During the period from 1955 to 1975 which I am writing about over 100 gangland murders were committed in the Boston area. Of that amount, James Whitey Bulger murdered none one by his own hand. He was present at about as many fingers as you have on one hand if you believe the stories told by admitted liars who put him into whatever murder they could knowing that was the wishes of the people from whom they were trying to get better deals.
Surprised, you should be if you bought into the hype that has surrounded him created by the media frenzie created by the federal prosecutors and the willful members of the media. After 1975 there were some others but again implicating him in them were the same people who lied, wrote books full of lies and falsely testified under oath.
I’m not suggesting in any manner, shape or form that Whitey Bulger was a “good guy” or that he himself was any better than a cruel, greedy, vicious criminal. What I do suggest is that he was a lot less worse than some of the people who testified against him. The question that was never answered by the Boston media or federal prosecutors given that is why the great emphasis on Whitey Bulger. Obviously it was a way to smear his brother Bill with his crimes. It was the classic bait and switch operation: “come in let’s talk about Whitey now do you think he could have lived his life of crime without his brother helping him.” It was universally accepted among the media that Bill Bulger was the one who enabled his criminal doings.
If that was the case who enabled Frank Salemme, Steve Flemmi, John Martorano, Wimpy Bennett, Larry Baione, Vincent “Jimmy the Bear” Flemmi, Howie Winter, Joe “the Animal” Barboza, etc. And, I haven’t mentioned the murders committed by the Patriarca Mafia crime family that ran Boston under the leadership of Jerry Angiulo and his brothers. They were able to do their murder without help from others why is it then that Whitey needed his brother’s help? Of course it is all nonsense that Bill had anything to do with his brother’s criminal activities but guilt by relationship was the Boston media’s idea of responsible reporting.
The way the media wrote people were supposed to believe Whitey was the only show in town when at best he was a side act when it came to murdering people. Who do you think were committing the other ninety-five plus murders during the period mentioned?
James Whitey Bulger was not involved during much of this time because in 1956 he went to prison. He did not come out until 1965. He was a bank robber. He was convicted or robbing three banks; he told some he robbed seventeen. But that was so much Whitey who loved to highlight his criminal life; in fact, he delighted in the publicity he was receiving in the media. He thought of himself, as the writers of one of the books had it, that he was in the front of the line of all the criminals in the United States. Had there been such a line, he surely would have been back around the corner.
It is important to keep Whitey in perspective because as best I can tell his victims were the only people to be compensated by the government for their deaths. John McIntyre’s family received 3.1 million dollars from the federal government because it was alleged the FBI was responsible for his murder because Whitey was an FBI informant. The families of other victims likewise benefited. How one thing follows the other is for another discussion.
We know Flemmi was an informant because he admitted it. We know Whitey Bulger and Flemmi were informants because the FBI were required to admit it. But here’s the rub – how many of the other victims who were never compensated were murdered by FBI informants because the FBI kept the identity of the informants secret? How many of the persons I named who were worse than Whitey were FBI informants? Isn’t it time we knew and started to apply equal justice to all those murdered by people who were FBI informants or associated with them.
You do know how to dial in…..
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True enough, Matt. True.
Billy Bulger was hated by Boston-area Liberals, in the Media, in Academia, and in legal circles, especially envious jurists. envious lawyers, and envious politicians. Why: First. because he was a pro-life, traditionalist, conservative. Second, he came from the wrong side of the tracks: South Boston, next to Savin Hill and Uphams Corner, near the Supreme Diner and old Continental Lounge, the neighborhoods nearby spill over into Southie’s Andrew Square. Third, he failed to fit the Leftists’ BIASED STEREOTYPICAL VIEWS of folks from the “inner city”, especially Irish Catholic folks (or Italian Catholic or Polish Catholic or Lithuanian Catholic from the same inner city places): How could Billy or his neighbors be smarter than Suburban Elites from “better families” who Attended Ivy League Schools, the Elitists fondly asked themselves politely, as they stabbed good “lesser quality, less equal” folks in the back with their pens and tongues. Forth, the leftist-liberals in the Media, Academia, Politics and the Judiciary hated Billy Bulger because he was salt of the earth, down to earth, and had a quicker wit, was more polished on his feet, whether delivering a speech or debating, and had impeccable character. William Bulger was made of the right stuff and chose to do good in his life. (I believe he has never been convicted of even a misdemeanor, never credibly charged of anything, to my knowledge.
The Cartoonish Howling Howie Carr: Of course, Bill Bulger has been smeared by character assassinating, mudslinging, sadistic, envious vermin like Howie Carr, who delights in the sufferings of others, and his ilk at the Boston Globe. You don’t think Howie and his ilk are vicious bullies in print, smear artists? Glance through his life’s work: his books, how he’s delighted in defaming the Kennedy Family and others, how he glorified serial killer John Martorano, and showcased him on his television and radio appearance. “Hey, Johnny,” Carr called out to his newfound multi-murderous friend, his newfound pot of gold. Howie would diminish evil, would cover up evil, would perpetuate evil for the buck; and he’s done so oftentimes; How would defame any honorable man for the buck, and he has defamed many. That’s Howie Carr’s record. Reread his opinion columns about Governor Ed King, B.U. President John Silber, and many, many others.
“Howie Carr wrote many columns defaming people as “rats”, especially good people who helped the police tracked down criminals. Backed in 2012, I wrote the following about Howie: “He makes money writing books about his killer friends, accepting every lie and sordid tale the real rats tell him. (and adding some lies of his own.) He lives in the gutters of their minds. How low can one go? Look in the mirror Howie and ask that pudgy plastic face starring back at you: WHO IS THE BIGGEST RAT OF ALL? HOWIE CARR IS.”
THE ABOVE QUOTE IS FROM “CHARACTER ASSASSINS: CARR, DERSHOWITZ, MUDD; WHO WILL LIFE IN INFAMY?” (XLIBRIS 2012) see the Appendix, TITLED “LETTERS TO THE EDITOR” and subtitled: CARR’S RATS, PRO-LIFE and EGAN’S RANTS.
Billy Bulger’s and Whitey Bulger’s paths rarely crossed except, I imagine, at family gatherings: baptisms, perhaps, parents’ birthdays, perhaps, funerals. Billy thought his brother was into gambling or bookmaking. Did men who ran bars back then in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s engage in similar activities and carry guns? Many did. We lived in those neighbor hoods; we know they did. Is there anything we, or their friends, or their family members, or their neighbors could have done to stop them or to dissuade them from that life? It’s a stupid question. Or course not. It was acceptable. Sometimes the local barber was taking bets.
WHITEY WAS still IN PRISON FROM ABOUT THE TIME BILLY had COMPLETED HIS KOREAN WAR DUTY, HAD THEN GRADUATED FROM BOSTON COLLEGE, ‘57, GRADUATED FROM B.C. LAW SCHOOL, ’61, HAD BEEN MARRIED FOR FIVE YEARS, RAISING A FAMILY, AND HAD BEEN A STATE REPRESENTATIVE FOR ABOUT 10 YEARS. By 1971, Billy was elected as a State Senator, and would eventually be raising nine children. Billy had zero time for Whitey’s business. Whitey had no reason nor no need to get Billy involved or even to let Billy know what he was doing. Finally, remember that in 1995, when Wyshak’s cohorts, the FEDs, first indicted Whitey, Flemmi and Salemme, NO MURDER COUNT WAS IN THEIR INDICTMENT. Why? because the FEDs did not KNOW and No One Else in State or Local government or in the Media knew just who amongst all the many gangsters and gunmen in Boston just who was killing whom.
They are just some of the facts, Jack. Be patient, read on for the good stuff. Besides the killers and attempted murderers, Morris and Weeks, and the Media, including Carr, just WHO WAS IT OR WHO WERE THEY THAT CAME OUT OF THIS WHOLE MESS SMELLING MOST FOUL?
1. Double heinousness and cravenly “cave-in” cowardice were demonstrated by Mitt Romney in asking Bill Bulger to step down as Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts, for the sin of having a brother who was a criminal. 2. Triply heinous and utterly contemptible was Boston Globe Opinion Writer Jeff Jacoby calling on the people of Massachusetts to ‘SHUN” BILL BULGER. SHUN A MAN WHO HAS LED A DISTINGUISHED CAREER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, WITH AN IMPECCABLE RECORD, WHO HAD RECEIVED OVER 20 HONORARY DEGREES FROM SOME OF THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS IN MASSACHUSETTS. AND JACOBY’S SUPERFICIAL REASONING WENT LIKE THIS: BILLY MUST HAVE KNOWN SOMETHING, PLUS BILLY WOULD NOT HELP THE FEDS SET UP WHITEY IN A STING, even though Whitey had not committed a murder in 20 years (innocent until proven guilty in America), nor had threatened anyone in Massachusetts in 10 years, and even thought Whitey had been on the lamb for about ten years before the FEDs started to squeeze Billy.
What brother would set up another in a sting? I guess Jeff Jacoby would. But I ask Jeff, would you still sell out your brother even if to your knowledge your brother had not committed a crime in thirteen years? Of course you would if it would keep you in good graces with your bosses at the Boston Globe, wouldn’t you, Jeff? Or did you have some second thoughts about shunning folks and reduce those thoughts to paper and insert them in one of your columns? OR ARE YOU STICKING WITH THIS SHUNNING BIT, JEFF? llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
I’ll post another comment later on. All comments must be read as one, from me, anyway. I try to be consistent. I admit error when error is demonstrated. For example, yesterday I wrote about the wards at Georgetown Hospital, when in fact it was mostly the outpatient clinics.
For the record: again your paint brush is exceedingly wide (surprising given your Westcon creds)-one Boston area Liberal who admired Bill Bulger. Especially liked “The Old Bog Road”.
Bulger filled a need. The decline of the Mafia produced a sprawling gap in the crime genre. A new villain had to be created if media coverage of crime was to continue to prosper. Thus was born Whitey Bulger and his criminal “empire.” (In reality, a seedy liquor store in South Boston and a crappy condo in Quincy.) In “The Departed” the most noteworthy and critically acclaimed Bulger film, Jack Nicholson operates from a fabulous seaside apartment with a magnificent view of Boston Harbor. The James Connolly character, now transposed into a state police detective played by Matt Damon no less, can’t stand Southie either. He is given an insanely expensive apartment on Beacon Hill with a balcony and views of Boston Common and the gold-domed State House. Martin Scorsese, of course, was only making a movie, but you can see what kind of trouble the director would have encountered had he decided to more accurately depict the real Bulger and the real Connolly. True crime prospered as well, with a shower of Bulger books, magazine profiles and news stories.
There was a great line in the Godfather movie spoken by Michael Corleone ” we have newspapermen on the payroll? ” The other gangsters all nod. Was that the case in Boston with the entire media? It seems so or they are much dumber than we think. Not one media person in Boston has questioned Connolly spending 18 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit or objecting to Martorano getting 12 years for 20 murders he did. 2. You are 100% correct about the media and the prosecutors but you could add the judges,FBI, DEA and State Police to the mix. The entire Whitey saga was a political vendetta against a pol who ignored the press. So they invented the rogue gangster ( Whitey) to go along with the rogue agent ( Connolly). All the other murderers were good guys. All the other corrupt cops and prosecutors, ( Morris, Schneiderham, Comey, Wyshak and Mueller) were good guys 3. The media is totally debased. In the sports world if you don’t portray the pro football team favorably you will be denied access to inside scoops. If the news reporters don’t show the FBI and prosecutors in a good light access will be denied. The media are sycophants to the powerful. 4. The same gross dishonesty that the local press covered Sen Bulger with the national press has covered Trump with. Is Trump really Hitler? Is Sen Bulger really the godfather of the Winter Hill gang? Two complete falsehoods and smears never even questioned by the media.
“Isn’t it time we knew and started to apply equal justice to all those murdered by people who were FBI informants or associated with them.”
Sounds like a hell of a task. Where do you start? If all you say about John Connolly is true and he is still behind bars for life, how do you dig into the pile of dog poo that is Frank Salemme, Steve Flemmi, John Martorano……. and work a case? Reminds me of the scene at the end of Chinatown when John Houston drives off with his grand daughter who he fathered with his just whacked daughter Faye Dunaway. Some guy turns to the disbelieving Jack Nicholson and says, “Forget it, Jake. Its Chinatown.”