It’s over. It ended with Whitey speaking in a surprisingly non-gangster like voice which seemed to contradict the picture we had of the man. If it were a movie a man with a voice like his would never have been cast in the role of Whitey. Whitey told the court he was not giving up his right to testify voluntarily. The court had taken his right to testify away when it ruled that his defense that he had a promise of immunity would not be admissible at the trial.
I think his decision wise. I listened to him talk to the judge. I didn’t remember every word but I thought I heard him say “do what you want with me.” Other news sources reported what I heard. The official transcript says he said, “and do what yous want with me.” He was using the South Boston plural for the word “you” which adds an ‘s’. This is accepted as shown by dictionary.com but hardly something in popular use.
It is amazing that this one incident of Whitey deciding not to testify caused a media madness that induced the usual suspects to come rushing out of their dens intent on spewing forth their vile venom exposing their inner bias, this from a supposedly responsible media.
Whitey must be roaring with laughter at these media enemies crying about their inability to have a chance to distort what his testimony would have been. The Boston Herald did an editorial on his refusal belittling his claims but then concluding ruefully, “Guess we’ll all just have to wait for the book.”
Herald Columnist Howie Carr said the usual nasty things about him and took the opportunity to take a shot at who he’d prefer to have been on trial, his brother Billy, suggesting Billy’s name was mentioned as much by the federals as Pat Nee’s by the defense team, hardly a true statement, but as we used to say about Manny Ramirez, “that’s Howie being Howie.”
Peter Gelzinis in the Herald also brought in Billy’s name. He wrote: “But on the way out, [Whitey] did screw up our summer. At least Billy and the rest of the clan can smile about that.”
That’s what Whitey finally realized. Had he testified he’d be giving comfort and aid to people who want to destroy not just him but his siblings, his nephews and nieces. Only in a small parochial city like Boston could such a malicious cabal exist among media people in its two main newspapers to reach out beyond the person who was the criminal into his family. Guilt by blood, an old world concept long ago discarded by most right thinking people has resurrected its ugly head in Boston.
Kevin Cullen at the Globe took Whitey’s refusal to testify the hardest judging from his words. He uttered the totally inane statement: “in the end Whitey didn’t have the courage to explain himself.” Explain himself? His lawyer told us he’s a vicious gangster who ran South Boston’s rackets and took a cut of the drug dealers’ profits. What is there to explain?
He then asks: “what did Whitey have to lose?” That’s easy to answer, for one thing a substantial book advance and royalties on his book. When he realized Cullen could write another book based on his testimony, Whitey decided he was through filling his enemies pockets with coin. He also knew his family would be unfairly brought into his trial.
Like Howie, Cullen can’t restrain himself from mentioning Billy Bulger. Reading Cullen’s column shows the wisdom of Whitey’s decision. He’d have no control over the prosecution asking questions with Billy’s name in them and even though his answers would deny the prosecutions assertions, as we saw with Agent Fitzpatrick, a POOF, the question was what was reported and the denial ignored.
Most amusing about Cullen was how he ended his column. He wrote, “Whitey’s trial wasn’t a sham. His life was.” Yet Cullen wrote a book about it. What does that tell us about him?
Cullen quotes Tony Cardinale a respected local attorney who has become a close friend of Howie Carr and could be expected to view the trial from that perspective. He allegedly said: “He’s lying when he said he couldn’t say he got immunity. He could have said that from the stand. He’s a liar.”
Cardinale knows better. For a witness to say anything and have it believed he has to have corroborative evidence. The judge had ruled out all the evidence which would have supported Whitey’s claim. If I testified you and I had a contract, I’d need to bring in other evidence showing our relationship and how people acted in regards to us and what was done pursuant to the deal. It wouldn’t be enough for me to merely state the contract existed and do no more. That was Whitey’s dilemma, he could testify to it but was barred from bringing in evidence to support his claim.
Howie Carr for all his prejudices does see through the fog and cuts right to the core. He wrote: “And can you only imagine how many questions the feds would have asked him about his brother Billy.”
Yes, Howie, that’s exactly why Whitey finally stopped thinking of what was best for Whitey. It’s true Whitey fantasized about going out like Cody Jarrett in “White Heat” as Howie said. He was going to take the stand and tell his story. He knew Wyshak could not touch him in cross-examination after he watched his bumbling performance with Heather Hoffman.
But to do that he also knew from Kelly’s out-of-the-blue question in cross-examination of retired Special Agent Jim Crawford whether Billy Bulger was at John Connolly’s retirement party that the trial was no longer about him. His trial was over before it began.
The prosecutors were after his brother and his family. I’m sure in conversations with his lawyers J.W. Carney and Hank Brennan they told him he could expect questions like: “Did you discuss the murder of Bucky Barrett with your brother Billy before doing it? or “Did you place the machine guns in the cabana behind Flemmi’s mother’s house because you knew Billy could keep an eye on them?”
You get the idea. The headline in the Globe would read: “Prosecutors allege Billy Bulger was tipped off Bucky Barret was to be murdered and used his position as senate president to protect the gangsters arsenal.”
Whitey, for the first time in his life, didn’t think of what was best for him but what was best for others. (Perhaps it was the second time in his life. He did offer to plead guilty if Catherine Greig was not given time.) That probably took a lot more courage fighting against his delusions of grandeur than anything else he had ever done in his life.
Like Howie reminded us, we never knew if Rocky Sullivan in “Angels with Dirty Faces,” was really frightened or Father Pat O’Brien talked him into it.” Here we do know. He wasn’t frightened as we could tell by the cool and respectful manner in which he spoke to Judge Casper. He talked himself into it realizing the best way for everyone involved, even though it was not best for him, was to tell his story in a book.
my takeaway: stay away from hoodlums and the DOJ and always pay attention to what McGruff the Crime Dog has to say
Hopalong:
Don’t know much about McGruff but the hoodlums and DOJ are definitely to be avoided.
mtc9393, thanks very much for being _the_ go-to blogger in this trial. All the time I spent reading your blog has been time well spent.
GOK:
Thanks for visiting.
I wasn’t reading all that into his statement and intent, I accept your analysis, well presented.
I am hoping for two future posts from you;
1) I would be interested in what all the contributors to this think tank hold as key takeaways and lessons learned from this trial. The only insights as interesting as yours is the collective of the contributors. I would love to see a post inviting those thoughts in one entry.
2) I am really interested in hearing your thoughts on the first episode of “Saint Hood” as well as the collaborative.
Finally, is there any indication what will happen after sentencing, assuming conviction, in regards to FL and OK? Are the trials sure to happen and could they be expected soon?
Matty in Texas – I really enjoy your comments and also would like to say I will not watch it but as a you know he is a MAJOR variable in this evil trial’ I saw a preview and he takes bets and lends money out on the street. I will watch it just to see how awful and pre-arranged it is. Just listen for the line from ol’ patty cakes ” yea I blew out his right lung and then kicked his teeth out and spit on him ,you wouldn’t do that now with dna” likes to tell that one OFTEN!! stay tuned!! kids!
I saw that clip you are referencing, quite a character vignette. I will withhold my comments on the show until people get a chance to watch it.
MTC
subpoena the tape
he probably said “yahz” as in– do as yahz want to
some of the scribblers are besides themselves that the defendant snookered them and took the ball and went his own way.
the former state trooper said good riddance, I wonder why. Most of those guys were tucking to each other and now we know that some of them were rotten and driven by their own brand of bravado and dishonesty.
THe whole bunch of them can go fry their arses.
“He was using the South Boston plural for the word “you” which adds an’s’. This is accepted as shown by dictionary.com but hardly something in popular use.”
It would be “youse” not “yous.”
Over here, more likely you would hear someone say: “…and do what ye want with me” than the Hollywood-style “youse.”
I was surprised that there was such little mention of the former clerk magistrate of Boston Juvenile Court. I always thought he was closer to Jimmy than Billy ever was. The frenzied pursuit of Billy blinded them to Johnny…though he did get a 6-month bit.
Henry:
As I wrote I didn’t pick up the youse (rhymes with noose) nor the yous (rhymes with use) and only the you. The people who hated Whitey wrote youse to make him sound like an illiterate gangster; the court reporter wrote yous. Where I grew up in South Boston/Savin Hill some guys said yous guys. I was surprised the dictionary said it was permissible but unusual.
I don’t know much about “Jackie” so I have no sense of who was closer, Billy or he. But the mass media frenzy often forgets about Jackie because the order of the day is try to get Billy’s name connected with Whitey’s as often as possible. Jackie got time for helping Whitey and not leveling about it.
(1) Yous, Youse: I used to say, “See yiz later!!!” Yiz as in fizz! I think that was a Southie-Savie colloquialism, yuh (you) know, it was the vernacular. Many variations on that theme of Boston accents (e.g. there’s Boston Brahmin, Boston Kennedy, and Boston neighborhood accents, and each neighborhood varies slightly, in my experience. In New York they called a certain long sandwich a hero, in Savie a sub, and in Southie a spuckie. (2)Stephen Rakes whose face is on nightly t.v. and in the papers for months-on-end, is “lured” to a place with cameras (a Dunkin Donuts in Waltham) and William Camuti openly and notoriously puts 2 teaspoons of cyanide in his iced coffee. Come on!!! Rakes had info that would gut Weeks’ fabrications. The FEDs kept Rakes silent by holding him as a potential witness until the last second. The FEDs knew there was an outside chance B-C would call Rakes. The FEDs had a motive to make sure that never happened. Camuti was in Federal prison from about 1993 to 2003. (If it’s the same William J. Camuti) He was there for business fraud. He’d been bankrupted before; he’d never killed anyone before. He was a lifelong con artist not a killer. Was Camuti a TEI? Please investigate Camuti’s ties to the FEDs and Organized Crime! We know the FEDs, TEIs and Organized Crime oftentimes work hand in glove and do each others bidding; i.e., cover up for each other. (3) I also believe the Boston Terrorist Attackers were in prior contact with the FEDs. (4) I saw the movie 2-Guns, a funny farce, and coincidentally it portrayed drug-fueled corruption in the FEDs, including the DEA, CIA and U.S. Navy. (5) I think there is deep seated corruption in the FEDs and some corrupt elements are working hand-in-glove with the narco-terrorists which include elements within Organized Crime. You’ve heard my mantra before and it bears reiteration: Why has Opium production increased ten-fold since the U.S./Allies have invaded Afghanistan? Why don’t Sens. Kerry and Markey do something about 600 overdose deaths from narcotics in Suffolk County a year for the past 20 years and probably 400 per year for the prior 20 years back to the Vietnam War? Why? Because there’s Big Money in Narco-trafficking and many in government and the private world of international finance/banking/corporations are corrupted by Big Money!
Matt,
Once again, you are on the money. You are such a voice of reason and provide sound analysis through the trial. I look forward to your blogs everyday.
As you have said, the phrase ‘for protection of his life, he gave me immunity’ should give people pause. It is sad that more journalists don’t feel compelled to explore that phrase-deviate from the main narrative and investigate. C&B are not stupid-they had wanted to present this argument. There must be more that has not been revealed.
Jane:
Thanks – glad to have you aboard. I’m going to do a post on that. Everyone brushes it off but having chased after these guys I sometimes knew the thoughts when I’d leave my office late at night. That would increase when I’d hear them mention my name on the wiretaps. I believe there may be something to his argument and I don’t understand why people brush it off so easily when we’ve seen all the shenanigans going on in the FBI such as destroying reports and opening files on people as informants who aren’t informants. Media guys can be brave behind their computers and don’t present a threat to these murderous hoodlums, aggressive prosecutors do.