Call it "The Departed" II: Real-life mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger, who furnished the basis for the character that Jack Nicholson played in the Oscar-winning Boston crime drama, was finally arrested after 16 years as a fugitive. News of Bulger's capture immediately sent searches on the Martin Scorsese film soaring on the Web.
Below is a look at the real-life Irish crime boss whose activity inspired the movie.
At the time of his capture, Bulger was The FBI's No. 1 most wanted (he took Osama bin Laden's spot once the terrorist was killed). Born and raised in South Boston, Bulger got his nickname "Whitey" for his white-blond hair.
The wild teen quickly went criminal: He spent nine years in prison in the 1950s and '60s for a series of bank robberies. According to a Boston Globe profile, the adult turned full-fledged gangster in the '70s by fighting his way up the ranks of the Winter Hill Gang. He developed a reputation as a ruthless killer and is allegedly wanted in connection with 19 murders.
Bulger's real-life rise to the top involved plenty of double dealing--just like in "The Departed." A young agent, John Connolly, who had been childhood friend of Bulger's, managed to turn him into an informant for the agency. Bulger ratted out members of the Italian mafia and helped the FBI build its case against Italian-American mobsters competing gang--as well as many of Bulger's Irish-American colleagues. In return, the FBI helped Bulger escape arrest.
But Connolly retired from the FBI in 1990. (He is currently in prison after he was convicted on charges related to helping Bulger and his gang--allegations that Connelly denies.) Once Connolly left, the agency dropped Bulger as an informant and instead went after him.
In 1995, faced with racketeering and extortion charges, the crime lord went on the lam. The FBI put him on the 10 Most-Wanted List in 2000 with a $2 million reward on his head. According to the FBI's website, Bulger was wanted for "his role in numerous murders committed from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s in connection with his leadership of an organized crime group that allegedly controlled extortion, drug deals, and other illegal activities in the Boston, Massachusetts, area."
Oddly, law enforcement officials had been looking for the crime kingpin, the subject of numerous books, in bookstores: Searches through the fugitive's belongings turned up Tom Clancy novels, and tomes on history, crime, and travel.
But the key turning point turned out to be a publicity campaign launched just days ago that ran TV spots on shows like "The View" in markets where the FBI thought the couple might be hiding.
A promising tip led the authorities to an apartment a few blocks from the beach in Santa Monica, Calif., where the now 81-year-old Bulger was living with his girlfriend, 60-year-old Catherine Greig, who is charged with harboring a fugitive.
No comments:
Post a Comment