Notorious Gangster’s Trial for Decades of Murder Charges Begins

Wednesday, June 12th, saw opening statements in the long-awaited trial against James “Whitey” Bulger, a mobster in Boston from the 1970’s to 1990’s, who spent decades hiding in California. He is going on trial on 19 total murder charges.

The murder charges trial is expected to last for three months, and could reveal sensational details about the mob’s activities in Boston, as well as FBI corruption.

According to investigators, Bulger rose to the top of the notorious Winter Hill gang, before going into hiding in California for 16 years when a corrupt FBI investigator told him that he was about to be charged with federal crimes, including racketeering.

He was finally captured in Santa Monica, living with his girlfriend under a false name. He was arraigned in July 2011, and he pled not guilty to the 19 murder charges, along with 13 additional charges.

Bulger and his lawyers claim that the career gangster received immunity by working with the FBI as an informant. However, the judge dismissed the claim, saying that any purported immunity was not a defense against the murder charges.

Bulger also faces several charges for for using violence, force, and threats to shake down South Boston’s bookies, drug dealers, and loan sharks. Allegedly, the Irish mob laundered its money through property it owned in South Boston, including liquor stores and bars.

“The guy is a sociopathic killer,” Tom Foley, the organized crime investigator who spent most of his career with the Massachusetts State Police trying to put Bulger behind bars, told CNN in 2011. “He loved that type of life. He’s one of the hardest and cruelest individuals that operated in the Boston area. He’s a bad, bad, bad guy.”

“When they killed someone — this is pre-DNA — they pulled the teeth out, cut the fingers off, tried to make it so the victims, if they were discovered from their graves, couldn’t be identified. There’s just no bottom. It doesn’t get much uglier than someone like Whitey Bulger,” said Former Boston Globe reporter Dick Lehr, who wrote a book about Bulger.

However, the mobster was also a rat, working with childhood acquaintance John Connolly, who was an FBI agent. Reportedly, Connolly struck a deal with Bulger in 1975 in which Bulger would give information on the Italian mob to the FBI, and the rogue agent would feed Bulger information about informants and rival gang members. He also got information about when the police moved in on his operations, and was able to evade the law for decades.

Connolly is currently serving a 50 year sentence for second-degree murder and racketeering.

Prosecutors say they will have nearly 80 witnesses, including Bulger’s number 2 man, Stephen Flemmi, who is currently serving life without parole.

The Strom Law Firm Can Help with RICO Defense and Murder Charges in South Carolina

RICO offenses can include, but are not limited to:

• Gambling

• Murder

• Kidnapping

• Extortion

• Arson

• Robbery

• Bribery

• Embezzlment

• Money laudering

• Acts of terrorism

Given the possible consequences at stake, it is critical that you contact a RICO defense attorney who can protect your rights and provide you an aggressive and well planned defense against murder charges, kidnapping indictments, or wire fraud charges. Contact the criminal defense attorneys at the Strom Law Firm, LLC for a free consultation to discuss the facts of your case.