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The Boston Herald is appealing the FBI's refusal to release records related to Whitey Bulger. The Bureau claims there are ongoing related investigations. Bulger died in 2018 and had been convicted for over thirty felonies including eleven murders in 2013. His longtime associate Flemmi is serving a life sentence. Bulger evaded capture for 16 years on the FBI Most Wanted lList, a duration that many suspected was an indication of the Bureau's preference that the extent of their corrupt involvement not come to light. He was 81 when finally captured in California.
Given the Bureau's scandalous history regarding Bulger, we have every right to be skeptical about the existence of an ongoing related investigation of any kind after all this time. Perhaps they are pretending to investigate one of Whitey's murders they missed.
Bulger was protected by the Bureau in large part because he bribed FBI agent John Connolly, who fed Bulger FBI data on mafia activities. Bulger then in turn divulged the same info to his handler Connolly and other agents who touted the importance of these confirmations. The FBI kept Boston cops from arresting their key informer while he killed, stole, dealt drugs and extorted with impunity for years. At least he never "paraded" on federal property.
A lot of our tax dollars have gone to several families whose loved ones were murdered by Bulger while under FBI protection. Maybe the G-men are heroically protecting our tax dollars from additional claims those files might trigger.
Discussion (19)
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The go to guy for the Boston FBI and Bulger story is Howie Carr, who has been in Boston media forever. His book The Brothers Bulger: How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century covers Whitey, FBI corruption, and Massachusetts politics all rolled up in a big rotten ball.
Whitey's brother Billy was a top politician in Massachusetts, being the president of the Massachusetts Senate for almost two decades. Unlike Whitey, he retired as a very, very rich man.
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In the end, the Feds killed Bulger to shut him up. The files will surely stay hidden.
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See also Black Mass by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill. A good one.
Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy... book by Dick Lehr (thriftbooks.com)
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IIRC, after decades as the Mass. state senate majority leader, Billy Bulger ended up as President of the University of Massachusetts, a plum post no doubt. Not bad for a guy who started out in the South Boston projects. Corrupt? Well, this is Massachusetts, after all.
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Correct. He sort of got run out of the UMass job after he was subpoenaed in some Congressional inquiry about Whitey. I believe he took the Fifth, but in any case he didn't come off looking good.
I guess his $200,000+ state retirement provides some solace.
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