Boston mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger was captured near Los Angeles after spending the last 16 years on the run during an epic manhunt that served as a major embarrassment to the FBI and made the fugitive a global sensation as he constantly found a way to elude authorities.
The FBI finally caught the 81-year-old Bulger Wednesday at a residence in Santa Monica along with his longtime girlfriend Catherine Greig just days after the government launched a new publicity campaign to locate the fugitive mobster, said Steven Martinez, FBI's assistant director in charge in Los Angeles.
USA TODAY's Sergio Non compiles some of Whites tales about Bulger:The FBI finally caught the 81-year-old Bulger Wednesday at a residence in Santa Monica along with his longtime girlfriend Catherine Greig just days after the government launched a new publicity campaign to locate the fugitive mobster, said Steven Martinez, FBI's assistant director in charge in Los Angeles.
Before moving back to Las Vegas in the early 1990s, UFC President Dana White managed a boxing gym in South Boston. But a run-in with the Bulger enterprise convinced him to leave New England, White said.
He's told the story to multiple news outlets, including Men's Fitness:
Who knows, man?" White told Peace Magazine. "I wonder if Whitey's still alive."
Bulger, and his knack for corrupting Boston and federal authorities, was the real life inspiration for Martin Scorsese's The Departed with Matt Damon and Leonard Di Caprio. He's told the story to multiple news outlets, including Men's Fitness:
"Whitey Bulger had a bunch of goons working under him and they wanted $2,500. At the time, that might as well have been $25,000 to me. I didn't have it, so I went back to Vegas."
...
Who knows, man?" White told Peace Magazine. "I wonder if Whitey's still alive."
More from CBS News:
Prosecutors said he went on the run after being warned by John Connolly Jr., an FBI agent who had made Bulger an FBI informant 20 years earlier. Connolly was convicted of racketeering in May 2002 for protecting Bulger and his cohort, Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi, also an FBI informant.
Bulger was a top-echelon FBI informant., who provided the Boston FBI with information on his gang's main rival, the New England Mob, in an era when bringing down the Mafia was one of the FBI's top national priorities.
But the Boston FBI office was sharply criticized when the extent of Bulger's alleged crimes and his cozy relationship with the FBI became public in the late 1990s.
Bulger's younger brother was also a political power in Boston. From Wikipedia:Bulger was a top-echelon FBI informant., who provided the Boston FBI with information on his gang's main rival, the New England Mob, in an era when bringing down the Mafia was one of the FBI's top national priorities.
But the Boston FBI office was sharply criticized when the extent of Bulger's alleged crimes and his cozy relationship with the FBI became public in the late 1990s.
Another younger brother, William Bulger, was formerly a popular and influential leader of the Democratic Party in Massachusetts. In a long political career, he rose to become President of the Massachusetts State Senate. After his retirement he was appointed President of the University of Massachusetts. In his 2002 testimony before the United States Congress, William Bulger was grilled by legislators from both parties. When asked what he thought his brother did for a living, Senator Bulger responded: "I had the feeling that he was in the business of gaming and... or whatever. It was vague to me, illegal but I didn't... not all that violent... For a long while he had some regular jobs but ultimately it was clear that he was not, he wasn't doing what I'd like him to do. Let's just say I was naive in retrospect".