[News] Whitey Bulger Captured After 16 Years

This is fucking crazy. Keep reading for the full story as of right now.

LOS ANGELES – Fugitive James “Whitey’’ Bulger and his girlfriend, Catherine Greig, today agreed to return to Massachusetts following their capture in the oceanside community of Santa Monica Wednesday night.

The two wore their street clothes during a brief appearance in US District Court here and both claimed they were broke and asked to have court-appointed attorneys represent them.

Bulger and Greig chatted with each other while both sat inside a glassed-in holding pen along with other detainees waiting to appear before the judge-magistrate.

Bulger was tanned, wore wire-rimmed glasses, and had a neatly trimmed mustache and beard and sparse white hair on his head. He wore blue jeans and a white shirt underneath a lighter long-sleeved shirt.

Greig’s hair was white and, like Bulger, she was wearing jeans. Greig wore a pale pink shirt underneath a white, long-sleeved shirt.

Bulger started laughing when a crowd of reporters were led into the courtroom and then he began to mock reporters, pretending to scribble notes into a notebook.

Assistant US Attorney Robert Dugdale told about two dozen reporters outside the courthouse that Bulger would be sent back to Boston within a couple of days.

Sixteen years after he went on the lam, Bulger was found living in a sun-splashed California community in a rent-controlled apartment just a few blocks from the beach, under an assumed name, with an arsenal of guns and a small fortune in cash, federal authorities said today.

MORE ON 'WHITEY' BULGER ARREST

PHOTOS

The search ends

Photos outline the worldwide manhunt for the fugitive gangster and his companion.

• Callahan murder saga  |  Cast of characters
• Surveillance of 'Whitey'  |  A mob tour of Boston
• Bulger's old haunts | Arrest scene photos

MORE COVERAGE

• FBI: Guns, cash in Bulger apartment
• To neighbors, Bulger a nice, elderly man
• Mitt Romney reacts to the arrest
• KEVIN CULLEN Alleged victim's family reacts
• SCOT LEHIGH Now, the rest of the story
• TIME LINE Bulger's 16 years on the run
• GRAPHIC Bulger sightings through years
• Whitey's bio  |  Shock in S. Boston  |  Video
• Will secrets be revealed?  | Twitter buzz on 'Whitey'
• DISCUSS Your reaction  |  How did you find out?
• SPOTLIGHT REPORT Part 1 of 5
• MAP Where he was  |  More Bulger coverage

Bulger, who once allegedly rampaged through Boston’s underworld and committed 19 murders, was arrested, along with Greig, without incident late Wednesday afternoon. The arrest brought a successful conclusion to a global manhunt, said Richard DesLauriers, special agent in charge of the FBI office in Boston.

“Although there were those who doubted our resolve over the years, it has never wavered,” he said.

In court, Bulger’s jocularity faded, however, when he was questioned by Magistrate Judge John E. McDermott. The first question posed to Bulger and to Greig – who spent 16 years using aliases while living on the run – was what their names were.

“Is your true name James J. Bulger,’’ McDermott asked.

“Yes,’’ Bulger replied.

Bulger was asked if the financial affidavit he filled out in which claimed he was indigent and needed a court-appointed attorney was “true.’’

“Yes,’’ Bulger replied.

McDermott also asked Bulger if he had briefed himself on the federal racketeering charges filed against him shortly before he went on the run, a document that is about 100 pages long.

“I’ve got them all here,’’ Bulger replied. “It would take me quite a while to finish these. But I know them all pretty much.’’

Bulger than told the judge he had signed court paperwork clearing the way for his return to Massachusetts.

“That is your signature?’’ the judge asked.

“That’s it,’’ Bulger said. “Right.’’

Greig answered the same questions in much the same way. Soon, both were led out of the courtroom, reportedly to be whisked to Los Angeles Airport where a plane was standing by to fly them back to Boston. There is a possibility they will appear in a Boston courthouse on Friday.

As Bulger and Greig appeared n court, three federal agents who have pursued them for years watched, looking weary but pleased.

“It’s just a great day,’’ said Richard Teahan, the FBI supervisory special agent who has led the Bulger Task Force for the past five years. “A lot of handwork by the entire task force resulted in his capture and close coordination with the FBI in Los Angeles,’’ Teahan said.

At the courthouse, Teahan was accompanied by FBI Special Agent Phil Torsney and Deputy US Marshall Neil Sullivan.

Teahan said he was not surprised to learn that Bulger and Greig were living in Santa Monica, unnoticed by their neighbors.

“I told you long ago that he had the ability to blend into any community,’’ Teahan said. “They had the ability to be under the radar and they were.’’

He said investigators will now dig in and try to piece together as much as they can about the life on the run of Bulger and Greig.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,’’ Teahan said.

In Boston earlier today, DesLauriers said more than 20 firearms, including both handguns and rifles, had been found in the Santa Monica apartment where the two lived, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash.

DesLauriers said at a news conference at the federal courthouse in Boston that a tip was received Tuesday night by the FBI in Los Angeles that was a “direct result” of a new FBI media campaign launched on Monday. He wouldn’t give any details on the tipster, who contacted the agency at about 8 p.m. Pacific time.

Agents on Wednesday morning began surveilling the couple’s apartment. Shortly before 6 p.m. Wednesday Pacific time, the agents lured Bulger out of the apartment. They determined that he was, in fact, the man they were seeking and arrested him without incident, DesLauriers said.

Bulger, 81, and Greig, 60, had been living at the Third Street apartment under the aliases Charles and Carol Gasko, DesLauriers said.

Asked how long the two had lived in the oceanside community, DesLauriers said, “We have no reason to believe he has not been there for some degree of time.”

Building manager Joshua Bond said the couple had been living in the apartment since the mid-1990s. Santa Monica Rent Control Board records show that the property owner has kept the rent at the same level -- $1,145 per month -- since Jan. 1, 1999, suggesting that the same people have lived there continuously since at least that time.

Bulger faces numerous federal charges and, if convicted, could be sentenced to life in prison, US Attorney Carmen Ortiz said at the Boston news conference, which was attended by top officials from numerous law enforcement agencies that had assisted in the manhunt over the years. She noted that Bulger also faces state prosecutions in Oklahoma and Florida, where he could receive the death penalty. Prosecutors in both Oklahoma and Florida said they were planning to pursue their prosecutions.

“This is a great day for Boston’s law enforcement community,” said Ortiz.

Governor Deval Patrick applauded the arrest, but cautioned that much legal maneuvering must first take place before the Bulger criminal saga ends.

“I’m proud of and impressed by the authorities -- their stick-to-it-ness and the fact that they’ve gotten these results,” said Patrick, who was testifying at a US Senate hearing in Washington. But he cautioned, “It’s an arrest, but there’s more to do. There’s a whole trial that has to happen. But it’s a great step forward.”

The arrest is a long-sought victory for the FBI, whose reputation was sullied by its connection to the mobster and whose fruitless efforts to find the fugitive had been regarded by some with suspicion.

Bulger did not appear to be in good health, an official said.

“I don’t think he’s in a position to be fighting anybody,” one official said, adding, “They got a confession from him.”

Bulger’s brother, former president of the state Senate William M. Bulger, had little to say this morning when a reporter knocked on the door of his South Boston home.

“No comment,” said William Bulger, who answered the door in his T-shirt. Informed that his brother had been arrested, Bulger said, “Thank you.”

Assistant US Attorney Brian Kelly, part of the prosecution team that brought the federal charges against Whitey Bulger, said, “It’s a long time coming and we’re glad he’s finally in custody.”

Bulger fled just before his federal racketeering indictment in January 1995. It was later revealed in federal court in Boston that he was a longtime FBI informant who had been warned by his corrupt handler, former FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr., that he was about to be arrested.

Betrayed by the revelation that Bulger was an informant, several of his former associates began cooperating against him, leading to the discovery of secret graves of his victims in the Boston area and the charges that Bulger murdered 19 people.

According to the Los Angeles Times, authorities had investigated two possible Bulger sightings in Southern California. In 2000, a tipster reported seeing Greig having her hair done at a salon in Fountain Valley, the newspaper reported. In 2005, the FBI investigated whether Bulger may have been the elderly man who robbed three Orange County banks.

But ultimately, the trail appeared to grow cold and no link was made to the mobster.

On Monday, the FBI announced that after years of focusing on Bulger, it was launching a new initiative aimed at daytime TV viewers.

It began airing a 30-second public service announcement in 14 cities across the United States urging people to be on the lookout for Greig, a dental hygienist who was devoted to her appearance, had plastic surgery in the past, and frequently had her hair cut and teeth cleaned. The spots aired during daytime shows, including, “Ellen,” “The View,” and “Live with Regis & Kelly.”

A woman who answered the door at the South Boston home of Greig’s sister, Margaret McCusker, was told of the arrest by a Globe reporter this morning. “They found him? Finally,” she said. “I want my sister to come home.

Katherine Fernandez Rundle, the Miami-Dade state attorney, said in a statement she was eager to try Bulger in Florida, where Connolly, his former handler, has already been convicted.

“James ‘Whitey’ Bulger’s criminal activities have been marked by the corpses his killers and associates have left behind in car trunks and alleyways,” she said. “After a 16 year delay, I will be working to ensure that a Miami Jury has the opportunity to look him in the eyes and determine his fate just as we did with his associate, ex-FBI agent John J. Connolly, Jr.”

A spokesman for Rundle, Ed Griffith, said Bulger is eligible for the death penalty in Florida because he was indicted on first-degree murder there in connection with the 1982 shooting of John B. Callahan.

The indictment was handed down in 2004 and Connolly was convicted in 2008 of second-degree murder, based on his role in the murder. Griffith said Rundle would decide whether to pursue the death penalty against Bulger before a trial. “First, we have to get our hands on him,” Griffith said. “I guess there’s a long line.” (Source)