Howie Carr: Whitey Bulger's Death Leaves Legacy Of Destruction, Questions About Missing Millions

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Howie Carr, (seen in the below photo) Boston Herald columnist and author Ratman: The Trial and Conviction of Whitey Bulger, offers a column on the death of Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger.

Two final questions remain: Where are Whitey’s millions, his ill-gotten gains in cocaine cash?

And who’s got it, or is planning to get it? 

The monster was murdered at a federal pen in West Virginia yesterday at age 89 —  better late than never, I guess.

Was he murdered by a hit squad —  from the Mafia, maybe, or perhaps even the Deep State? Whitey knew where a lot of bodies were buried —  figuratively as well as literally. Those were the rumors anyway yesterday.

“It’s perfect karma,” said Johnny Martorano, the co-founder of the Winter Hill Gang. “He ratted all these guys into prison, and that’s where he gets it in the end. Karma. Everybody I know is celebrating tonight.”

That would include me, by the way. I understand that you’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead. But there’s another old saying I remember, from Winston Churchill: There is nothing so exhilarating as being shot at without effect.

But you know what comes close to that kind of exhilaration? Having a guy put out a murder contract on you and then he’s the one who gets murdered.

Like Martorano said, it’s perfect karma.

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

www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/howie_carr/2018/10/howie_carr_whitey_bulgers_death_
leaves_legacy_of_destruction

And you can read Boston Herald reporter Laurel J. Sweet’s piece on Bulger’s life via the below link:

www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2018/10/just_as_he_died_whitey_bulger_lived_life
_of_violence_and_cruelty 

Former FBI Agent Charged With Perjury In Whitey Bulger Trial

I've covered the FBI for a good number of years. I've interviewed senior FBI officials at FBI headquarters in Washington and at Philadelphia's FBI offices. I also interviewed former FBI counterintelligence official and President Reagan advisor David G. Major, and legendary FBI Special Agent Joseph "Donnie Brasco" Pistone, who spent six years undercover with the Bonanno Cosa Nostra crime family in New York.

I have a good deal of respect for the hard working and dedicated FBI agents who fight crime, espionage and terrorism around the globe. But the Whitey Bulger case was clearly not the FBI's finest hour.

Now former FBI agent Robert Fitzpatrick has given the FBI another black eye resulting from the Whitey Bulger saga.

I picked up a copy of Fitzpatrick's book, Betrayal: Whitey Bulger and the FBI Agent Who Fought to Bring Him Down, at a dollar store last year. I read the book and wondered about his claims.

Fitzpatrick repeated many of these claims during the trial of Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger. Now the feds are charging Fitzpatrick with perjury.

Laurel J. Sweet at the Boston Herald offers a piece on the perjury charge.

Federal prosecutors who delivered a blistering attack on a former FBI Boston supervisory agent when he took the stand for the defense in the mob trial of James “Whitey” Bulger two years ago circled back yesterday and charged him with lying under oath.

Retired G-man and crime author Robert J. Fitzpatrick, 75, of Charlestown, R.I., with his wife, Jane, at his side, declined comment late yesterday as he walked out of U.S. District Court in South Boston after pleading not guilty to 12 counts of perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with his testimony July 29 and 30, 2013, as a defense witness for aging gangland murderer Bulger.

“Sir, it’s fair to say, isn’t it, you’re a man who likes to make up stories?” then-federal prosecutor Brian Kelly asked Fitzpatrick at the start of his cross-examination in 2013.

In his 23-page indictment, unsealed yesterday, the feds allege that Fitzpatrick, once the FBI’s second in command in Boston, “falsely held himself out as a whistleblower” and lied on the stand to “enhance his own credibility as a former FBI official.”         

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

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/04/ex_g_man_charged_with_perjury_in_whitey_bulger_trial

You can also read my Q&A with Boston reporter Dick Lehr, the coauthor 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

And you can read my Q & A with former FBI official David G. Major via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/11/my-q-with-david-g-major-former-fbi.html

You can also read my Crime Beat column on former FBI Special Agent Joseph Pistone via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/01/look-back-at-joseph-pistone-aka-donnie.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   

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

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

Flemmi: Whitey Bulger Was A Pedophile

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

Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi accused former Winter Hill Gang partner James “Whitey” Bulger of being a pedophile this morning on his third day of testimony, charging his fellow aging mobster once spirited a 16-year-old girl away to Mexico.

“You want to talk about pedophilia, right over there at that table,” Flemmi, 79, angrily gestured at Bulger, 83, from the witness stand as the accused killer of 19 shot him a cold glare.

Flemmi’s frustrated outburst came as Bulger’s defense attorney Hank Brennan hammered Flemmi for a second day about his sexual relationship with and subsequent murder of his common-law stepdaughter Deborah Hussey.

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

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

Note: You can read more about Flemmi and Bulger in Howie Carr's book Rifleman: The Untold Story of Stevie Felmmi, Whitey Bulger's partner.

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

Jurors May Hear Whitey Bulger Recordings

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

After two weeks of listening to underworld associates and a corrupted FBI agent, jurors in the murder and racketeering trial of James “Whitey” Bulger could hear this week from the mobster himself — chatting about money and a murder on a recorded prison phone line.

Ken Brady, an investigator with the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department, may be called by prosecutors today or tomorrow to testify about jailhouse recordings seized from the Plymouth County Correctional Facility, where the accused killer of 19 has been held in solitary since his 2011 capture.

The recorded calls are from Sept. 25 and Oct. 13, 2012, and pertain to “exchange of cash” and “the murder of Edward Connors,” according to the government’s exhibit list. The list doesn’t divulge who was on the other end of the line.

Bulger is accused of riddling Connors with machine-gun fire in 1975 as Connors stood in a Dorchester phone booth, to stop the former boxer from implicating him in a murder.

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

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/06/jurors_may_hear_whitey_bulger_recordings

The Whitey Bulger Trial: Saucy Survivor Tells Tales Of 'Blue Eyes'

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

Among the hit men, bookies and other characters captured on state police surveillance video of James “Whitey” Bulger’s Lancaster Street headquarters in 1980, one stood out — the only woman seen in that gangster sanctum in the images released so far, the unsinkable blond bombshell Eva “Liz” McDonough, moll of the late Mafioso Nicky Giso.

McDonough, 56, survived an unsolved hit on her life in 1984 — her cowboy hat got the worst of it.
Yesterday, decked out like a high-fashion model, McDonough turned up at U.S. District Court and flashed her first smile at Bulger, 83, in 22 years.

“Blue eyes!” she called out to the aging mobster, causing Bulger to start to turn toward her before U.S. Marshals took him away for the night.

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

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/06/saucy_survivor_tells_tales_of_blue_eyes

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

Whitey Bulger's Informant File Gets Read For 3 Hours

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

It’s still unclear whether James “Whitey” Bulger plans to testify, but the aging mobster couldn’t help but blurt out a retort yesterday after prosecutors opened the 700-page diary of FBI Informant BS-1544-TE in a bid to undermine his claim that he was an upstanding wiseguy.

“I am not a (expletive) informant,” Bulger, 83, grumbled in frustration, people seated near him confirmed.

From 1975 to 1990, the files indicate Bulger pinned murders on other men that his own associates now say he had a hand in; that he gave up secrets about criminal rivals and that he provided alibis for his own gang — since refuted by his former associates’ admissions after they learned he had turned on them. The files also indicate that the FBI — with disgraced Agent John Connolly Jr. as go-between — passed on false information to other law enforcement to divert attention from Bulger.

Special Agent James Marra of the Office of the Inspector General read the file for three hours.

“Dozens and dozens of people the South Boston ‘hero’ has been ratting out for years. I was laughing the entire time,” said Tommy Donahue.

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/2013/06/whitey_bulgers_informant_file_gets_read_for_3_hours

The Whitey Bulger Trial: Bulger Angrily Denies He Spilled As Feds Open His Informant Files

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

Prosecutors threw the best book they have at James “Whitey” Bulger today — the 700-page diary of FBI Informant BS-1544 — in a bid to undermine the mobster’s insistent claim that he was an upstanding wiseguy, a gambit that forced them to reveal to jurors that the Boston FBI office had rotten agents who shielded him.

“I am not a (expletive) informant,” Bulger, 83, grumbled in frustration during a recess in the trial, people seated near him confirmed.

During his 15-year relationship with the FBI from 1975 to 1990, the files indicate that Bulger pinned murders on other men that his own associates now say Bulger and his own gang committed. He gave up secrets about criminal rivals, such as where they could be found. And he provided alibis for his own gang — since refuted by his former associates’ admissions in plea deals after they learned he had turned on them. The files also indicate that the FBI — with Agent John Connolly Jr. acting as the primary go-between — passed on false information to other law enforcement to divert attention from Bulger and his gang.

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

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/06/bulger_angrily_denies_he_spilled_as_feds_open_his_informant_file

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

The above photos of Whitey Bulger were provided by the FBI. 

The Whitey Bulger Trial: John Martorano Ends His Testimony Against Ex-Boss Whitey Bulger With A Smile

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

John “The Executioner” Martorano walked out of James “Whitey” Bulger’s life forever today without so much as a polite glance back — but grinning like the cat that ate the canary.

“Couldn’t care less,” Joe Martorano, the ex-enforcer’s cousin, said afterward of Martorano’s feelings about seeing his former Winter Hill Gang confederate for the first time since 1982, and testifying against him for three days as the first of the government’s three star witnesses from Winter Hill’s axis of evil — John Martorano, 72, Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, 78, and Kevin Weeks, 57.

“He wants to live his life now,” Joe Martorano said. “He wants to be what he has always been: a good guy, taking care of his family. Whatever happens after that happens.”

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/2013/06/martorano_ends_his_testimony_against_ex_boss_whitey_with_a_smile

Note: John Martorano was the subject of a book Herald columnist Howie Carr. 

The Whitey Bulger Trial: We Were Up To Our Neck In Murders, Says Former Hitman John Martorano

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

Admitted mass murderer John Martorano testified today that the last favor he ever did for James “Whitey” Bulger — the 1982 hit in Florida on Martorano’s close friend John Callahan — was also the last time he took a human life.

“Very bad, very bad. That was the last thing I did. Just stopped there,” Martorano, 72, said when assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Wyshak Jr asked how the killing made him feel.

Martorano had been on the lam from race-fixing charges for four years when, he told the court today, Bulger and Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi secretly met with him at a hotel in New York and told him Callahan had to die because he could implicate them all for the murder in Tulsa, Okla., of Roger Wheeler, the president of World Jai Alai, who was investigating Callahan for missing money.

Martorano said he balked at first, but, “They were my partners, and we were up to our necks in murder already.”

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/2013/06/hitman_martorano_we_were_up_to_our_necks_in_murder

Note: John Martorano was the subject of a true crime book by Herald columnist Howie Carr.

Hitman John Martorano: Learning Whitey Bulger Was A Rat 'Broke My Heart'

Laurel J. Sweet at the Boston Herald offers a story on former hitman John Martorano, the subject of a true crime book called Hitman by Herald columnist Howie Carr, who testified against his former crime partner, Whitey Bulger in court.

The prolific hitman who was once willing to kill for mobster James J. “Whitey” Bulger testified today the South Boston monster and his sidekick Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi “broke my heart” when he learned they were undercover rats for the FBI.

“They were my partners in crime. They were my best friends,” the 72-year-old Cambridge native said in his opening minutes on the witness stand. “After I heard they were informants it sort of broke my heart. They broke all the trusts, the loyalties we had. I was beside myself with it,” John Martorano said in a deep, matter-of-fact voice.

Martorano and Bulger, 83, glanced at each other for the first time in more than three decades. Bulger then fixed his stare on a distant wall.

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/2013/06/hitman_martorano_learning_whitey_was_a_rat_broke_my_heart

You can also watch an 60 Minutes interview with John Martorano via the below link:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50149073n