The Departed

James “Whitey” Bulger, the man who partially inspired Jack Nicholson’s character in the 2006 filmThe Departed, was captured yesterday, hiding in plain view with his girlfriend in a Santa Monica, CA apartment complex. At age 81, Bulger was wanted by the FBI in connection with 19 murders and assorted other criminal acts after occupying a slot on the FBI’s Most Wanted list for years.

The FBI contends that Bulger played a “role in numerous murders committed from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s in connection with his leadership of an organized crime group that allegedly controlled extortion, drug deals, and other illegal activities.” As the reputed leader of Boston’s Winter Hill Gang, Bulger was a hands-on leader, doing several of the murders with his own hands by strangling a few victims. But it was his ability to evade authorities which caused him to become a mythic figure over the years. As a former FBI informant, the gangster went on the lam after receiving a tip that he was about to be indicted.
Bulger’s girlfriend Catherine Greig, 60, faces charges of harboring a fugitive in her court hearing Thursday. Oddly enough, she lived for 16 years with a guy who killed her two brothers, who happened to be Whitey’s rivals.
Amazing that this guy could go free for 16 years and, in comparison, Jimmy Henchman couldn’t lay low for 16 days.