James 'Whitey' Bulger draws crowds for his first Boston appearance in 16 years
Boston mob boss James 'Whitey' Bulger was the FBI's most wanted man and a feared underworld figure linked to 19 murders in Boston.
Boston gangster James (Whitey) Bulger returned to his hometown yesterday after 16 years on the lam, coolly greeting his brother with one word and his judge with a one-liner.
The tanned and fit 81-year-old mobster wore handcuffs for a pair of federal court appearances in his old Southie neighborhood, where authorities allege the crime kingpin was involved in 19 slayings.
His sibling, former Massachusetts state Sen. William Bulger, greeted the organized crime boss with a smile from a second row seat.
The elder brother mouthed a quick "hi" before his long-awaited appearance in a Beantown courtroom commenced - and the last of the old-school Irish-American gangsters soon offered a bit of dry Gaelic wit.
Bulger - arrested two days earlier in a California apartment stuffed with $800,000 cash - was asked if he could afford the cost of a lawyer.
"Well, I could if you'd give me back my money," Bulger deadpanned to laughter, his thick Boston accent unchanged by a long stay on the West Coast.
Authorities also found more than 30 weapons in the home-away-from-home for the exiled former head of the ruthless Winter Hill Gang, who also worked as an FBI informant.
Bulger shared the modest $1,145-a-month apartment with fellow fugitive and longtime girlfriend Catherine Greig. He was returned to jail after waiving his right to a bail hearing.
Bulger's appearance in a courthouse that didn't exist when he fled town was greeted with intense security.
The courtroom was heavily guarded, and he arrived for the hearing in a motorcade of black SUVs accompanied by a police motorcycle escort.
The inspiration for Jack Nicholson's demented mob boss in "The Departed" wore jeans and a white T-shirt beneath an unbuttoned white shirt.
Other than his wisecrack, Bulger said nothing at his appearances in two courtrooms on two indictments - one filed six years after he departed.
Bulger, with Greig in tow, famously bolted Boston in 1995 after a retired FBI agent tipped him about an impending indictment.
The two were flown from California to Massachusetts by private jet to face their federal charges.
A huge crowd gathered outside the John Joseph Moakley courthouse for a glimpse of the once-feared gangster, now looking grandfatherly with a white beard and bald head.
"For the people of Boston it's as if their own Osama Bin Laden has been captured," said onlooker Bonnie Sashin, 60.
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