One can imagine what was going through the mind of the former gangster as the verdict was rendered by a jury of his peers (!) the other day? What could have possibly flashed before his eyes as he must have been reliving all those atrocities committed years ago, a lifetime ago... A lifetime passed making all the wrong moves he finally stood accused of; followed by years of trying to avoid having to be accountable for any of it. But it all finally caught with Whitey in 2011, when he was apprehended at last...
James ''Whitey'' Bulger
found guilty of various gangland crimes,
including 11 slayings...
After many years spent eluding justice (or the reasonable fac-simile of it that our laws can provide) it all finally caught with Whitey as he was ferreted out and captured in Santa Monica, California - a loooong way from his ''Bah-sss-ton'' backyard, but then again not far away enough, now was it?
Originally, our man Whitey (one of the ten most wanted by the FBI - for being such a backstabbing informant, more than anything else, actually) stood accused and charged with 19 counts of murder, narcotics distribution, extortion, and multiple conspiracy counts. Whitey (can't get enough of that name) was so very good at what he did that he managed to moonlight as an FBI informant, too, indeed: his prowess partially inspired the plot of the neo-classic film ''The Departed'' and, more particularly, the character portrayed by Jack Nicholson in said film. In short, Bulger allegedly masterminded a criminal "protection" racket while working as an informant for the FBI, and was able to flee federal charges based on a tip from a bureau insider. (We fear that said insider may get to be played by one Marky Mark W. - as he was (SPOILERS ALERT - SPOILERS ALERT) the lone survivor, pretty much, of the entire cast of ''The aptly-christened Departed'' there; one of Scorcese's finest, I'm telling you...! But that is another story - for another blog in our network!)
For close to forty years afterwards, after serving mostly his own goals but also the FBI's, Whitey took off and was never to be found again - or so he hoped. It was quite the dark spot on an otherwise impeccable record for Boston's Finest overall (well, with the glaring exception of that Strangler guy, of course...) to have had a name on the top ten most wanted by the FBI list for so long and narrow any hope of ever finding him - ever! But someone ratted on Whitey and gave him away (surely in exchange of a handsome reward - far moreso than he ever was!) and so, finally, in 2011, he was caught, handcuffed, thrown into the judicial system and the rest is history now...
Whitey looks great in orange, we must say...
Credits: BostInno
And now that the BAD DREAM has ended - the recurring nightmare can begin all in earnest, as no less than three movie adaptations of Whitey's life and wayward ways are said to be in the works! Directors Peter Facinelli, Barry Levinson and... Ben Affleck (of course) have been said to be working on these projects - with the first two basing themselves upon previously well-written and thoroughly-documented books on Whitey's life and times: Edward McKenzie Jr's ''Street Soldier: My Life as an Enforcer for Whitey Bulger and the Boston Irish Mob'' and Dick Lehr and Gerald O'Neal's even more imposing ''Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob,''
That latter project is rumored to have lured the ever-versatile Johnny Depp himself to take on the lead role of Whitey here - and one can only imagine what Benny-EdwardScissorhands-WillyWonka-Tonto-JackSparrow-EdWood-BarnabasCollinsOfThe21stCentury there will do with this part now...!
One has to admit that there is a resemblance there...!
Vague - but it is there!
Credits: zap2it
But that whole ''Black Mass'' mess... er... messy thing is for another blog altogether...!
Affleck, a true and true Boston boy as we know, thought he had first crack at this project: he hoped all others would back off, but they simply wouldn't, of course. As usual, Hollywood has to propose a minimum of two similar projects at any given time - this time, it's even three. Ben has his buddy and fellow Boston-born thespian Matt Damon tapped to portray our man Whitey here - and one has to admit the resemblance is even greater between those two...!
Affleck cannot play the part himself, that's for damn sure:
he's Bat-Devil. er, Dare-Man now?
Blind-As-A-Bat-Daredevil-Man!
There you go!
But that's another story - again.
Somehow, though, the project is not being all that well-received in Boston - it is, in truth, even worse than hearing that Affleck will be back into super-heroics soon. Reports have this one on Whitey getting mixed reactions in Beantown these days. And indeed - why wouldn't the TBBs (the Tinseltown Boston Boys) rather make a movie about the exploits of one... Eddie Shore instead? Or Yaz? Or Bill Russell? (Okay - neither Ben nor Matt can handle that last one; but either one could, realistically, impersonate Red Auerbach -especially Matt- maybe?)
But that's another story too - I know!
Let's part with Whitey now, as he heads into solitary (we hope - for his sake; but then again, he is not worthy; he is Whitey!) and review one last time, through a series of old pictures, the evolution (we love the evolution theory - you know it!) of a notorious criminal... from BOSTON!
(All pictures courtesy of the Associated Press - and a quick Google Images search, too!)
One tough cookie, our Whitey -
he was in Alcatraz, see?
He started on a life of crime very early on,
Whitey... Proof that, in Boston,
we have it good as we have it bad;
just like everywhere else!
Whitey's most popular pic:
he's a regular Clyde Barlow clone here.
Flash-forward a few years now:
what ravages a few years
(some of them spent in jail, sure...)
can do to a guy...!
The FBI really had no clue what Whitey looked like
after that last serene pose there (in the 70s,
I dare presume?)
Eventually, though, someone ratted on this rat
and Whitey turned up as we know -
looking like a depraved version
of Santa Claus...
Quite frankly, neither Matt nor Johnny look the part:
the real Whitey is indeed JACK!
No doubt!
But we neither care nor should we bother, really,
as we are most definitely not waiting with baited breath
for any movie on Whitey's life!
May he simply not show up in our bad dreams now...
+++
HA HA HA
ReplyDeleteHilarious take on a most serious situation; as usual with you, man!
Say, what do you think of this idea that just struck me as I read your piece here: Whitey took off in the 70s and it was the last time we heard of him AND the last time that the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup! In 2011, when he's finally captured again, the Boston Bruins WON THE STANLEY CUP, at last, after a 39 year-drought! Were the Bruins paying for the sins of the Boston chapter of the FBI there...? Was this another ''curse'' right there...?
What do you think?
Well, Ty, buddy, I must say... I think you've got something there indeed, pal!
ReplyDeleteThere definitely seems to be a correlation here; lest it is an extremely ironic bit of coincidence? But I figure a tough guy like Whitey to have been a huge hockey fan back in the day, too - so his actions, coupled with the local chapter of the FBI's reprehensible alliances, cursed both parties' favorite team for 39 years!
It makes total and complete sense to me - to us both, Ty!
(Also, it makes me think that Tough Guys stars Burt Lancaster and -especially- Kirk Douglas would have been shoo-ins for the role of Whitey, even in the 70s... But that's another story - yet again!)
Now, however, all this leads me to another frightening thought, alas: what have they (the FBI) done lately that would explain the two-year drought that has befallen the Bruins *since* 2011...?
(Unless the culprits are, this time, Boston's chapter of the CIA... Or the Boston police... That awful Fringe TV show... That other awful *science-fiction* TV show, Falling Skies... Or that most awful Boston Legal TV show? The list of potential culprits could go on and on here...!)