Whitey Bulger: Difference between revisions

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In late August or early September 1974, Bulger and an accomplice reportedly set fire to an elementary school in Wellesley to intimidate U.S. District Court Judge Wendell Arthur Garrity Jr. over his mandated plan to desegregate schools in the city of Boston by means of busing. One year later, on September 8, 1975, Bulger and an unidentified person tossed a Molotov cocktail into the John F. Kennedy birthplace in Brookline in retaliation for Senator Ted Kennedy's vocal support for Boston school desegregation. Bulger then used black spray paint to scrawl “Bus Teddy” on the sidewalk just outside of the national historic site.

Unlike most mobsters, Bulger was an informant to the FBI, an act despised by many mobsters. Corrupt agent John Connolly, also an Irish American, constantly tipped Bulger off about police and FBI bugs, wiretaps and other important information. His younger brother William "Billy" Bulger was also President of the Massachusetts State Senate until he was dismissed due to his connections. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Bulger and his associates operated rackets throughout eastern Massachusetts including extortion, loansharking, bookmaking, truck hijackings and arms trafficking. He killed anyone who ran afoul of him, including Louis Litif, a Lebanese-American bookmaker who didn’t seek Bulger’s approval when committing crimes and would also kill associates of fellow mobsters or their enemies (i.e their spouses). Bulger used a variety of methods to kill his victims, including running them over, stabbing them with an ice pick, strangling them, as well as shooting. Bulger and his gang would often lure victims into the basement, in which he would surprise the victim and tie them to a chair and murder them. He would often order his associates to bury their victims under the floorboards. Various associates would describe killing as Bulger's "stress relief".<ref>https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bulgers-love-of-killing/</ref> At one point, he called a victim's family claiming he was Santa Claus and that their father, whom he murdered, "wouldn't be coming home for Christmas". State and federal agencies were repeatedly stymied in their attempts to build cases against Bulger and his inner circle. This was caused by several factors. Among them was Bulger's fear of wiretaps and policy of never discussing business over the telephone or in the car. Other reasons were South Boston's code of silence, and corruption within the Boston Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police, and the FBI. Although Connolly was Bulger's most infamous source inside law enforcement, his associate Kevin Weeks has stated that Massachusetts State Police Lt. Richard J. Schneiderhan, the crew's only source inside that agency, was valued more highly.

Unlike most mobsters, Bulger was an informant to the FBI, an act despised by many mobsters. Corrupt agent John Connolly, also an Irish American, constantly tipped Bulger off about police and FBI bugs, wiretaps and other important information. His younger brother William "Billy" Bulger was also President of the Massachusetts State Senate until he was dismissed due to his connections. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Bulger and his associates operated rackets throughout eastern Massachusetts including extortion, loansharking, bookmaking, truck hijackings and arms trafficking. He killed anyone who ran afoul of him, including Louis Litif, a Lebanese-American bookmaker who didn’t seek Bulger’s approval when committing crimes and would also kill associates of fellow mobsters or their enemies (i.e their spouses). He would also murder "snitches", including Eddie Connors, a boxer and bar owner, and Brian Halloran, a former associate who tipped hitman John Martonaro off to the FBI. Bulger used a variety of methods to kill his victims, including running them over, stabbing them with an ice pick, strangling them, as well as shooting. Bulger and his gang would often lure victims into the basement, in which he would surprise the victim and tie them to a chair and murder them. He would often order his associates to bury their victims under the floorboards. Various associates would describe killing as Bulger's "stress relief".<ref>https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bulgers-love-of-killing/</ref> At one point, he called a victim's family claiming he was Santa Claus and that their father, whom he murdered, "wouldn't be coming home for Christmas". State and federal agencies were repeatedly stymied in their attempts to build cases against Bulger and his inner circle. This was caused by several factors. Among them was Bulger's fear of wiretaps and policy of never discussing business over the telephone or in the car. Other reasons were South Boston's code of silence, and corruption within the Boston Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police, and the FBI. Although Connolly was Bulger's most infamous source inside law enforcement, his associate Kevin Weeks has stated that Massachusetts State Police Lt. Richard J. Schneiderhan, the crew's only source inside that agency, was valued more highly.

Bulger sold weapons to the [[Irish Republican Army]] during [[the Troubles]] in Northern Ireland, as he was sympathetic to their cause.<ref>https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24948640#:~:text=The%20US%20mobster%20James%20'Whitey,to%20the%20Irish%20Republican%20Army.&text=His%20power%20base%20was%20south,area%20during%20Bulger's%20criminal%20heyday.</ref>

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 In late August or early September 1974, Bulger and an accomplice reportedly set fire to an elementary school in Wellesley to intimidate U.S. District Court Judge Wendell Arthur Garrity Jr. over his mandated plan to desegregate schools in the city of Boston by means of busing. One year later, on September 8, 1975, Bulger and an unidentified person tossed a Molotov cocktail into the John F. Kennedy birthplace in Brookline in retaliation for Senator Ted Kennedy's vocal support for Boston school desegregation. Bulger then used black spray paint to scrawl “Bus Teddy” on the sidewalk just outside of the national historic site.
-Unlike most mobsters, Bulger was an informant to the FBI, an act despised by many mobsters. Corrupt agent John Connolly, also an Irish American, constantly tipped Bulger off about police and FBI bugs, wiretaps and other important information. His younger brother William "Billy" Bulger was also President of the Massachusetts State Senate until he was dismissed due to his connections. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Bulger and his associates operated rackets throughout eastern Massachusetts including extortion, loansharking, bookmaking, truck hijackings and arms trafficking. He killed anyone who ran afoul of him, including Louis Litif, a Lebanese-American bookmaker who didn’t seek Bulger’s approval when committing crimes and would also kill associates of fellow mobsters or their enemies (i.e their spouses). Bulger used a variety of methods to kill his victims, including running them over, stabbing them with an ice pick, strangling them, as well as shooting. Bulger and his gang would often lure victims into the basement, in which he would surprise the victim and tie them to a chair and murder them. He would often order his associates to bury their victims under the floorboards. Various associates would describe killing as Bulger's "stress relief".<ref>https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bulgers-love-of-killing/</ref> At one point, he called a victim's family claiming he was Santa Claus and that their father, whom he murdered, "wouldn't be coming home for Christmas". State and federal agencies were repeatedly stymied in their attempts to build cases against Bulger and his inner circle. This was caused by several factors. Among them was Bulger's fear of wiretaps and policy of never discussing business over the telephone or in the car. Other reasons were South Boston's code of silence, and corruption within the Boston Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police, and the FBI. Although Connolly was Bulger's most infamous source inside law enforcement, his associate Kevin Weeks has stated that Massachusetts State Police Lt. Richard J. Schneiderhan, the crew's only source inside that agency, was valued more highly.
+Unlike most mobsters, Bulger was an informant to the FBI, an act despised by many mobsters. Corrupt agent John Connolly, also an Irish American, constantly tipped Bulger off about police and FBI bugs, wiretaps and other important information. His younger brother William "Billy" Bulger was also President of the Massachusetts State Senate until he was dismissed due to his connections. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Bulger and his associates operated rackets throughout eastern Massachusetts including extortion, loansharking, bookmaking, truck hijackings and arms trafficking. He killed anyone who ran afoul of him, including Louis Litif, a Lebanese-American bookmaker who didn’t seek Bulger’s approval when committing crimes and would also kill associates of fellow mobsters or their enemies (i.e their spouses). He would also murder "snitches", including Eddie Connors, a boxer and bar owner, and Brian Halloran, a former associate who tipped hitman John Martonaro off to the FBI. Bulger used a variety of methods to kill his victims, including running them over, stabbing them with an ice pick, strangling them, as well as shooting. Bulger and his gang would often lure victims into the basement, in which he would surprise the victim and tie them to a chair and murder them. He would often order his associates to bury their victims under the floorboards. Various associates would describe killing as Bulger's "stress relief".<ref>https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bulgers-love-of-killing/</ref> At one point, he called a victim's family claiming he was Santa Claus and that their father, whom he murdered, "wouldn't be coming home for Christmas". State and federal agencies were repeatedly stymied in their attempts to build cases against Bulger and his inner circle. This was caused by several factors. Among them was Bulger's fear of wiretaps and policy of never discussing business over the telephone or in the car. Other reasons were South Boston's code of silence, and corruption within the Boston Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police, and the FBI. Although Connolly was Bulger's most infamous source inside law enforcement, his associate Kevin Weeks has stated that Massachusetts State Police Lt. Richard J. Schneiderhan, the crew's only source inside that agency, was valued more highly.
 Bulger sold weapons to the [[Irish Republican Army]] during [[the Troubles]] in Northern Ireland, as he was sympathetic to their cause.<ref>https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24948640#:~:text=The%20US%20mobster%20James%20'Whitey,to%20the%20Irish%20Republican%20Army.&text=His%20power%20base%20was%20south,area%20during%20Bulger's%20criminal%20heyday.</ref>