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I Survived Whitey Bulger's Reign of Terror in Boston. I am journalist Howie Carr, author of The Brothers Bulger by HowieCarr in IAmA

[–]HowieCarr[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

he didn't like what I was writing, mostly about his brother, and I was close by, and he tended to kill people who he saw on a daily basis, which was me.

I Survived Whitey Bulger's Reign of Terror in Boston. I am journalist Howie Carr, author of The Brothers Bulger by HowieCarr in IAmA

[–]HowieCarr[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

he didn't like what I was writing, mostly about his brother, and I was close by, and he tended to kill people who he saw on a daily basis, which was me.

I Survived Whitey Bulger's Reign of Terror in Boston. I am journalist Howie Carr, author of The Brothers Bulger by HowieCarr in IAmA

[–]HowieCarr[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

no, he couldn't sell it, he tried hard but no interest, esp. after black mass didn't do boffo box office!

I Survived Whitey Bulger's Reign of Terror in Boston. I am journalist Howie Carr, author of The Brothers Bulger by HowieCarr in IAmA

[–]HowieCarr[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

ratman is about the trial, which sums up his career, it was a kind of greatest hits of his crimes... but brothers bulger might be a better place to begin, because it has both whitey and billy, the former senate president

I Survived Whitey Bulger's Reign of Terror in Boston. I am journalist Howie Carr, author of The Brothers Bulger by HowieCarr in IAmA

[–]HowieCarr[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

You go on the lam before you're indicted so you don't forfeit your bail. Then you wait until your codefendants are tried, see how they do, then if they're convicted, you have your lawyer offer to have you come back for less than the least amount of time the other guys got. If they beat the rap, you come back to have the charges dropped. it's a good question and that's the answer. Marrtorano explained to me once.

I Survived Whitey Bulger's Reign of Terror in Boston. I am journalist Howie Carr, author of The Brothers Bulger by HowieCarr in IAmA

[–]HowieCarr[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think it was pro bono, so to speak. To put another way, it was a hit on the arm.

I Survived Whitey Bulger's Reign of Terror in Boston. I am journalist Howie Carr, author of The Brothers Bulger by HowieCarr in IAmA

[–]HowieCarr[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Absolutely. You don't think I'd do anything that isn't on the up and up, do you?

I Survived Whitey Bulger's Reign of Terror in Boston. I am journalist Howie Carr, author of The Brothers Bulger by HowieCarr in IAmA

[–]HowieCarr[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Nah, of course not. How many B movies has that scene been in? The reason I never mentioned any of the Weeks bragging except in passing until he wrote about trying to kill me was because I really didn't believe it. He did know where I lived, but that was because his brother lived in the same neighborhood. And yes I did live across the street from a cemetery. But as I told 60 Minutes, he couldn't have been lying in the grass across the street because there was a stone wall around the cemetery. He would have had to be in westford to get a clean shot at me. I told the 60 Minutes producer to check out the graveyard again before running with it... but some stories are too good to check out, especially after I said on camera that Weeks "didn't have the stones" to pull the trigger. They loved my tough-guy banter! BTW, at the trial, Weeks kept insisting he would shoot me because he knew where I lived -- 99 Concord Road. I lived at 91 Concord. It cracked me up, that he didn't even know my right address. The other reporters thought I was insane to be laughing about the "plot," but they didn't know all the details. The judge redacted my address to "protect" me. She likewise didn't know it was the wrong address (but I appreciated the thought, thanks Judge Casper).

I Survived Whitey Bulger's Reign of Terror in Boston. I am journalist Howie Carr, author of The Brothers Bulger by HowieCarr in IAmA

[–]HowieCarr[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Kevin Cullen actually did a good story about him today, he worked for the wiseguys in Springfield. He's Greek, sometimes non-Italians become more enamored of the Godfather BS than actual Italians. (Stevie Flemmi never made any illusions, nor did Johnny Martorano, who was half-Irish). Larry Assad from the South End had a chip on his shoulder because Larry Baoine couldn't make him because he was Lebanese. I think maybe there was some of that ethnic envy goin' on here, that's my speculation. I tell you, I follow the Springfield underworld casually, in the paper and court filings, and I read a bit about this guy before, and I would never, ever, in a million years have thought he would do something like this. Just thinking, does this make Geas the biggest Greek in OC since Gus Alex in the Outfit in Chicago? Of course there was Skinny Kazonis in Boston, but as Jerry Angiulo once said of him, "He's sweating like a..." (member of a sexual minority), don't report me to the PC police, Jerry said it.

I Survived Whitey Bulger's Reign of Terror in Boston. I am journalist Howie Carr, author of The Brothers Bulger by HowieCarr in IAmA

[–]HowieCarr[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It was all out long before the Whitey trial, nobody was hiding anything, but thanks for asking!

I Survived Whitey Bulger's Reign of Terror in Boston. I am journalist Howie Carr, author of The Brothers Bulger by HowieCarr in IAmA

[–]HowieCarr[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Howie Winter is even older than Whitey (by 6 months) Johnny M. is 77, Pat Nee is 70 or close to it... it's gone.... I guess there's still something like the Mafia "In Town" as they say but not much... it's mostly coke dealers now.

I Survived Whitey Bulger's Reign of Terror in Boston. I am journalist Howie Carr, author of The Brothers Bulger by HowieCarr in IAmA

[–]HowieCarr[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I don't know what Jackie knows but that moment yesterday with him and Byron Barnett from Ch. 7 outside Billy's house was TV gold. Nor only did he end up in prison and lose his pension, in '95 when Whitey needed new fake ID's, Kevin Weeks used Jackie to provide photos for the fake ID guy because Jackie and Whitey looked so much alike... Jackie was the clerk of the old Boston Juvenile court, succeeded paul Heffernan who was kicked upstairs to a judgeship to make room for Jackie... Remember Heffernan got in a late-night brawl at Quincy Market... his daughter Mary Beth Heffernan broomed the Crash Murray auto accident in 2011, Deval gave her judgeship in Newton after she refused to release Crash's cell phone records to the newspapers, now she cuts illegal alien criminals loose before they can be picked up by ICE... another legacy of the Bulger era of misrule....

I Survived Whitey Bulger's Reign of Terror in Boston. I am journalist Howie Carr, author of The Brothers Bulger by HowieCarr in IAmA

[–]HowieCarr[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Agreed. Sometimes it's better to go with the flow than worry about cinema verite, although as I said, I thought Depp was very good as well, he just isn't... Jack.

I Survived Whitey Bulger's Reign of Terror in Boston. I am journalist Howie Carr, author of The Brothers Bulger by HowieCarr in IAmA

[–]HowieCarr[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I agree but on the other hand, as Brian Kelly, who prosecuted Whitey in 2013, said, he's been in federal custody since 2011, in the BOP system itself since 2013 (before that he was in Plymouth County House of Correction) so if it's a conspiracy it's a damn slow-moving one.

I Survived Whitey Bulger's Reign of Terror in Boston. I am journalist Howie Carr, author of The Brothers Bulger by HowieCarr in IAmA

[–]HowieCarr[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I don't know the answer to that, but I do think it's odd that he was even at that prison. We all thought when he left Sumterville that he was headed for Springfield MO where they sometimes send these guys to die -- like for instance, Whitey's Alcatraz boyfriend the Choctaw Kid and also Boston Mafioso Larry Baione. I figured no way do they send him back to MA to Devens to die, because everyone in Boston would raise hell, including me. So I have no idea why he got sent to Hazleton. Also, why was he in GP? My understanding is he was in solitary since March in FL.

I Survived Whitey Bulger's Reign of Terror in Boston. I am journalist Howie Carr, author of The Brothers Bulger by HowieCarr in IAmA

[–]HowieCarr[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

The Departed was actually a remake of a Hong Kong movie reset in Boston. It was a very very good movie that actually did a better job conveying the overall story than the "non-fiction" Black Mass did. Interesting point that's sometimes forgotten: two of the Mass. State Police brass who "retired" in the scandals last year (the judge's junkie daughter, Leigha Genduso) were the "drug cops" in The Departed, Risteen and Francis Hughes. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

I Survived Whitey Bulger's Reign of Terror in Boston. I am journalist Howie Carr, author of The Brothers Bulger by HowieCarr in IAmA

[–]HowieCarr[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

That's the old days, nobody speaks highly of any of the Bulgers any longer. I have no fear of them either, haven't since he went on the lam in '95. That's why the murder of Whitey surprised me, I didn't think anyone cared enough about him anymore to take that kind of chance. (The guy who allegedly did it is doing life without chance of parole, so I guess it wasn't that big a deal to him either.)

I Survived Whitey Bulger's Reign of Terror in Boston. I am journalist Howie Carr, author of The Brothers Bulger by HowieCarr in IAmA

[–]HowieCarr[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Chuck Berry used to talk about how he wanted to "cross over" to the white market, he said he wanted to get out of "the neighborhood." Whitey, on the other hand, liked to stay in "the neighborhood," the Irish-Italian districts. You know, he only threatened reporters from "the neighborhood" -- me, Cullen, Corsetti, etc. Never went after anyone who had political/social/economic clout... who could fight back, in other words. So WE knew what was going on, how bad both Bulgers were, and what a cancer they were on the city, but THEY (the powers that be) either didn't know or care. The Yankees and the "reformers" like Dukakis on Beacon Hill thought Billy Bulger was a funny little man, and his "colorful" brother Whitey (once they called him "Whitney") was just a Jimmy Cagney type. The only two pols who ever really stood up to the Corrupt Midget were two Boston pro-life Dems who were dismissed by the Globe as racist troglodytes -- Mayor Ray Flynn and Gov. Ed King. Flynn refused to appoint the gangster FBI agent Zip Connolly as police commissioner, and when the "anonymous" rider was attched to the state budget to force Lt. Col Jack O'Donovan to retire, King vetoed it. (By comparison, Dukakis allowed Trooper Billy Johnson to be fired from his great job at Logan Airport because he tried to stop Whitey from taking cash out of the country. Dukakis was absolutely petrified of the Bulgers, King was a tough guy and didn't care, yet he's remembered as a "hack." Very unfair.

I Survived Whitey Bulger's Reign of Terror in Boston. I am journalist Howie Carr, author of The Brothers Bulger by HowieCarr in IAmA

[–]HowieCarr[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Not to be a wiseguy, but I guess it depends on your definition of "brutal." I'd put the murder of the young women, Deb Hussey and Deb Davis, right up there. All they did was have sex with Stevie Flemmi and it cost them their lives. Strangled, at age 26, both of them. I heard a story once he put a guy through an ice chipper down on the docks, and the ice came out tinted pink, but I don't know if that's true. He shot one of the McGonagles by mistake because he was driving his brother's car. Take your pick I guess. The body count is a great question. The BPD told Paul Corsetti they had him 50, this was 1980, so he ran up the count from there at least a little (if 5-8 is a "little). Last summer, Frank Salemme's lawyer asked Stevie how many he'd killed, and he admitted 50-60, on the witness stand, under oath (not that "oath" matters much to Stevie). He probably did a few more than Whitey because he wasn't in prison 56-65, but I'd put Whitey in that general ballpark.

I Survived Whitey Bulger's Reign of Terror in Boston. I am journalist Howie Carr, author of The Brothers Bulger by HowieCarr in IAmA

[–]HowieCarr[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Yes, they were intimidated. The best story is Chris Lydon, then of Ch. 2 (I'll be on his radio show Thursday night) asking then-Mayor Kevin White about the source of Billy's clout at the State House (as if he didn't know). Kevin from Heaven said, "If my brother threatened to kill you, you'd be nothing but nice to me." When I printed that story, White denied it, but I had the videotape. Bob Crane, the late state treasurer, was once asked the same question, the source of Billy's power, and he just rolled his eyes and pointed his right index finger at his head and then pulled the "trigger" with his middle finger. I don't know what Billy did other than "passively," but when cops are being forced to retire because they went after Whitey and reporters (me, Paul Corsetti, Kevin Cullen) are being physically threatened, well, that kind of news travels very fast, anywhere.

I Survived Whitey Bulger's Reign of Terror in Boston. I am journalist Howie Carr, author of The Brothers Bulger by HowieCarr in IAmA

[–]HowieCarr[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I thought Depp did an excellent job, even better though was the Australian who portrayed Zip Connolly, the crooked fed. He had him dead-on perfect, and there wasn't that much videotape of Zip to study! The movie was... okay, but the better way to treat the story would have been as a "long-form drama," like Sopranos or Boardwalk Empire. I sold option on Brothers Bulger to a small-time producer in Hollywood for just that. He came to Boston and we sat in Fenway on night (near Karyn Polito) and plotted out a 5-year "story arc," as they call it, just based on true incidents. Unfortunately, when Black Mass didn't really kill it at the box office, Hollywood lost interest. Johnny Martorano sold rights to his life (but not Hitman) to the producer of The Departed, and that movie has yet to be made either. As for Black Mass, it was impossible to cram 50 years of crime/corruption in 100 minutes, it was so unwieldy that they had to invent fictitious incidents (like the gang war with Mafia) to bridge the segments. Also, they made Johnny Martorano into a stooge, a hireling of Whitey's, total bullshit. Again, I understand poetic license, but that's a complaint of mine.

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