Whitey Bulger here dead a chilling
violent end to a murderous life a force
of evil who created a reign of terror
but that guy called my family flew
Hollenback ruling the Boston underworld
thank what and orchestrating countless
cold-blooded killings
what did whitey do to your family
destroyed notorious gangster James
Whitey Bulger killed behind bars the
world is a much better place and a
deeper place without Whitey Bulger in it
infamous South Boston mobster Whitey
Bulger is dead hello everyone I'm mark
acaba and I'm Vanessa Welch the criminal
turned FBI informant who was captured
after 16 years on the run was found dead
this morning in a federal prison in West
Virginia he was 89 years old the US
Department of Justice confirm reports
Bulger had been found dead and a source
says it is being investigated as a
homicide we have team coverage now on
the man who terrorized communities in
Massachusetts and around the country
we begin with Bob Ward who has been
covering Whitey Bulger for years his
crimes convictions and now final justice
right to the end James Bulger always
denied he was an FBI informant but now
an FBI investigation is underway to
determine if Whitey Bulger died a rat's
death the victim of a mob hit behind
bars James Bulger was found dead Tuesday
morning at West Virginia's Hazleton
federal prison a maximum security
facility Bulger arrived there just hours
before and placed in general population
with other inmates in 2013 Bulger was
convicted in a landmark mob trial which
included 11 murders in the years Bulger
was a fugitive many of his closest
criminal associates cut deals with the
feds and testified against him one of
them Steven the rifleman Flemmi told the
jury he and whitey routinely traded
information with federal investigators
while Bulger and Flemmi built their
criminal empire it's a revelation that
could get any criminal killed the feds
are not saying how Bulger died at 89
years old the aging mobster was in
failing health but the questions linger
just this year
Stephen Flemmi testified against former
New England mob boss Frank Salemi
in the murder trial of Boston nightclub
owner Stephen de sorrow Salemi and
co-defendant Paul WIDA quer both
convicted in the case Paul we decry now
is an inmate at the same prison where
Whitey Bulger was found dead it is
likely the feds will be looking to see
if that is a coincidence or if someone
else targeted Bulger for death meantime
whitey Bulger's own family probably has
its own questions we caught up with
Jackie Bulger Whitey's brother and he
told us this I have no idea that's the
first I hear I heard he wasn't feeling
good a while back that's all yet I don't
I don't have anything to say right now
I'm Bob Ward Boston 25 News vultures
life of crime began in South Boston he
vanished in 1994 16 years later he would
finally be taken into custody some 3,000
miles away in Santa Monica California
for most of us this was our first
glimpse of the elusive South Boston mob
boss James Whitey Bulger and it was a
moment few of us ever thought we would
see this is Whitey Bulger in federal
prison orange escorted under heavy guard
on his way to a federal court hearing in
Boston the man who was once the most
feared name in Boston's underworld now
reduced to a perp walk James Bulger was
born September 3rd 1929 in Dorchester he
was one of six children in a Roman
Catholic family and grew up in the South
Boston projects at the age of 14 Bulger
had his first brush with the law
arrested and setting up a lifetime of
being on the wrong side of the law
before that side of his life Bulger
served in the United States Air Force
he received an honorable discharge in
1952 and that's what it all turned into
a life of crime there were arrests for
bank robberies and other crimes a stint
in a federal pen where Bulger
volunteered for an LSD experiment in
return for an early release Bulger did
time in Alcatraz America's future most
wanted fugitive housed in America's most
notorious prison finally in 1965 James
Bulger returned to the Boston area and
inserted himself as a member of the
Winter Hill Gang directly into what's
become known as the deadly Irish gang
wars Bulger eventually took over the
Winter Hill Gang in Somerville from how
he winter and that's when Bulger and his
cohorts Stephen Flemmi moved their
headquarters from Somerville to
Lancaster Street in the North End and
that's where the state police shut this
infamous surveillance video and that
very location brought the Bulger gang
close to the Italian mobs North End turf
of the Angelo family and soon enough
Bulger and Flemmi
according to court proceedings became
secret FBI informants their handler was
FBI agent John Connolly it was an
unusual relationship between an FBI
operative and his informants and turned
criminal Connolly was convicted in 2002
on racketeering charges stemming from
his relationship with Bulger the DEA
started to put the heat on Bulger and
that's when whitey started living his
life as a fugitive from justice along
for the ride his longtime girlfriend
Teresa Stanley but Stanley didn't last
long she wanted to go back with her kids
enter Catherine Greig 20 years younger
than Bulger and had plenty of history
with him believed to be his lover while
he was with Stanley nobody knew where
they were there were plenty of guesses
plenty of sightings for 16 years the
couple somehow though eluded authorities
whitey on the FBI's most wanted list the
entire time with a million-dollar bounty
on his head this is an announcement by
the FBI
and then the unbelievable a PSA was
released by the same agency that cut a
deal with whitey the FBI focusing on
Catherine Greig thought if someone
recognized her or if somehow she got
word that that would lead them to whitey
and they were right it did but not in
the states in Iceland a woman who used
to live in Santa Monica California
recognized Catherine Greig the FBI says
she contacted them from her new home in
Iceland and the rest is history an
alleged mobster from South Boston
sitting on the FBI's most wanted list
for so many years found living in
California in a tiny apartment under the
names Charles and Carol Gasko
controlling his environment his
girlfriend his world until the FBI was
able to lure him out of his apartment
under a ruse and went in for the arrest
the date June 22nd 2011 back home and
that orange jumpsuit where his accused
of unspeakable crimes
Greg convicted sentenced to prison for
eight years after pleading guilty to
conspiracy to harboring a fugitive to
identity fraud and conspiracy to commit
identity fraud Bulger sat at the
Plymouth County Courthouse of Correction
awaiting trial for his crimes that trial
started in June of 2013 he faced 32
counts of racketeering money laundering
extortion and weapons charges including
complicity and 19 murders August 12 2013
Whitey Bulger was found guilty on 31
counts including both racketeering
charges and was found to have been
involved in 11 murders Bulger was
sentenced to two consecutive life terms
plus five years for his crimes
Bulger's assets were auctioned off in
June of 2016
raising 109 thousand dollars for his
victims
Bulger's life of crime even caught the
attention of Hollywood the character of
Frank Costello played by Jack Nicholson
at the 2006 Martin Scorsese film The
Departed
is loosely based on whitey and Johnny
Depp took on the role as the mob boss in
the film black mass
whitey bulger was found dead October
30th in federal prison in West Virginia
he was 89 years old Bulger was found
dead inside that federal prison early in
the morning he was transferred there the
center of this investigation is now
happening inside that maximum-security
prison in West Virginia USB Hazleton is
located in Bruceton Mills right on the
border of Pennsylvania about an hour and
a half south of Pittsburgh Whitey Bulger
lasted less than 24 hours after being
transferred to that high-security prison
in West Virginia
investigative reporter Eric Rasmussen
found out Bulger is the third prisoner
killed at that facility just this year
correction officers at USP Hazleton say
it's not just a string of bad luck for
years they've been complaining about not
having enough guards to watch over the
prisons more than 1200 inmates including
its latest arrival Whitey Bulger about
80 miles south of Pittsburgh inmates
call the federal prison at Hazelton
misery Mountain whitey bulger the latest
to experience that misery before his
death the Corrections Union told 25
investigates Bulger was in general
population at Hazelton which is also
home to other inmates with ties to
organized crime from what I understand
it was it was a murder this is a very
violent facility and always has been ric
Hildreth is the president of the union
representing corrections officers at
Hazelton he and others had been
complaining about understaffing at the
high-security prison for years held
recessed there down about 40 officers
and the team that responds to medical
emergencies is operating at 60%
you can't ever stop all the violence at
a facility but the more staff you have
the more people you have walking around
the higher the chance that you'll have
staff interrupt a situation in progress
or stop violence from happening I think
it is a failure of the system if any
inmate is sentenced to a certain term of
imprisonment and end up facing something
more than that before whitey Bulger's
death 27 year old inmate Demario Porter
was killed in a fight at the prison in
September in April another fight ended
with the death of 48 year old Ian Thorne
some lawmakers are now calling for an
investigation into whether those deaths
could have been prevented Eric Rasmussen
Boston 25
News earlier this month DC congresswoman
Eleanor Holmes Norton called on the DOJ
Inspector General to open an
investigation into the conditions at
Hazelton the AG's office offered no
comment today when we called to ask
whether it does plan to investigate why
he left a long legacy in South Boston
and their Boston 25 News reporter
Kathryn Bertram found some with mixed
feelings about his death including his
control of one liquor store where he
tried to exercise control over much of
the alcohol trade in Southie he was a
criminal genius Whitey Bulger still
casts a long shadow over his former home
he did what he had to do to survive from
the people who grew up with him and
still remember when he took over this
liquor store next day bell tolling some
can't hang you so we gotta go in there
because he'd like to leave it brought
heat down while some still say whitey
kept order in Southie all I can say when
he was here everything was going alright
but up and down others rejoiced at the
news of his death inside a West Virginia
prison people around him would like to
sit him sit in jail a little longer in
nighttime many noting not only his
murderous past but his work with the FBI
here's what it is I guess usually get
what you got coming to you you know I'm
surprised it took that long to be honest
there ratted out a lot of people
Katherine Bertram Boston 25 News
some people Catherine spoke with said
they feel sorrow for Whitey's family
saying even those who are evil have
loved once one of the family members of
one of Whitey's alleged victims is
speaking out Steven Davis's sister
Deborah was brutally strangled allegedly
at the hands of whitey and his partner
Steve Flemmi Boston 25 News reporter
Heather hedges spoke with Davis he says
it feels like he's finally getting a
little bit of justice for his sister you
may remember at the conclusion of whitey
Bulger's trial in 2013 the jury issued a
no finding in the strangulation death of
Deborah Davis but now her brother Stevie
says this feels as close to justice as
possible you
people deeply you know father's sister's
brothers whitey bulger heard a lot of
people and that includes Steve Davis who
says he struggles with the death of his
sister Deborah everyday in 1981 the 26
year old was allegedly strangled at the
hands of whitey and his partner Steven
the rifleman Flemmi Davis says it
destroyed his family some of his family
members didn't know how to deal with it
and the publicity that came with it
I asked Davis what it's like constantly
having to hear about the man who
allegedly murdered his sister like a
canker sore [ __ ] I say something you
know you're waiting for it to go away
you know it's just
and then finally days hand when Davis
got the call about what happened he says
his initial reaction was relief I hope
it was a brutal murder instead of a
natural cause and I hope all the
families and everybody else are looking
at this as a positive and a closed for
them and while we wait now to hear the
details of Whitey's death Davis says he
knows in his gut what happened if it was
a murder was that justice for Deborah
it'd be justice for her and all of us I
think you know I didn't know own a
chirally it's it's just not something
that should be written in the book Davis
also thinks it takes a particularly evil
person to murder women whitey was
convicted of strangling another woman
Deborah Hussey the daughter of Steve
Flemmi girlfriend as for Davis he's now
working with a documentary filmmaker to
tell the story of Whitey's trial
I'm Heather head Judas Boston 25 News if
there's anyone who knows Bulger's
ruthless and criminal history in Boston
it's Mass State Police trooper bob long
who was part of an investigative team
that took this video while tracking him
in the 80s long later testified at
Bulger's federal trial this Boston 25
News reporter Jessica Raya tells us news
of Whitey's death came as a big relief
for this former trooper this is Whitey
Bulger here the story of former state
trooper Bobby long and James Whitey
Bulger began here inside a garage on
Lancaster Street 38 years ago
this is what Bolger in the Winter Hill
Gang ran their operation long was part
of a State Police investigative team
tracking them
he and his team shot this video back
then over the course of a year and a
half from 1980 into 1981 he was the
scariest criminal I ever came across you
could see it in his eyes he just said
that steer in his eyes
thousand yet look he was just ruthless
he was just ruthless on Tuesday hours
after Bolger's death long showed us his
personal stash of photos documents and
notes from the investigation long says
his team was finally closing in on
Bulger when someone in law enforcement
tipped him off and the investigation was
compromised they just knew they had the
basis covered and in the end they
thought they'd always hold that ace that
they were informants for the FBI that
was in 1981 but 32 years later all of
the work Long's team did finally paid
off at Bulger's federal trial their work
was used as evidence and long was the
first person to testify long says the
hardest part of the investigation being
compromised is knowing that nine people
were murdered after Bulger got away
those families they still have to live
with it they don't have their loved one
around anymore but for long who wanted
Bulger sentenced to death instead of
life in prison this is the day he can
finally close the Bulger chapter of his
life after almost four decades this is
the case that just wouldn't go away
no it's caught it's gone Jessica Reyes
Boston 25 News it is hard to imagine the
torture and pain Whitey Bulger put his
victims families through Michael Donahue
was a Boston native who was an innocent
bystander shot in the head and killed by
Bulger in 1982 Boston 25 News reporter
Ted Daniel spoke with Donahue's family
they say there won't be any tears shed
in the Donahue household over Whitey's
death I just want to get a bottle of
champagne and pop that cook it's not the
typical reaction to a death but there's
nothing typical about James Whitey
Bulger
or what he did to Patricia Donohue and
her family
he wounds my life definitely you know I
could never forgive him for that
in May of 1982 Patricia's husband
Michael was at a bar in this Seaport
when a man named Brian Halloran asked
him for a ride home
what Michael Donahue didn't know was
that Halloran was an informant who
Bolger wanted dead they went outside of
the bottle when they went outside of the
bar they got in the car as it was as
they continued to pull out Whitey Bulger
and a couple of his colleagues pulled
out next to him and shot and killed them
both
Tommy Donahue was just eight years old
when his dad was killed he attended
every day of Bulger's 2013 trial and
many of the hearings that led up to it
the Donahue's know the pain bolter
inflicted on so many families and
there's not an ounce of sympathy here I
was overwhelmed with joy I was I was
very pleased to hear that he was dead
I'm Ted Daniel Boston 25 News this has
been a Boston 25 News special report
we'll continue to follow the
investigation into Bulger's death and
you can find more on our website Boston
25 news.com thank you for joining us