Three Indicted In Prison Homicide Of Mobster James 'Whitey' Bulger

The U.S. Attorney’s Office Northern District of West Virginia released the below information:  

CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Three men have been indicted in connection with the beating death of James “Whitey” Bulger (seen in the above mugshot).

Fotios Geas, also known as “Freddy,” age 55, Paul J. DeCologero, also known as “Pauly,” 48, and Sean McKinnon, 36, were charged on Wednesday with conspiracy to commit first degree murder.

Geas and DeCologero are accused of striking Bulger in the head multiple times and causing his death in October of 2018 while all were incarcerated at United States Penitentiary Hazleton in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia. In addition to the conspiracy charge, Geas and DeCologero have been charged with aiding and abetting first degree murder, along with assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

Geas faces a separate charge for murder by a federal inmate serving a life sentence.

McKinnon faces a separate charge of making false statements to a federal agent.

Geas is still incarcerated at USP Hazelton. DeCologero is no longer being held at USP Hazelton but remains housed in the federal prison system. McKinnon was on federal supervised release at the time of the indictment and was arrested today in Florida.

Bulger was 89 years old when he died.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brandon S. Flower and Randolph J. Bernard are prosecuting the case on behalf of the government. The FBI and the Bureau of Prisons Special Investigative Services investigated.

An indictment is merely an accusation. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

You can read my Crime Beat column that features my Q&A with Dick Lehr, the co-author of Whitey: The Life of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss, via the below link:

 Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Beat Column: My Q&A With Dick Lehr, Co-Author of 'Whitey: The Life Of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss' 

Kingpin: New History Channel Documentary Series Begins With A Look Back At Boston Crime Kingpin James "Whitey" Bulger

I just watched the first episode of the History Channel’s new documentary series Kingpins.

The first episode looks back at Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger. 

The show is interesting and informative, with dramatic reenactments and interviews with former Boston criminals, former law enforcement officials and journalists and organized crime authors, such as Howie Carr and George Anastasia.

My only complaint is that Billy Bulger, Whitey’s brother and a powerful Boston politician, was not mentioned, even though Howie Carr wrote an interesting book called The Brothers Bulger: How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century. 

Future episodes will cover John Gotti and Pablo Escobar.

You can watch a trailer for the series via the below link:

https://www.history.com/shows/kingpin/season-1/episode-1/trailer-kingpin 

You can also read my Crime Beat interview with Dick Lehr, co-author of Whitey: The life of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss, via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/06/crime-beat-column-q-with-dick-lehr-co_17.html 

Convicted Boston Mobster Whitey Bulger Says That Johnny Depp's 'Black Mass' Movie Is Pure Fiction

Carlos Greer at the New York Post reports on convicted murderer and mobster James "Whitey" Bulger's reaction to the film Black Mass.

Never- before-seen photos reveal that the real-life James “Whitey” Bulger was not a fan of Johnny Depp’s critically acclaimed 2015 Bulger biopic, “Black Mass,” depicting his crime story.

A guy described as “one step removed from the prisoner who was Bulger’s protector in jail” has offered up the pictures to LA-based memorabilia dealer Moments in Time, which will sell the 22 photos with convicted mobster and murderer Bulger’s inscriptions for $24,00 0. A couple of the photos are of Depp as Bulger in the film.

“Johnnie [sic] Depp on set with his girlfriend playing me on an anti Whitey movie put together by 2 reporters from the Boston Globe,” Bulger wrote. “Many years ago, shot up the building with a 12 ga pump shot gun . . . This movie is pure fiction!” he wrote and signed with his prison number 1428A.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://pagesix.com/2016/01/31/whitey-bulger-says-johnny-depp-biopic-is-pure-fiction/

You can read my interview with Dick Lehr, the co-author of Black Mass and Whitey via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/06/crime-beat-column-q-with-dick-lehr-co_17.html

Actor Johnny Depp In Character As Boston Mobster Whitey Bulger

Eleanor Gower at the British newspaper the Daily Mail offers a piece on Johnny Depp portraying Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger in an upcoming film.

You can read the piece and see photos of Depp as Bulger via the below link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2629535/Johnny-Depp-bald-cap-wig-role-mob-boss-James-Whitey-Bulger-begins-filming-biopic.html

You can also read my Washington Times review of Whitey: The Life of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/06/my-washington-times-review-of-whitey.html

And you can read my interview with Dick Lehr, co-author of Whitey and Black Mass via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/06/crime-beat-column-q-with-dick-lehr-co_17.html

Johnny Depp Talks "Whitey"

Stephen Schaefer at the Boston Herald offers a piece on actor Johnny Depp portraying Boston mobster and murderer James "Whitey" Bulger in an upcoming film.

LOS ANGELES - Johnny Depp tackles one of the most challenging roles of his storied career next month in Boston when he begins filming "Black Mass" where he plays convicted mobster Whitey Bulger.

“I don’t think of him as Whitey – it’s James ‘Whitey’ Bulger,” Depp said at the Four Seasons Hotel yesterday during a press day for his science fiction thriller “Transcendence” which opens April 18.
While Depp, 50, played an undercover FBI agent getting the goods on a mobster in the 1997 true crime classic “Donnie Brasco,” Bulger is definitely a shift to the dark side.

“The reason to play it is obvious to me,” said the three-time Oscar nominee.  “He’s a fascinating character. I don’t think it’s like anything I’ve done before and I’m very excited to slide into that skin for a little bit.”

“Black Mass,” directed by “Out of the Furnace” writer-director Scott Cooper, is based on the 2001 New York Times bestseller “Black Mass: The True Story of the Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob” by Dick Lehr and Gerald O’Neill.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://bostonherald.com/entertainment/movies/movie_news/2014/04/johnny_depp_talks_whitey

You can also read my interview with Dick Lehr, co-author of Black Mass and Whitey via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/06/crime-beat-column-q-with-dick-lehr-co_17.html

Johnny Depp To Portray Boston Gangster Whitey Bulger In Film Version Of "Black Mass"

Mike Fleming Jr. at Deadline.com reports that actor Johnny Depp will portray convicted murderer and mobster James "Whitey" Bulger in upcoming film, Black Mass.

Johnny Depp has made his deal to star in Black Mass, the drama Scott Cooper will direct about the Boston crime kingpin-turned-fugitive Whitey Bulger, for Cross Creek Pictures and Exclusive Media. Now, they are in early  talks with Tom Hardy to play John Connolly, the FBI agent and childhood pal of Bulger, who is in prison for tipping Bulger that he was about to be indicted.

That led Bulger to go from ruthless Boston crime kingpin to the top of the FBI's most wanted list.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.deadline.com/2014/02/berlin-johnny-depp-seals-deal-to-play-whitey-bulger-in-black-mass-tom-hardy-in-talks-to-play-fbi-pal-john-connolly/

You can also read my interview with Dick Lehr, one of the authors of Black Mass and Whitey via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/06/crime-beat-column-q-with-dick-lehr-co_17.html

Boston Gangster Whitey Bulger Sentenced To 2 Consecutive Life Terms, Plus 5

Laurel J. Sweet has been covering the James "Whitey" Bulger trial for the Boston Herald.

Southie mobster James "Whitey" Bulger was sentenced today to two consecutive life terms -- plus five years -- after a federal judge ripped into the aging gangster for his "unfathomable" crimes all for the love of blood money. 

Bulger, 84, who remained quiet again refusing to address the court or family members of his victims, was also ordered to pay $19,510,276 and 43 cents in restitution to the families. There was no reaction inside the court from families when the sentence was handed down.

U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper took last night to sleep on her decision and what she heard yesterday from 12 sons, daughters, widows and siblings whose impact statements spoke of despair, family suicides, lost loves and even the triumph of moving on.

Today, she is not holding back: "It is hard to know where to begin," Casper said. "The scope, the callousness, the depravity of your crimes is almost unfathomable ... it was all about money.

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

 http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/herald_bulldog/2013/11/whitey_bulger_sentenced_to_2_consecutive_life

You can also read my interview with Dick Lehr, one of the authors of Whitey: The Life of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss, via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/06/crime-beat-column-q-with-dick-lehr-co_17.html 

Whitey Bulger Is One Of The Most Violent And Despicable Criminals In Boston History: Prosecutor Asks For Live Sentence - Plus Five

Laurel J. Sweet has been covering the James "Whitey" Bulger trial for the Boston Herald.

Federal prosecutors will advocate convicted serial killer James “Whitey” Bulger spend the rest of his life behind bars — plus a ceremonial five years after that for good measure — when the sentencing portion of his blockbuster trial gets underway Wednesday.

U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper has set aside two days for the event, largely because of the huge number of victims’ family members hoping for the chance to address the court about their decades of pain and suffering.

Bulger, the 84-year-old onetime leader of the Winter Hill Gang of South Boston and Somerville, was convicted in August of 11 of 19 mob murder charges dating back to the early 1970s.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Kelly’s six-page sentencing memorandum filed with Casper today called Bulger “one of the most violent and despicable criminals in Boston history” — one he said “richly deserves to spend the rest of his life in jail.”

Bulger still faces state death-penalty prosecutions for murder in Miami, Fla., and Tulsa, Okla.Kelly noted, “There are no mitigating factors, and defendant Bulger has no redeeming qualities, which would justify any sentence below the one called for by the U.S.”

You can read the rest of the piece and watch a video news clip via the below link:

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/11/feds_want_despicable_whitey_bulger_to_get_life_plus_5

You can also read my Q&A with Dick Lehr, one of the authors of Whitey: The Life of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/06/crime-beat-column-q-with-dick-lehr-co_17.html   

The Late, Great Underappreciated George V. Higgins... Who Told The Whitey Bulger Story In His Novel "At End Of Day"

Jim Sherman at the Houston Chronicle offers a piece on George V. Higgins, author of The Friends of Eddie Coyle and other novels.

Higgins, who I consider one America’s greatest novelists, has been on my mind thanks to the trial of Boston hoodlum James “Whitey” Bulger, who was convicted today in 11 killings and other crimes. 

It’s a tale right out of a Higgins novel: an amoral Irish mobster, brother to a powerful politician, whose rackets and murders were condoned for yearns by the FBI in exchange for information about the Italian mafia — much to the frustration of state and local cops who knew all along who was responsible for dozens of bodies scattered all over the Bay State.

In fact, it is right out of a Higgins novel.

At End of Day, published a year after Higgins’ death, is based on the Bulger case, and the author was uniquely qualified to write it.

For several years (1967-73) Higgins worked as a state and federal prosecutor specializing in organized crime, and for the next decade (1973-83) he was a defense attorney whose clients included Eldridge Cleaver, G. Gordon Liddy, and many of the same Irish and Italian thugs he had prosecuted. 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://blog.chron.com/bookish/2013/08/the-late-great-underappreciated-george-v-higgins-who-told-james-whitey-bulgers-story-among-others/

You can also read an earlier post on George V. Higgins via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/04/make-friends-with-eddie-coyle-by.html

Note: In addition to being a prosecutor, defense attorney and novelist, Higgins was also a newspaper reporter and columnist.

Federal Jury Convicts James 'Whitey' Bulger

The U.S. Justice Department released the below statement on the conviction of Whitey Bulger yesterday:

BOSTON—Following a two-month long trial in U.S. District Court, a federal jury today convicted James J. Bulger, holding him responsible for the murder of 11 people, as well as numerous counts of extortion, money laundering, drug dealing, and firearms possession.

After deliberating for over 32 hours, over five days, the jury found the former fugitive guilty of racketeering conspiracy and numerous racketeering acts of murder, extortion, narcotics distribution, money laundering, and possession of firearms, including machine guns. With this verdict, the jury has found that Bulger played a role in the murders of Deborah Hussey, Paul McGonagle, Edward Connors, Thomas King, Richard Castucci, Roger Wheeler, Brian Halloran, Michael Donahue, John Callahan, Arthur Barrett, and John McIntyre.

Bulger, the former leader of the Winter Hill Gang, ran a vast criminal network that emanated from South Boston and controlled much of the city and the surrounding areas during the 1970s and 1980s. In order to generate money and maintain dominance among other criminal enterprises, Bulger and his associates engaged in numerous illegal activities such as loansharking, extortion of local business owners and bookmakers, trafficking of narcotics and firearms, and murder. Bulger, and associates under his direction, used violence, threats, and intimidation to carry out these illegal activities.

In late 1994, upon learning of his impending indictment, Bulger fled Massachusetts. On June 22, 2011, Bulger and his companion, Catherine Greig, were arrested in Santa Monica, California, after 16 years on the run. Greig was later convicted of conspiracy to harbor a fugitive and is currently serving eight years in federal prison.

U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper scheduled sentencing for November 13. He faces a maximum of up to life, plus 30 years in prison.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Colonel Timothy P. Alben, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; John J. Arvanitis, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Boston Field Division; William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston; Michael E. Horowitz, Inspector General for the Department of Justice; Vincent Lisi, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Field Division; and U.S. Marshal John Gibbons made the announcement today.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Fred M. Wyshak, Jr., Brian T. Kelly, and Zachary Hafer of Ortiz’s Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit.

Note: The above photos of Whitey Bulger were released by the FBI.

Whitey Bulger Found Guilty of Racketeering, Conspiracy And Murder

Laurel J. Sweet is covering the Whitey Bulger trial for the Boston Herald.

James J. “Whitey” Bulger has been found guilty of racketeering, conspiracy and murder in a split verdict.

The eight men and four women on the jury deliberated for more than 30 hours.The 32-count indictment before them accuses Bulger of the gangland murders of 19 men and women between 1973 and 1985, money laundering, extortion, drug distribution and illegal firearms possession.

Bulger was accused of physically carrying out nine of the 19 murders he was charged with, either by firearm or strangulation.The case was presided over by Judge Denise J. Casper.

The jury foreman is a stay-at-home dad from the South Shore who was about to start a job at a bank when he was plucked from a record jury pool at U.S. District Court.

Bulger, who’ll turn 84 next month, faces a maximum sentence of life plus 30 years — the same as his former righthand man Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi began serving in 2003 when he pled out to 10 murders.

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/08/bulger_guilty_of_racketeering_conspiracy_and_murder_in_split

To learn more about Whitey Bulger you can read my interview with Dick Lehr, the co-author of Whitey: The Life of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/06/crime-beat-column-q-with-dick-lehr-co_17.html

Feds: FBI-Bulger Deal 'Cancer' In Boston's Past

Laurel J. Sweet is covering the Whitey Bulger trial for the Boston Herald.

The corrupt connection between mobster James “Whitey” Bulger and disgraced FBI agent John “Zip” Connolly was “a cancer” in the city, a prosecutor declared today in the closing arguments in Bulger’s murder and racketeering trial.

Federal prosecutor Fred Wyshak said in U.S. District Court in Boston that the horrific details in the case tells of a time when the city was in a rut.

He said the Bulger/Connolly partnership was “a cancer” in the city of Boston. He all but choked back tears as he went through the 19 alleged murders once more. “It tells you all you need to know about the evil” of Bulger, he said.

Wyshak also said Connolly was hoping to land the police commissioner’s job in Boston — and Whitey’s plugged-in political brother William “Billy” Bulger would help. 

Billy was his ticket,

Wyshak added.Wyshak is painstakingly going through each of the 32 counts against Bulger, especially each of the 19 murder counts. And he said the jurors should not think of him as a "Robin Hood" keeping "angel dust and heroin out of South Boston."

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/08/feds_fbi_bulger_deal_cancer_in_boston_s_past

Howie Carr On Whitey Bulger Trail: Dirty Rat Goes Out Yellow - Killer Coward At End

Author and Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr is covering the Whitey Bulger trial.

Whitey Bulger, you dirty rat!

In the end, he didn’t have the stones to take the stand. Not much of a surprise, but quite a disappointment, the trial ending not with a bang but a whimper.“I didn’t get a fair trial,“ he told the judge, “This was a sham. Do what youse want with me.

”Don’t worry, weese will. But what’s up with the word “youse,” Whitey? You’re supposed to be Irish, or so your lawyer Jay Carney said in his opening statement approximately 65 witnesses ago, 50 or so of whom swore under oath Whitey was indeed a rat.

And why did you call the trial a “sham?”

Surely Whitey meant to use Woody Allen’s classic description of his trial from the movie “Bananas:”

“It’s a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham.”

Whitey also complained his defense was “choked off” — a very poor choice of words, given how he’s charged with murdering the two Debs.   

You can read the rest of the column via the below link:

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/howie_carr/2013/08/carr_dirty_rat_goes_out_yellow_killer_coward_at_end

Whitey Bulger Won't Testify At His Trial As Defense Rests

Laurel J. Sweet is overing the Whitey Bulger trial in Boston for the Boston Herald.

A defiant James "Whitey" Bulger said today he will not testify in his own defense, calling his murder and racketeering trial "a sham."

Pat Donahue, the widow of one of the Southie mobster's 19 alleged victims, blurted out in court: "You're a coward!"

"As far as I'm concerned I didn't get a fair trial and this is a sham. Do what youse want with me," Bulger told U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper. 

A visibly peeved Bulger maintained the late former U.S. Attorney Jeremiah O'Sullivan "promised to give me immunity." Said for those reasons he was choosing not to testify "involuntarily." He claimed he "protected" O'Sullivan's life. 

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/08/whitey_bulger_wont_testify_as_defense_rests

Howie Carr On The Whitey Bulger Trial: Gump-Like Testimony Says Run, Whitey, Run

Author and Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr is covering the Whitey Bulger trial.

Whitey Bulger got a glimpse yesterday of what awaits him if he takes the witness stand in his own defense later this week.

His taxpayer-funded legal team called their first witness, Robert Fitzpatrick, an ex-FBI agent turned private eye turned author. And maybe it’s a good thing these federal trials aren’t on television, because you wouldn’t want an impressionable young child to watch what happened to the 73-year-old fed.

Not that Fitzie’s performance was exactly stellar when he was testifying for Bulger. He kept referring to him as an “informant,” which is exactly what King Rat claims not to be. But then prosecutor Brian Kelly got up for the cross-examination, and this was his first question:“Mr. Fitzpatrick, is it fair to say you’re a man who likes to make up stories?”

“I beg your pardon,” Fitzpatrick responded.Then Kelly asked him if it was “fair to say” that he claimed to have arrested Mafia underboss Jerry Angiulo way back when?Fitzpatrick: “I put the arrest on Angiulo.”Kelly: “That is a bold-faced lie.”It went downhill from there.

Not only did Fitzpatrick claim to have “arrested” Angiulo, he also found the rifle that killed Martin Luther King Jr. He’s a veritable federal Forrest Gump.

You can read the rest of the column via the below link:

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/howie_carr/2013/07/gump_like_testimony_says_run_whitey_run

The Whitey Bulger Trial: Juror Cries As Steven "The Rifleman" Flemmi Testifies On Girlfriend's Death

 

Laurel J. Sweet is covering the Whitey Bulger trail for the Boston Herald.

Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi testified today he was a man torn apart by the intense jealousy of his partner James “Whitey” Bulger and his needy young lover Debra Davis — a tug-of-war he said Bulger won by throttling Davis in 1981.

“It affected me. It’s going to affect me until the day I die,” Flemmi said of his reluctant decision to help kill the bombshell in a house his mother had just purchased in South Boston next door to Bulger’s brother, former state Senate President William “Billy” Bulger.

“I loved her,” Flemmi said dispassionately of Davis, “but I wasn’t in love with her.”

... At least one juror broke down in tears, no doubt recalling the stomach-turning photographic images from state police of Davis’ skeleton wrapped in rope and her skull, still matted with blond hair, in a plastic bag, as she was found in her crude grave.

The second day of the 79-year-old Flemmi’s testimony against the accused 83-year-old mass murderer with whom he claimed he took multiple lives right under the noses of the FBI they served as secret top-echelon informants was not punctuated by any of the profanity laced fireworks that went off yesterday during their first 10 minutes together.

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/07/juror_cries_as_flemmi_testifies_on_girlfriend_s_death

Note: The above photo shows the cover of Boston Herald columnist and author Howie Carr's book Rifleman: The Untold Story of Stevie Flemmi, Whitey Bulger's Partner.   

Whitey Bulger, Ex-Protege Erupt In Courtroom

Laurel J. Sweet is covering the Whitey Bulger trial in Boston for the Boston Herald.

Forensic anthropologist Ann Marie Mires, who assisted with the January 2000 exhumation of three of James “Whitey” Bulger’s alleged murder victims from the mud flats by the Southeast Expressway, takes the stand today on the heels of yesterday’s raging, expletive-laced courtroom exchange between Bulger and Kevin Weeks, the protege he raised from teenhood to hatchet man.

Until Monday, Bulger and Weeks had not laid eyes on each other in more than 16 years. But after first coldly refusing to even acknowledge Weeks’ presence, Bulger yesterday lashed out at the heavy he mentored for 20 years when Weeks, 57, snapped from defense attorneys’ taunts that he was a self-serving, unremorseful back-stabber.

You can read the rest of the story and watch a local TV news clip via the below link:

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/07/whitey_bulger_ex_protege_erupt_in_courtroom

Feds Want Kevin Weeks To ID Whitey Bulger's Handwriting

Laurel J. Sweet at the Boston Herald is covering the Whitey Bulger trial in Boston.

James “Whitey” Bulger’s henchman Kevin Weeks is expected to take the stand against his former mob boss when Boston’s trial of the century resumes Monday in U.S. District Court.

And when he does, prosecutors want Judge Denise J. Casper to permit Weeks, 57, to identify the 83-year-old Bulger’s handwriting on notes that were found by state police years ago in a safe amid a slew of handguns and submachine guns on Pilsudski Way in South Boston, the street where Weeks grew up.

In a motion filed today, prosecutors pointed out that “Weeks has extensive familiarity with James Bulger’s handwriting” as a result of “their longtime friendship and criminal association that began years before this case was indicted.” 

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/07/feds_want_kevin_weeks_to_id_whitey_bulger_s_handwriting

Former FBI Agent Makes Dramatic Apology To Slain Man's family At Whitey Bulger's Racketeering Trial

At FoxNews.com you can read about John Morris, a former FBI Special Agent who apologized to the family of an alleged murder victim of James "Whitey" Bulger.

Boston - A former FBI agent who admitted taking payoffs from James "Whitey" Bulger offered a tearful apology Monday to the family of one of Bulger's alleged murder victims, but the man's widow said his words "didn't mean anything."

The apology came as John Morris was being cross-examined by a defense lawyer at Bulger's racketeering trial. Bulger, 83, is charged with participating in 19 murders in the 1970s and '80s while he allegedly led the notorious Winter Hill Gang.

Morris testified that he told fellow FBI agent John Connolly that Edward "Brian" Halloran had given authorities information about a murder Bulger's gang was suspected of committing. At the time, both Morris and Connolly — his subordinate — had corrupt relationships with Bulger, who he said was a longtime FBI informant at the same time he was committing a litany of crimes.

Prosecutors say Halloran and Michael Donahue — an innocent bystander who had offered Halloran a ride home — were killed in 1982 after Connolly leaked the information to Bulger. Bulger is accused of opening fire on the car as the two men left a Boston restaurant.

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/07/01/former-fbi-agent-makes-dramatic-apology-to-slain-man-family-at-bulger/

You can also read my Q&A with Dick Lehr, the author of Whitey: The Life of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss, via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/06/crime-beat-column-q-with-dick-lehr-co_17.html 

He Quit Whitey Bulger's Gang And Almost Didn't Live To Tell

Howie Carr, author and columnist for the Boston Herald, is covering the Whitey Bulger trial.

Billy Shea is the hood who got away — from prison, from the cops and, most of all, from Whitey Bulger.

Or maybe Whitey Bulger is the guy who got away from Billy Shea.The two gangsters met yesterday for the first time in almost 30 years, the 74-year-old Shea on the witness stand just a few feet away from his old boss, to whom he often addressed his answers, starting with, “Jim ...”  

Shea was a self-described paranoid ex-con when he met Bulger in 1977. Less than a decade later, he was running Whitey’s multimillion-dollar drug operation.

But then Shea wanted out, and relations deteriorated to the point where he found Whitey, Stevie Flemmi and Kevin Weeks knocking on his front door at 262 E Street.

“This is the first time I’ve ever talked to Jim with someone else around, and now he’s got Stevie Fleming — that was his street name — who’s just as dangerous as Jim. I ran upstairs and got a gun.”

You can read the rest of the column via the below link:

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/howie_carr/2013/07/carr_he_quit_whitey_s_gang_and_almost_didn_t_live_to_tell

Note: The above photos of James "Whitey" Bulger were released by the FBI.