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'Whitey' Bulger was hiding in plain sight
24 Jun 2011, 5:22 am
LOS ANGELES — At one point in the FBI's 16-year pursuit of James "Whitey" Bulger, there were sightings of the accused murderer on two continents. AP Fugitive mobster James "Whitey" Bulger is shown in a photo taken shortly before he disappeared in 1995. Reports of the whereabouts of Bulger and his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig, were so frequent and — often — so wrong that Tom Fuentes, a former FBI assistant director, says Bulger assumed the ubiquitous, mythical existence of Elvis. "He was everywhere," Fuentes says. In the end, Bulger, the iconic Boston crime figure who was the inspiration for the Academy Award-winning film The Departed, was found with Greig not in a far-away locale but in the plain sight of Southern California's thick urban sprawl, living modestly in a Santa Monica apartment as Charles and Carol Gasko. Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said police believed the couple had been living there for years. Their capture late Wednesday came without incident, just two days after the FBI launched a publicity campaign focused on Greig. A tip from that series of public service announcements, which aired in 14 cities, led investigators to the Princess Eugenia apartments, ending one of the most intense manhunts in law enforcement history, Boston FBI chief Richard DesLauriers said Thursday. DesLauriers said federal agents used an undisclosed "ruse" to entice Bulger to leave his apartment. Once outside, Bulger was positively identified and taken into custody. Greig was found inside, where agents recovered tens of thousands of dollars and a cache of weapons. "Although there are those who doubted our resolve at times over the years," DesLauriers said Thursday, "it has never wavered." 'Sweetest couple' blended in Bulger, now 81 and charged with 19 murders, and Greig, 60, charged with harboring a fugitive, appeared in federal court here Thursday afternoon dressed in white jumpsuits. He had a full white beard and wore wire-rim glasses. Looking relaxed, even jovial, Bulger joined a discussion of the pending charges against him, at one point saying to the judge: "I know them all pretty much. Thank you." U.S. Magistrate Judge John McDermott denied bond for both defendants and ordered that they be returned immediately to Boston, where Bulger is accused of operating a vast criminal enterprise known as the Winter Hill Gang. The group, a largely Irish mob, ran loan-sharking, gambling and drug rackets, the indictment said. In 2000, then-U.S. attorney Donald Stern said Bulger and associate Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi were "responsible for a reign of intimidation and murder that spanned 25 years." The FBI says it has linked Bulger to a series of ruthless killings. One victim was shot between the eyes in a parking lot at his Oklahoma country club. Another was gunned down in broad daylight on a South Boston street to silence him from talking about the Oklahoma killing. Prosecutors said Bulger fled in 1995 after being warned by John Connolly Jr., a former Boston FBI agent who had used Bulger as an informant, that he was about to be indicted. Connolly was convicted of racketeering for shielding Bulger and Flemmi. In Santa Monica, Bulger and Greig had shed not only their names but also any apparent link to a criminal past. Montanna Bischoff, 25, a TV associate producer who lives in the same building, knew the friendly couple as "Carol and Charlie." "They were actually one of the sweetest couples I ever met," Bischoff says. "They were just a very sweet older couple. I said to my friend, 'They're so sweet, they could be the building grandparents.' " Bischoff often saw Bulger and Greig walking along Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade. Once, when the couple learned that Bischoff's roommate at the time was going out to buy cold medication, they stopped by later with cough drops and other supplies. She says she saw The Departed and couldn't connect the criminal in that movie with her neighbors. "To find out he's been on the Most Wanted List for murder and is a mobster is almost unreal, actually," she says. The couple seemed to be living a modest but comfortable lifestyle, Bischoff says. "They always looked nice and had fresh haircuts," she says. "They seemed pretty normal — no flashy clothes or jewelry." Mike Cashin, 25, of Marina del Rey, who visits his girlfriend at the three-story apartment building, says he often saw Bulger feeding a stray cat. "He'd wake up early and feed it every morning," putting a bowl of cat food outside the front door, Cashin says. "His girlfriend — we thought she was his wife — they were always outside," Cashin says. "They were always out walking, but you never really saw them talking to other people." Cashin says he knew the couple lived in the building for at least four years because that's how long he has been visiting there. Possibly traveled in Europe "It looks like they were there for quite some time, keeping a low profile," Commissioner Davis tells USA TODAY. "It's an easy place to get lost in.'' The FBI's tactics were wide-ranging: Having Bulger featured on the TV show America's Most Wanted. Contacting plastic surgeons and dentists who might have helped him alter his appearance. After numerous sightings, including one in London in 2002, Davis says it was "assumed that he was overseas," especially after the travel restrictions imposed after the 9/11 attacks. "But he also was somebody who had access to what seemed like an unlimited supply of cash," Davis says. In a February 2009 briefing at the State Department's Foreign Press Center, FBI Supervisory Special Agent Richard Teahan said authorities believed he might be in Europe. "Before Bulger was a fugitive, he enjoyed traveling to Europe," Teahan said then. "He traveled freely there with ease, and it's our belief that there are accounts, both safe deposit boxes and accounts under alias names that we have not found there … Europe was a favorite place for him to travel." Teahan said the FBI was "close" to capturing Bulger around the time of the London sighting. "But, you know, Bulger … planned for life on the run. He had contingency planning in place. He had secreted money in various locations, wouldn't leave a credit trail, utilized cash for everything." | 
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