James J. Bulger, Jr., Boston mafioso, dies at 89
Born in the projects of Boston to a disabled Canadian father and Irish mother, Bulger earned a reputation as a criminal in his childhood. After a troubled stint in the Air Force, he began developing connections with Boston's organized crime scene, eventually rising to the top of the Winter Hill Gang, a mixture of Irish and Sicilian mafia forces that controlled South Boston.
Bulger is believed to have been involved in dozens of murders, many of which were overlooked because of Bulger's relationship with John Connolly, a handler for the FBI, whom Bulger manipulated to help bring down the rival Patriarca crime family and people whom he viewed as threats to his power, essentially turning the FBI into an enforcement arm for his own mob.
In 1994, the Drug Enforcement Agency bypassed the FBI and began investigating Bulger themselves, at which point Bulger fled town. The FBI would eventually place Bulger on their Ten Most Wanted list.
Bulger was found after 16 years as a fugitive from justice in 2011 and convicted of racketeering shortly thereafter. He was killed in prison shortly after arriving in a transfer to West Virginia where at least two other homicides had occurred in the previous two months.
Obituary from Nexstar Broadcasting GroupWikipedia
