Convicted crime boss James Bulger to pay for his life of crime
After 16 years on the run, and with 11 murders to his name, convicted Boston crime boss James 'Whitey' Bulger will die behind bars
James "Whitey" Bulger, a brutal gangster who ruled Boston's underworld in the 1970s and 1980s, evaded capture for 16 years and inspired Jack Nicholson's character in , has been found guilty of murder and racketeering and is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison.
The 83-year-old, dressed in a grey shirt, dark trousers and white sports shoes, stood quietly as the verdict was read on Monday, showing little emotion after jurors convicted him following five days of deliberation in Boston federal court. His sentencing was scheduled for November 13.
A legendary figure in Boston's underworld, Bulger ran the "Winter Hill" gang after coming to power in a mob war. He cemented his grip on Boston through ties with corrupt FBI officials who shared his Irish ethnicity and turned a blind eye to his crimes in exchange for information they could use against the Italian Mafia.
During the two-month-long trial, the 12 jurors heard vivid descriptions of Bulger's crimes. They included daylight shootings of fellow criminals, the terrifying extortion of a victim at whose crotch Bulger aimed a machine-gun and how one associate would pull teeth from the mouths of dead victims, hoping to make the bodies harder to identify.
Bulger fled Boston in 1994 after a tip from a corrupt agent that his arrest was imminent. He spent 16 years on the run, many of them on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list. Agents caught up with Bulger in June 2011, living in a seaside apartment in California.
Bulger was charged with 48 racketeering charges, one of which included allegations he was involved in 19 murders. The claims include extortion and possession of machine guns and other firearms used in crimes.
Michael Kendall, a former federal prosecutor in Boston who is now with the law firm McDermott Will & Emery, said Bulger's conviction "in such a complicated case covering such a long period of time is a fabulous result for the government. He's going to go to jail for the rest of his life."
Defence lawyer J. W. Carney said his client was pleased by the outcome, and noted that Bulger had avoided the death penalty. That would have been a possibility if he had been tried on state charges in Oklahoma or Florida, where two of the murders were committed.
"This trial has never been about Jim Bulger being set free," he said.
Carney said that from the moment FBI officials arrested Bulger, his client knew that "he was going to die behind the walls of a prison or on a gurney, getting injected with a chemical that would kill him".
This trial has never been about Jim Bulger being set free. He was going to die behind the walls of a prison or on a gurney, getting injected with a chemical that would kill him
Bulger's lawyers, who on the first day admitted their client was a drug dealer, extortionist and loan shark and later described him as an "organised criminal", mounted an atypical defence, rarely directly addressing many of the charges. Most of their efforts focused on denying prosecutors' assertion that Bulger had served as an FBI informant, or "rat," for more than a decade. On Monday, Carney called that assertion a myth.
Carney said he planned to appeal against the conviction, citing a claim by Bulger that he had a deal with federal prosecutors that gave him immunity for his crimes. Carney did not discuss a reason Bulger would have been given a deal and reiterated his earlier assertion that Bulger had never been an informant.
Before the trial began, US District Judge Denise Casper had told Carney that he could not argue immunity, saying no deal that allowed a person to commit murder without consequence would be legally valid.
Bulger declined to take the stand during the trial and told the court earlier this month: "As far as I'm concerned ... this is a sham and do what you want with me."
The jury found Bulger guilty of 11 of the 19 murder charges. He was acquitted of seven murders that dated back to a 1970s turf war with another organisation, the Notorangeli gang.
The jury reached no finding on a charge of murdering Debra Davis, a girlfriend of Bulger associate Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi.
Bulger's crimes provided the inspiration for Jack Nicholson's mob boss character in Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning gangster film
Carney said that Bulger was glad to have his story told at trial. "At the end of a person's life, when people think he is the only bad person in the courtroom, it's important to show that that's not true," he said.
