Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger

Man:
Thirty years ago, my wife and I

purchased a liquor license.

Then we had the liquor store up

and running by Christmas.

We poured our heart and soul in it.

And then, lo and behold,

I get a knock on my door

one night, I'm at the house,

my wife's down at the liquor store

working, and it was Kevin Weeks

and Whitey Bulger at the door,

and I didn't know,

what the hell do they want?

"You got a problem."

I said, "I don't... what problem?"

He says, "Listen,

we were hired to kill you."

I'm like, what?

He said, you got to understand,

the other liquor stores,

they hired us to kill you.

I just couldn't believe it,

I didn't know what to even think,

I was dumbfounded.

Actually, I froze.

He said, "But what we're going to do

instead of that, we're just going to

become your partners." I said, "No,

you're not becoming my partners."

And then, Bulger's right there.

He's just staring at me,

and just grinding his teeth like,

"You don't understand,

we're taking

the f***ing liquor store."

I was like, "It's not for sale."

He said, "I'll f***ing kill you.

I'll stab you, and then I'll kill you."

I'm like, Holy Jesus.

And then they pulled out a gun.

I was like, "Oh, f***."

They picked up my kid.

Daughter was a year.

He said, "It would be terrible

for this kid to grow up without a father."

I was like... and I melted.

Nothing you can do.

Ever since that day,

I've never been the same.

I couldn't protect my own children.

As a man, that just took me away.

And I'm not over it yet.

I won't be over, and maybe I'll never

get over it, but I surely can't wait

to get in front of that court,

on that stand and testify

against that. 30 years ago,

he scared me to death, he don't

scare me to death no more.

Woman:
After 16 years, the FBI

finally has its man.

Boston mob boss James Whitey Bulger

was captured in Southern California.

Man:
... along with his longtime girlfriend,

Catherine Elizabeth Greig.

The 83-year-old

is accused of drug trafficking,

extortion and murder, all while

working as an FBI informant.

He was on the lam for 16 years.

I never committed a crime in the

16 years that I was with Catherine.

My whole life changed

when I was with her.

I turned and become very,

very human, I guess you'd say it.

And I love the woman intensely.

When I was captured, I told them,

"If you people," I says, "will let Catherine

go, I'll plead guilty to all crimes."

"Any crime," I says, "innocent

or guilty. Youse can execute me,

you can give me life sentence,

you can do whatever youse want,

but I want her to be free."

And I meant it, and I mean it today.

If they said to me,

"Plead guilty, and we'll

let her go free and shut your mouth,"

I would do it.

Woman:
It's been a long time coming.

After 16 years on the lam

and two years in custody,

the criminal trial of James Whitey Bulger

began today at the John J. Moakley

courthouse in South Boston,

just blocks away from

Whitey's former home turf.

(sirens wailing)

Man:
This is what it looked like here

at the courthouse earlier this morning.

A police escort and several black

SUVs roll up to federal court.

Behind the tinted windows,

James Whitey Bulger,

who is back in Boston to face

19 charges of murder

in the same city he's accused

of terrorizing as a gang boss.

Man 2:
Some of the victims' families

also arriving today,

hoping to see justice done

after waiting almost 30 years.

I'm happy that this is about to start.

It's been a long wait.

A really, really long wait in time.

So, I'll see youse when I get out.

How are you going to

feel being in there?

I don't know.

Sick to my stomach now,

I can only imagine

when I get in there.

Woman:
Prosecutors describe

James Whitey Bulger as the center

of mayhem and murder in Boston

for 30 years,

as the boss of Boston's

notorious Winter Hill Gang.

A man so dangerous that he

joined Osama Bin Laden

at the top of the FBI's

Most Wanted list.

It was the gang that ran amok. You

have people who were being extorted,

who talked of having shotgun

barrels stuck in their mouths,

of machine guns

pointed at their groin.

Boeri:
Body bags shown them

before Bulger shakes them down.

It was absolute terror.

Back then, 70s, 80s, people

were missing every day, bang.

He didn't come home,

he's a dead man.

They're never going to find him.

Brian Howell. Dead.

Michael Donahue. Dead.

Bodies were being,

left and right.

And were all involved

in this circle of sh*t

in South Boston.

Man:
And you have a fascination

with Whitey Bulger

as a Robin Hood figure, this elusive,

Houdini-like crime boss,

whose younger brother, Bill Bulger,

was Senate President,

the most powerful

politician in Massachusetts.

All this stuff that was sort of

magical about him

that made him seem

beyond the reach of law enforcement.

Man:
There were over 25 years

where James Bulger ruled

the organized crime world.

He was never charged

with even a misdemeanor.

The Department of Justice

did nothing to prosecute him.

Woman:
Whitey was the guy

that got away. Whitey was the guy

out in the wind, thumbing his nose,

"Ha-ha, I won," for years.

So today is huge. I mean,

I think that, you know, what...

There's so many people who never

thought this day would ever happen.

Man:
James Whitey Bulger fled Boston

in late 1994, as federal agents

were about to arrest him

in connection with 19 killings,

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