James "Whitey" Bulger showed no emotion as the Boston jury found the 83-year-old Winter Hill gang boss guilty of racketeering, including 11 murders among 33 other criminal acts.
Local new station WCVB reported live, “Bulger's guilt was proven in the deaths of Paul McGonagle, Edward Connors, Thomas King, Richard Castucci, Roger Wheeler, Brian Halloran, Michael Donahue, John Callahan, Arthur "Bucky" Barrett, John McIntyre and Deborah Hussey.
“The jury found the prosecution failed to prove Bulger's guilt in the deaths of Michael Milano, Al Plummer, William O'Brien, James O'Toole, Al Notorangeli, James Sousa and Francis 'Buddy' Leonard.
“The jury returned a 'no finding' decision in the death of Debra Davis.”
John McIntyre, an arms smuggler for the Irish Republican Army, was shot in the head at an east Boston house and buried in the basement in 1984. Bulger had been tipped off by the FBI that McIntyre was an informant.
The trial of the Boston mobster transfixed the United States as it exposed the violent acts and schemes of these mobsters, which read like a film plot, and corruption within the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Most of the crimes committed by Bulger were carried out while he was working as an informant for the FBI.
Bulger is charged primarily with racketeering, a catch all charge, which includes murder or ordering murders to be carried out, among other illegal activities, such as extortion, money-laundering, and drug dealing, reports the Associated Press.
Members of the victims' families cried and celebrated in court. CNN reports that Pat Donahue cried as her husband’s murder was proved while Eddie Connor’s daughter cheered. However others were not as lucky. Also present was the daughter of Buddy Leonard and Debra Davis’ brother Steven Davis. The jury could not prove murder in their cases.
In John McIntyre’s case it was the testimony of mobster John Weeks and former police officer Donald DeFago that spelled out his tale to the Boston court.
McIntyre was a crewman on the Gloucester-based swordfishing boat, the Valhalla, which ran guns to Ireland. Bulger shot McIntyre in the head after the FBI told the Winter Hill gang boss that the fisherman was also an informant.
During Bulger’s trial, in July, Donald DeFago testified that McIntyre had attempted to smuggle drugs and weapons to the Irish Republican Army (IRA) from Gloucester in 1984.
In September the Irish authorities seized 7.5 tons of automatic rifles, sub machine guns and hand grenades worth $1 million from a ship. This was the largest seizure of IRA-bound weapons to date.
Days later McIntyre was arrested on a DUI charge, in Quincy. Speaking to an FBI agent he mentioned the drug runs during an interview. Unfortunately the agent was was friendly with Bulger’s FBI confidant John Connolly.
DeFago said that when they hadn’t heard from McIntyre they went out to look for him. The Gloucester Times reports DeFago saying, “He had instructions to call us ... every day and when he didn’t call we got suspicious and started to go out and look for him.”
McIntyre’s body was not found until 2000. An associate of Bulger, Kevin Weeks, testified that Bulger tortured him and shot him in the head at an east Boston house. He was buried in the basement.
Bulger will likely spend the rest of his natural life in prison having been found guilty.
The two-month trial has seen the Winter Hill gang boss, who notoriously went on the run for over 16 years, portrayed as a cold-blooded killer who killed innocent people who got in his way.
According to one testimony he was known to take a nap while his associates cleaned up after a murder.
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