Whitey Bulger America's Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt That Brought Him To Justice (56 page)

53 Murphy and Cramer, “Whitey in Exile.”

54 Enrique Sanchez, interview in Spanish with
Boston Globe
reporter Maria Cramer, July 2011.

55 Interviews by the authors and Maria Cramer with neighbors, June–October 2011; documents filed by prosecutors in
United States v. Catherine E. Greig
, 2012.

56 FBI interview with Rosita D. Tan, DMD, January 26, 2012.

57 Government’s sentencing memorandum in
United States v. Catherine E. Greig
, US District Court, Boston, June 8, 2012.

58 Documents filed by prosecutors in
United States v. Catherine E. Greig
, 2012.

59 FBI interview with Dr. Reza Ray Ehsan, July 19, 2011.

60 Wendy Farnetti, grand jury testimony in US District Court, Boston, July 21, 2011.

61 Ibid.

62 Patrick Nee wrote, in
A Criminal & an Irishman
, that Whitey had sexual encounters with men. In his widely panned
Street Soldier
, Ed MacKenzie contended that Whitey was a deviant who had sex with underage girls. While there have been many rumors about Whitey’s sexual preferences, some of those closest to Whitey, including his longtime paramour Teresa Stanley, insisted he was straight. Weeks said that the youngest of Whitey’s sexual partners he knew of was a sixteen-year-old girl whom Whitey was with when he was in his forties.

63 Affidavit of FBI agent Philip J. Torsney filed in
United States v. Catherine E. Greig
, June 7, 2012.

64 Whitey Bulger, letter to Richard Sunday, May 17, 2012.

65 Ibid.

Chapter 16. Uncontrolled Wickedness

1 This account of the impact of Michael Donahue’s murder on his family and community is based on June 2012 interviews by the authors with the Donahue family: Patricia, Tommy, Michael Jr., and Shawn.

2 William St. Croix (Steve Flemmi’s son), interview with the authors, December 2011; Murphy, “Breaking Silence, Flemmi Son Says Gangster’s Kin Also Victims.”

3 The total of compensation sought in lawsuits filed in US District Court, Boston, between 2001 and 2003 by families of those killed by Whitey Bulger and Steve Flemmi.

4 Lawrence Wheeler, interview with the authors, February 2004.

5 Jeffrey S. Bucholtz, argument before First Circuit Court of Appeals, Boston, March 2, 2004.

6 Thomas M. Bondy, argument before First Circuit Court of Appeals, Boston, March 4, 2008.

7 Donald K. Stern, interview with the authors, August 2012.

8 Justice Department lawyer Bridget Bailey Lipscomb, opening statement in US District Court Boston, June 5, 2006.

9 Whitey Bulger claimed, in a 1983 interview with FBI agents, that Michael Donahue had driven the getaway car after Brian Halloran shot and killed a convicted drug dealer inside a Chinatown restaurant in 1981. The claim was repeated by other criminals and even by FBI agents, but it was unfounded.

10 Shelley Murphy, “Mob Victim’s Mother Takes Stand,”
Boston Globe
, June 17, 2006.

11 Memorandum of law in support of Plaintiff’s motion for costs, filed in
The Estate of John L. McIntyre v. the United States of America
, US District Court, Boston, February 14, 2007.

12 US District Court Judge William G. Young, speaking from the bench on December 21, 2011. Bridget Bailey Lipscomb, the Justice Department lawyer, did not respond to repeated calls and emails seeking comment. A Justice Department spokesman said Lipscomb would not comment.

13 Murphy, “Mob Victim’s Mother Takes Stand.”

14 Tom Donahue, interview with the authors, May 2009.

15 Bruce Selya and Jeffrey Howard, majority opinion in
Donahue v. United States
, February 11, 2011.

16 Juan Torruella, dissenting opinion in
Donahue v. United States
, February 11, 2011.

17 William St. Croix (Steve Flemmi’s son), interview with the authors, December 2011.

18 Lawrence Eiser, US District Court, Boston, November 5, 2009, quoted in Shelley Murphy, “Kin of Flemmi’s Victims Argue for Damages,”
Boston Globe
, November 6, 2009.

19 Tom Donahue, interview with the authors, June 2012.

Chapter 17. Captured: The Man Without a Country

1 Jason Islas, “Santa Monica Reacts to bin Laden’s Death,”
Santa Monica Lookout
, May 3, 2011.

2 Barbara Gluck, interview with
Boston Globe
reporter Maria Cramer, July 2011; Murphy and Cramer, “Whitey in Exile.”

3 Murphy and Cramer, “Whitey in Exile.”

4 Wendy Farnetti, grand jury testimony in US District Court, Boston, July 21, 2011.

5 David Taylor, interview with the authors, April 2012.

6 Jonathan Mitchell, interview with the authors, June 2012. Mitchell was assigned to the task force for seven years and left the US Attorney’s office just a week before Whitey was captured.

7 CBS,
48 Hours Mystery
, October 2010.

8 Shelley Murphy and Maria Cramer, “TV Ads Are Latest Tactic in Hunt for Bulger,”
Boston Globe
, June 21, 2011.

9 Whitey Bulger, letter to Richard Sunday, postmarked April 20, 2012.

10 Affidavit of FBI special agent Philip J. Torsney, filed in
United States v. Catherine E. Greig
, June 7, 2012.

11 Joshua Bond, grand jury testimony, US District Court, Boston, July 28, 2011. The dialogue in this section derives from Bond’s July 28, 2011, grand jury testimony and from FBI reports based on interviews with Bond on July 6, 8, and 28, 2011.

12 The description of and dialogue for the arrest of Whitey Bulger are based on the authors’ interviews with Janus Goodwin, a neighbor who witnessed the arrest, and with law enforcement officials, and on a letter that Whitey Bulger sent to Richard Sunday in June 2012.

13 Janus Goodwin, interview with the authors, July 2011.

14 Joshua Bond, grand jury testimony, US District Court, Boston, July 28, 2011.

15 Affidavit of FBI special agent Philip J. Torsney filed in
United States v. Catherine E. Greig
, June 7, 2012.

16 Tom Donahue, interview with the authors, June 2011.

17 Affidavit of FBI special agent Philip Torsney, filed in
United States v. Catherine E. Greig
, June 7, 2012.

18 Sources briefed on Whitey Bulger’s statements, interviews with the authors, 2011 and 2012.

19 Tom Donahue, interview with the authors, June 2011.

20 The section on conditions at Plymouth County Correctional Facility and Whitey’s attitude about them is based on the authors’ interviews with Richard Sunday, January 2012, Jerry Champion, February 2012, and officials with Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department; letters Whitey sent to Champion in August and September 2011 and to Sunday between March and May 2012; and a video of the Plymouth County Correctional Facility, posted on the website of
The Enterprise
of Brockton, Massachusetts, May 7, 2009.

21 Whitey’s views of his place in Alcatraz history and the prospect of people making money off his infamy are based on interviews by the authors with Richard Sunday, January 2012, and Jerry Champion, February 2012, and on letters Whitey sent to Sunday and Champion in 2011 and 2012.

22 The accounts of Whitey’s feelings for Cathy Greig and his final reckoning with Teresa Stanley are based on interviews by the authors with Stanley and Richard Sunday; on letters he sent to Sunday between April and July 2012; and on an interview with Enrique Sanchez by
Boston Globe
reporter Maria Cramer, July 2011.

23 Jerry Champion, interview with the authors, February 2012; letter from Whitey Bulger to Champion, September 2011.

24 Information about Whitey’s relationship with Richard Sunday is based on interviews by the authors with Sunday and on letters Whitey sent Sunday between March and July 2012.

25 The section on the Catherine Greig plea and sentencing, and Whitey’s reaction to it, is based on interviews with Greig’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, Paul McGonagle, and Richard Sunday, June 2012; and on letters Whitey sent to Sunday between April and July 2012. The authors attended all of Greig’s hearings, including the plea and sentencing hearings.

26 The section on Whitey turning more bitter after Greig’s sentencing is based on interviews by the authors with Richard Sunday and Jerry Champion, and on letters Whitey sent to Champion in September 2011 and to Sunday between April and July 2012.

Epilogue

1 Whitey Bulger, letters to Richard Sunday, 2012.

2 Milton Valencia, “James ‘Whitey’ Bulger to Testify in His Own Defense,”
Boston Globe
, August 6, 2012.

3 Robert Fitzpatrick, email to the authors, August 8, 2012.

4 Patrick Nee, interview with the authors, February 2012.

5 Duane Champagne,
Social Order and Political Change
(Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1992), 18.

Acknowledgments

Having invested so much of our professional, and sometimes personal, lives in the pursuit of Whitey Bulger’s story, we had long harbored a desire to write a book about him. We are deeply grateful to the people who made this possible.

This book wouldn’t have happened without the enthusiastic support of Marty Baron, the former editor of the
Boston Globe
, now at the
Washington Post
, who was gracious in letting us pursue this endeavor, and Christopher M. Mayer, the
Globe
’s publisher, who backed us all the way. Mark S. Morrow, the newspaper’s deputy managing editor for Sunday & Projects, did a masterful job editing the book. He is a talented wordsmith and made his mark throughout the manuscript. He stuck with the project even after seriously injuring his arm in an accident, finishing the editing process with one of his hands in a cast. We will be forever grateful for his Herculean efforts. Jennifer Peter, deputy managing editor for local news, graciously freed us from our daily duties so that we could take on this challenge. Janice Page, the
Globe
’s editor of film and book development, was with us from the get-go. Our agents, Lane Zachary and Todd Shuster, were tremendous advocates for the project. And our lawyer, David McCraw, vice president and assistant general counsel at the New York Times Company, was a patient and thoughtful influence.

From the moment we made our pitch to them at their offices in Manhattan, the team at Norton—Jeannie Luciano, John Glusman, Drake McFeely, Louise Brockett, Bill Rusin, and Nomi Victor—have been enthusiastic, encouraging collaborators. Tom Mayer edited this book with a keen eye and a deft pencil. He was a delight to work with. We are also indebted to others at Norton—Ryan Harrington, Denise Scarfi, Nancy K. Palmquist, Janet Byrne, Julia Druskin, Don Rifkin, Eleen Cheung, Ingsu Liu, and Rachel Salzman—who worked on the book.

Many colleagues at the
Globe
, some of them now retired, helped us over the years. We both did stints on the
Globe
’s Spotlight Team, first exposing Whitey as an FBI informant and then detailing the extent of the FBI’s corrupt relationship with him. Gerry O’Neill led both of those teams with enormous skill and tenacity, and we benefited from the reporting of Dick Lehr, Christine Chinlund, and Mitch Zuckoff. Maria Cramer’s stellar reporting and writing while teaming up with Shelley Murphy on a three-month project that took them from Santa Monica to Mexico to Iceland uncovered new details about Whitey’s life on the run and his capture. Their special report, “Whitey in Exile,” was expertly steered by editor Scott Allen. Other
Globe
editors and reporters who helped us through the Whitey years are Sally Jacobs, who did a terrific, detailed story about Cathy Greig’s life, and Milton J. Valencia, Jonathan Saltzman, Thanassis Cambanis, Patricia Nealon, Ralph Ranalli, John Ellement, Steve Kurkjian, Teresa Hanafin, and Mike Bello. Scott Helman helped us negotiate the confusing boulevard of file sharing while writing collaboratively.

Over the years, we worked with
Globe
photographers who were also chasing Whitey, none more zealous and resourceful than John Tlumacki, who snapped the first shots of Whitey and Cathy Greig in 1988 from the passenger seat of Kevin Cullen’s car. John has a knack for finding wiseguys, especially on Castle Island. His exclusive photos of Whitey and Greig were used by the FBI during its manhunt.
Globe
photographer Bill Greene helped chronicle the Whitey story during our trip to Iceland. Other
Globe
photographers who helped us over the years include Bill Brett, Barry Chin, Yoon S. Byun, Jim Wilson, and Jessey Dearing.

Lisa Tuite’s terrific staff in the
Globe
’s library—Wanda Joseph-Rollins, Marleen Lee, Jeremiah Manion, Rosemarie McDonald, and Colneth Smiley—were troupers as we sent them scurrying for information about ancient and recent Boston history. Rosemarie McDonald also worked as one of the book’s fact-checkers, along with Matt Mahoney, Ben Jacobs, and Stephanie Vallejo. Maureen Long and Frank Bright were a big help, and David Butler did a great job on the maps.

There were other journalists outside the
Globe
who helped us with both information and collegiality: Peter Gelzinis, Janelle Lawrence, and Howie Carr at the
Boston Herald
; David Boeri, first at WCVB-TV and then at WBUR radio, who has done yeoman’s work on the Whitey front; Ed Mahony of the
Hartford Courant
; Dan Rea of WBZ-TV and radio; and Tim White, of WPRI-TV in Providence.

The families of Whitey’s victims have been kind and generous to us, even during some difficult moments for them. Patricia Donahue and her sons, Michael Jr., Shawn, and Tom, are very good people who deserve better than the way their government treated them. The sons of Roger Wheeler, Larry and David, who were great champions of their slain father, pushed for the truth. So, too, were the other families, who fought to keep the focus on their loved ones: the Davis family—Steve, Victor, and their late mother, Olga; Tim Connors; Paul McGonagle; Mary Callahan; Bill St. Croix; Tom Hussey and Emily and Chris McIntyre; Denise Castucci; Elaine Barrett; and Patricia Macarelli.

If not for the work of Chief US District Judge Mark L. Wolf, defense attorney Anthony Cardinale, and federal prosecutors Fred Wyshak and Brian Kelly, the extent of Whitey’s corrupt relationship with the FBI may never have been revealed.

The corruption of public officials that allowed Whitey to kill and menace with impunity sometimes clouds the reality that it was good, honest people in law enforcement who brought him down; and we could not have written this book without them. While many are now retired or doing other things, we’ll recognize them in the capacities in which they chased Whitey and helped us.

The Boston Police Department: Frank Dewan, Ken Beers, Jim Carr, Chip Fleming, Brendan Bradley.

The Massachusetts State Police: Buddy Saccardo, Arthur Bourque, Bob Long, Rick Fraelick, Jack O’Malley, Charlie Henderson, John Tutungian, Tom Duffy, Mike Scanlan, Steve Johnson, and Tom Foley, who led the team that finally brought charges against Whitey. We regret that Foley’s mentor, Pat Greaney, who did so much to help convince Chico Krantz to testify against Whitey, didn’t live to see Whitey’s capture, but wherever Pat is now he’s smiling. The same goes for Jack O’Donovan, the state police commander who first called the FBI out over its protection of Whitey and Steve Flemmi. O’D was in the grip of Alzheimer’s when Whitey was caught, and we hope that he understood when Bob Long told him that they finally got Whitey.

Suffolk County District Attorney’s office: Tim Burke and John Kiernan; Norfolk District Attorney’s office: Bill Delahunt, Matt Connolly, John Kivlan; Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office: Michael Von Zamft.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration: Al Reilly, Steve Boeri, Mike Swidwinski, John Coleman, and Paul Brown, who led the charge in the 1980s to destroy the myth that Whitey had nothing to do with drugs; and Dan Doherty, who teamed up with Steve Johnson and other state police investigators to finally land Whitey and Flemmi in the dock.

Others in law enforcement who helped us over the years include Dick Bergeron and the late Dave Rowell, two Quincy cops who went after Whitey in the 1980s with great zeal and courage; Mike Huff of the Tulsa Police Department; Bill Murphy and Terry McArdle of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; David Taylor of the US Marshals Service; and Bob Fitzpatrick of the FBI. US Attorneys Bill Weld, Donald K. Stern, Michael Sullivan, and Carmen Ortiz. Also James Herbert and Christina DiIorio Sterling of the US Attorney’s office.

During the hunt for Whitey, FBI agents Ken Kaiser, Warren Bamford, Bill Chase, Tom Larned, Tom Cassano, Gail Marcinkiewicz, John Gamel, and Rich Teahan gave us access and insight into the Bulger Task Force’s efforts to track him.

There were many attorneys who helped us over the years. William Christie, Steven Gordon, and Ed Hinchey were among the lawyers who represented Whitey’s victims and were tireless advocates not for just the families but the truth. We can’t name all the lawyers who helped us, but others who stand out were Kenneth Fishman, Martin Weinberg, Randy Gioia, Frank Libby, Paul Kelly, Edward Berkin, Albert Cullen, Victor Garo, James P. Duggan, Manuel Casabielle, Tracy Miner, George Gormley, and Bob George.

Some of those closest to Whitey over the years were very generous with their time and reflections, especially Kevin Weeks and Pat Nee. Teresa Stanley, Whitey’s longtime girlfriend, was kind to us right to the end, when she died in August 2012. Some of Whitey’s former associates on Winter Hill, especially the former Winter Hill Gang leader Howie Winter, were very helpful. Richard Sunday, Whitey’s closest friend in prison in Atlanta and Alcatraz, was extremely generous with his time and in allowing us to read the letters Whitey sent him from jail after his capture. Sunday remains sympathetic to Whitey, and hoped he could provide another side to him. Alcatraz historian and author Jerry Champion kindly shared letters with us that Whitey sent him from jail. We are grateful to the National Park Service for arranging a tour of Alcatraz by ranger John Cantwell, a knowledgeable and entertaining guide who let us stand in Whitey’s old cell and regaled us with tales of what prison life was like. The staff at the National Archives in San Bruno, California, and the staff at Waltham, Massachusetts, provided us with Whitey’s decades-old prison and court files. We greatly appreciate the help that Icelander Arthur Bogason provided during our trip to Reykjavík.

We’re also thankful to others who knew Whitey and shared their memories of him: Attorney Joe Oteri, Brian Wallace, the late Bobby Moakley, the late Will McDonough, and Lindsey Cyr, the mother of Whitey’s only known child, who kindly shared the difficult memories of losing their son, Douglas.

We thank the family of the late Rev. Robert Drinan, his sister-in-law Helen, and his niece Betsy; and Boston Housing Authority director Bill McGonagle, whose brother was Whitey’s paperboy.

We’d also like to thank John Connolly, who gave us a series of interviews before he was convicted of racketeering in 2002 and spoke to us during his trial and after his conviction in Miami for the murder of John Callahan.

From Kevin Cullen: Many thanks to my family, my wife, Martha, and my sons, Patrick and Brendan, for their love and support.

From Shelley Murphy: My deep appreciation for the love and support of my husband, Regis; my children, Liam, Ryan, Jessica, and Kerry; my son-in-law, Tom; my grandchildren, Chloe and Shane; and my mother, Barbara, and my late father, Bill.