Whitey Bulger biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Mobster, fugitive. Born James Bulger on September 3, 1929, in Dorchester, Massachusetts. One of six children born to Roman Catholic Irish-American parents, Whitey (so-named for his white-blond hair) grew up in a South Boston public-housing project. His father worked as a longshoreman. Bulger was a troublemaker as a child, and even lived out the childhood fantasy of running away with the circus when he was ten years old.

Whitey Bulger was first arrested at age 14 for stealing, and his criminal record escalated from there. As a youth, he was arrested for larceny, forgery, assault and battery, and armed robbery and served five years in a juvenile reformatory. Upon his release, he joined the Air Force where he served time in military jail for assault before being arrested for going AWOL. Nonetheless, he received an honorable discharge in 1952.

A Life of Crime

After returning to Boston, Bulger embarked on a life of crime. His offenses grew increasingly large in scale, culminating in a string of bank robberies from Rhode Island to Indiana. In June 1956, he was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison. He ended up serving nine years, including stints in Atlanta, Alcatraz, and Leavenworth. He returned to Boston to resume his life of crime.

Bulger became an enforcer for crime boss Donald Killeen. After Killeen was gunned down in 1972, Bulger was consolidated into the Winter Hill Gang, where he quickly rose through the ranks. A shrewd, ruthless, cunning mobster, Bulger sanctioned numerous killings, including Spike O'Toole, Paulie McGonagle, Eddie Connors, Tommy King and Buddy Leonard.

Gang Leader

By 1979, Whitey Bulger had become a preeminent figure in Boston's organized crime scene. That year, Howie Winter was sent to prison for fixing horse races, and Bulger assumed the gang's leadership. Over the next 16 years, he came to control a significant portion of Boston's drug dealing, bookmaking, and loan sharking operations. Under his reign, more than 18 murders accumulated in all.

At the same time, unbeknownst to even his closest associates, Bulger was an FBI informant. Taking advantage of his brother William's stature in the State Senate and childhood friendships that linked him to members of the police force, Bulger helped bring down Boston's Italian-American Patriarca crime family while simultaneously building a more powerful and arguably more violent crime network of his own.

Fugitive Status

In the spring of 1994, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Massachusetts State Police, and the Boston Police Department launched an investigation into Bulger's gambling operations.