I know this will sound odds from a guy who has a site called “mattofboston.com.” Obviously, I selected that name because I knew of the great interest in the master criminal Whitey Bulger, the Professor Moriarty of our time, throughout my country if not internationally. I bought into the idea that Whitey was this unique criminal, the Napoleon of crime, who was the genius of all things bad and despicable. I would have been very happy to leave it that way had I not become more involved in this matter.
As I dug into these things about Whitey certain items I discovered forced me to reconsider many of my previously held beliefs. More and more I began to wonder whether I have been sold a pig in a poke. Have I and a multitude of others been led on a merry chase down the wrong road because it became in the best interest of some to to divert our attention from the truth of the matter? Am I moving with the herd in a stampede in a headlong plunge into a deep canyon of ignorance and convenience?
These little voices of dissent that arise from some of the corners of the Whitey story seem not to be heard by most others. Why is it I am having some doubts and slowing down when all others seem to be of one mind rushing ahead? What should I do? Go along or question my assumptions by reexamining them. It reminds me of what Henry David Thoreau said many years ago: “If a man loses pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured, or far away.”
The tune that I’ve been faintly hearing tells me I’ve been neglecting the motive evidence. As a prosecutor I knew that motive was not a necessary element of any crime but having done many arson cases I knew that without it I had no chance of winning. The motive into making one’s citizens believe that another group is less than human by blackening it in such a manner that its citizens are repulsed by its existence is to prepare the people to war against or commit genocidal acts against that group.
I was being asked by this tapping if there is a motive in making Whitey into something he is not. Who benefits by making Whitey numero uno, or as we used to say in Japan, ichiban among American criminals. Before I went on with the mob, I wanted to examine this.
One group is making a good deal of money off of vilifying Whitey and Billy Bulger by writing books. The more infamous he becomes, the more they sell their wares. There is profit to them in depicting Whitey as bad to the core. If he is merely just another hoodlum, who cares about him or his life?
Another group is the vicious gangsters who have been getting good deals because they, like the book writers, are trading off of Whitey. These men get more than money, they get the gift of freedom. It is in their interests to push Whitey up to the top of the criminal ladder.
Obviously the prosecution team has made deals with these devils so it serves its interest to keep Whitey as the Beelzebub of our age. The families of the victims benefit. When one gangster is murdered by another little care. When it is the Devil himself doing the killing the perception of the killing changes. Especially when it’s done in league with a federal agency such as the FBI.
The FBI benefits by him being the master criminal who outwitted them rather than having us look at its system of operation. Best have eyes on Whitey and not on its internal workings which if exposed would cry out for change. Then the courts following the clamor of the public have all bought into this picture of Whitey as evil incarnate.
What if they are all pitching the wrong story for their own ends or because they got hoodwinked and can’t admit it?
I’ve been caused to pause in my thinking which made me attuned to the taps of that far off drummer because of the articles I recently read in the media which were written over the summer. They took a couple of simple actions by Whitey and twisted them into something quite macabre. These happened in 1956 when he was arrested for armed robbery and first sent to prison.
His arrest occurred because he and another were ratted out by a fellow robber. In order to save his girlfriend from going to jail, Whitey admitted his participation in the robberies and told his girl to cooperate with the FBI.
Howie Carr (who has made a six figures spouting falsehoods such as maligning Whitey as a male prostitute cruising the Combat Zone without a shred of evidence) along with others in the media gleefully wrote that Whitey’s action in confessing made him an informant for the FBI as far back as 1956. I knew nothing could be further from the truth. Why this little lie?
(continued tomorrow)