My Name Is Bulger – The Documentary – Matt’s Take On it

Airing on Discovery Plus is a new documentary on Whitey Bulger and his brother, former Senate President, Bill Bulger, My Name is Bulger.  The following is a post Matt had in progress:

I thought the documentary was excellent in establishing what it set out to do: show that Bill Bulger’s actions during his public life were commendable, beyond reproach, and wrongfully impugned. Bill brought integrity back to public service and for his great service to the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. His reputation was blackened by sinister forces who took the sins of his brother, Jim “Whitey” Bulger and wrongfully threw them onto Bill. Those who produced the documentary deserve our thanks for shining a light upon this affair. The documentary should be viewed widely by those who seek the truth.

I did not need the documentary to tell me of Bill’s integrity.  I do not need my own experience nor the word of others to know his integrity, but simply the actions of the federal prosecutors prove it. The lead prosecutor, Fred Wyshak, had the temerity to indict a Massachusetts probation commissioner for racketeering for helping relatives of legislators get jobs and for not hiring the most competent person (as determined by him) at the same time that he had his boss, the U.S. attorney in Boston, hire his son as a prosecutor in the Boston office. Wyshak had already blamed “the Bulgers” for FBI Agent John Connolly falling afoul of the law. The US Attorney’s failure to charge Bill with any criminal act despite the enormous effort expended in trying to indict him speaks volume to Bill Bulger’s good character.

Three people wrote to me after the documentary My Name Is Bulger was released asking me if I had watched it and what I thought about it. The last request was on July 5 which came at the time when I was between things so I took the opportunity to watch it.

It confirmed and reinforced much of what I have been stating over the life of my blog that Bill Bulger is a man of integrity and that he had nothing in common with his brother Whitey (James) other than he was his older brother and uncle to his children who was invited into his home because of that. As one of Bill’s daughters observed in the documentary, you could tell they were different – one wore a leather jacket and the other a suit.

Former governors Dukakis and Weld were strong in their support of Bill – especially Dukakis – known as a no nonsense straight shooter – who pointed out that Bill took the state senate which had a reputation for corruption and turned it into an honest and clean body. Of particular interest was the former governors’ observations of Whitey who they said that they never gave a thought about him. He just was not in the picture when dealing with Bill.

I have also pointed that out. I worked with the top organized crime investigators on the state, city and town police doing extensive electronic surveillance during Whitey’s heydays. Not once did anyone associate Bill with Whitey. You may have heard some say that Whitey was not investigated or prosecuted because people were afraid of Bill. Yet these same people will write about how the state police spent extensive time and effort trying to get evidence on Whitey.

It became a great myth brought up long after Whitey fled in December 1994 by people who knew nothing about the investigative efforts in Whitey that law enforcement backed off because of Bill. Like Governor Weld and Dukakis, I never saw, thought of, or heard there was any connection between them other than as siblings. In fact, on a couple of occasions I had to contact Bill relative to legislations on behalf of the district attorneys. I did not give a second thought to his relation to Whitey. If anyone should have, I would have been the one. I was constantly doing electronic surveillance on Whitey’s organization. By the way, we once heard that Whitey only mentioned one DA’s office that was harassing him- mine.

Governor Bill Weld gave credence to my experience. He mentioned having a secret indictment of Whitey and if there was any connection between Bill and Whitey, Whitey certainly would have known about it.

I have maintained that the Whitey Bulger story is a myth created by the newspapers abetted by the Boston U.S. attorney. The myth was shown in the movie by the statement of one of Bill’s daughters who talked about how when Osama bin Laden was killed people were told to leave his family members living in Boston alone because they had nothing to do with his actions. But in the Bulger case, Whitey’s siblings were constantly harassed by the media.

Why the difference?

Catherine Greig wondered the same in the documentary. She wondering why the media treated him like he was a horrible monster. The answer has always been simple: the target by the people in the media was not Whitey, it was Bill. The more they elevated and inflated Whitey into the highest position of evil (as I mentioned in the documentary calling him the number one criminal in the history of the United States when he was not even close to number one in Boston), the more the media could suggest Bill had to have known about him and somehow have extended help to him. Although not covered in the documentary, he was constantly libeled in the press but their was no remedy for him being a public figure.

The documentary gave a nice insight into Bill and his family life. Although it did not mention it, I heard Bill never let a television in his home. All his children appear to have remained close to Bill and appear to have led decent, law abiding lives. We can rest assured if any one of them had not done so we would have seen it in the headlines of the Boston Globe. The old saying the sins of the father shall fall on the children often proves true for what is taught in the home is what is often followed when the children are set forth on their own.

I was interested to hear Bill’s children’s take on their uncle. They saw one side of him when he visited them which was the side Catherine Greig saw – a kind and compassionate man. His nephews and nieces  believed he was involved in the booking rackets but as one of them said “there was a bookie on every corner” in South Boston. It would have been nice to know whether they knew of his reputation as a a tough guy who was not to be toyed with. Surely, growing up in the neighborhood and going to school with local kids they had to know he was feared by others. A  greater probe of their knowledge would have added to the film.

The documentary also pointed out the myth that has captured the Boston media and beyond. Near the end Bob Ward of I believe Channel 25 speaking after Whitey’s murder said that Whitey was “a larger-than-life figure in South Boston, Boston, and all New England for decades.” Up until the time Whitey fled in late 1994, he was practically unknown. In 1988, the Boston Globe when writing about Whitey’s “special relationship” with the FBI did not mention anything other than he was in the rackets. The first federal indictments released in 1995 mentioned nothing about murders. It was not until 1998 when it was disclosed that Whitey and Steve Flemmi were FBI informants that Whitey received a certain renown. During his days of operating his criminal enterprise (1972-1994) he might just as well not have existed for most of the public in Boston, and especially not for all of New England.  Certainly, no one in the general public feared Whitey.

It was interesting to hear Kevin Weeks talk about the myth of Whitey. He noted ,as I have, that the media helped create the myth but suggests his reputation was also boosted up by the FBI. I thought that was a good point. The FBI office in Boston had obviously been corrupted in its ongoing efforts to protect Whitey and Stevie Flemmi because they were Top Echelon Informants. The Boston media excoriated it when that news came out. The FBI was embarrassed.  Embarrassment was the one thing the FBI really feared. To lessen its embarrassment, the FBI added Whitey to the Top Ten Wanted list-  a list which it controls. How would making Whitey larger than life help the FBI? It would ingratiate itself with the Boston media and U.S, prosecutors who were doing the same thing.  Remember, this was mostly a Boston production and by joining he push by the media, the FBI hoped the criticism of it would shift. Kevin Weeks said the movie Departed should have been made by Walt Disney – many of the stories of Whitey could have been also.

Kevin Weeks who knew Whitey’s criminal side best, aside perhaps from Flemmi, made some observations worth noting.  Weeks talks about going to Bill’s house with Whitey and they talked as brother’s would talk.  They talked about the kids, sports, politics and news. Weeks mentioned Whitey was very protective of Bill and didn’t want Bill to know anything of what Whitey was doing. Then Weeks mentioned something I believe most relevant- Whitey loved the idea that people feared him. That reputation, whether warranted or not, made his gambits in criminal extortions that much easier. It was sort of pathetic I believed that as Whitey’s reputation for violence and brutality grew, he began to believe that reputation rather than understanding that was not him. Whitey was not an out of control animal but a thoughtful, careful and clever criminal who planned his moves. Again, to quote Weeks, Whitey avoided violence if he could.

That is not to say Whitey was not a tough guy. I believe he was but the odd thing about him is that he never, like many of the young toughs in Southie, entered a boxing ring going up against a person man to man. No one seems to mention him being in fight unless he is carrying a tire iron. The tough guys I knew also were good with their fists. Whitey does not seem to fit that type of toughness. I suppose he was more brutal than tough depending on a weapon of some sort to show his toughness. Add to his capacity for being brutal, he apparently had nerves of steel that allowed him to back up his reputation.

The documentary did not touch Whitey’s murders. We heard from Pat Nee who told a different story about Whitey than what he told in his book. Nee was a leading member of the Mullens gang along with Paulie McGonagle and Tommy King, his partners. A good case could be made that he may have murdered more people from Southie than Whitey yet never was prosecuted for them. Unlike Whitey, Nee helped bury his partners who were murdered.

The documentary covered the informant issue. Kevin Weeks believed Whitey was an informant; one of his nephews said he was not. Whether he was or not is really not at issue. The simple fact is the FBI treated him like one,  protected him from others, and closed its eyes to his crimes. I happen to believe he was an informant since his partner Steve Flemmi admitted that he was one. He paid for information and protection from the FBI but also passed along information to it, especially about the Mafia. Neither man knew that there were files on them setting out that they were informants. We do know that Whitey informed on John Connolly when Connolly’s attorney said in court that Whitey paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to Connolly.

Catherine Greig reminded us how unfair the system can be when it works at getting someone. We heard how she had to listen to folk attack her in court after she pleaded guilty for things she did not do and knew nothing about; we heard how she received the largest sentence ever in America for a person without a record charged with a nonviolent, non-drug related crime; we heard how the judge had joined the prosecution team by suggesting as she left the door that if she talked she could do good for herself. Just like Whitey’s crimes were attached to Bill, so were his crimes attached to Catherine.

Whitey’s execution in prison leaves many questions unanswered. I wrote to him asking if I could visit him in Florida. I was given the information by him how to register. That I did and then wrote again to him. He never answered. I believe it was because the Florida prison official found him to be a nuisance and put him in solitary confinement. I recall that he was being transferred out of Florida to a Medical facility in Texas. Next thing I know he was murdered in a West Virginia prison the morning after his arrival. Hopefully we learn more about this. There seemed to be a sinister invisible hand calling some of the shots in this case especially when you consider the absurd Florida Appeal decision that kept John Connolly in prison.

The governors, Dukakis and Weld, were right on the button with what they said. Dukakis pointed to Bill’s Achilles heel- he cared little for media relations. Weld noted that Bill and The Boston Globe did not get along. Dukakis rued that Bill would never be recognized for his accomplishments; Weld thought that as time passed he would be appreciated. Dukakis thought that Romney was wrong in going after Bill. But as we’ve seen over the years, it is difficult to expect a courageous stand from Romney who often appears to weigh how things will affect him first and foremost, although at times he surprises us.

Jean Bulger told how Whitey was his own worst enemy and a source of worry to his parents while Bill was their source of pride. The anecdote she told about how Whitey said to them that the family probably would have believed that their mother brought home the wrong baby from the hospital when she brought him home if he didn’t he look just like the rest of them is telling. Whitey knew he did not fit into the expectations of his family but they could not deny he was one of them. That they never would do.

The family would suffer with Whitey and Whitey would regret the suffering he brought upon them but he could not help but follow the beat of the drummer that he heard. Bill suffered the most knowing there was little he could do to change Whitey’s ways after having tried to do it all his adult life. The documentary will stand the test of time even though it runs afoul of some powerful forces. We do have to believe the truth it tells will ultimately be accepted.

The one big question remains is why? Why were so many in the media so gleefully intent on implicating Bill in Whitey’s crime? This was the universal opinion of those I talked to even those who had qualms about the way the prosecutors were handling the case. Why did Wyshak, when he had no evidence to bring before a grand jury implicating Bill, equate Bill with Whitey? Not one voice could be heard in his defense.