.

Channel 4 reports the lovebirds had set up a nest in a nondescript, rent-controlled apartment building three blocks from the ocean. They were living under the names Charles and Carol Gasko.

Books on Bulger and his enforcers.

Excerpt from the Los Angeles Times article:

Legendary Boston crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger, who has been on the run for more than a decade, was arrested Wednesday in Santa Monica, multiple law enforcement sources told The Times.

Bulger, 81, has been the subject of several books and was the inspiration for "The Departed," a 2006 Martin Scorsese film staring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson.

Bulger fled Boston in late 1994 as federal agents were about to arrest him in connection with 21 killings, racketeering and other crimes that spanned the early 1970s to the mid-1980s.

He was arrested by the FBI inside a building without incident, according to the sources, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak on the matter. The details surrounding his arrest were unclear Wednesday night.

More details here:
Famed crime boss James 'Whitey' Bulger arrested in Santa Monica

The FBI says that people on its Top Ten Most Wanted list are not ranked, so all that happens now is they pick somebody else to join Bulger and the other eight fugitives. However, as Uncle Rico notes, Bin Laden's demise does mean that Bulger's capture reward - $2 million - is now at the top of the leader board.