''The most notorious gangster in U.S. history''

[JaiDee]

At least in the top 10!

 

  Capone and a few others surely gave him a run for his money, but there's no doubt that James "Whitey" Bulger left a mark and he is considered the most dangerous and feared Irish-American mobster ever.  He ruled Boston from the mid-60's until the early 90's, all with the help of crooked FBI agents and local cops, as well as his younger brother Bill Bulger, who was the Speaker of the Massachusetts state senate!

 

 Black Mass was one of the best books ever on this piece of trash, who is now in his 80's and rotting away in federal prison for killing more than 20 people and extorting dozens of others while also controlling prostitution and drugs in Boston for 25 years. The book is now made into a movie starring Johnny Depp, which comes out in the fall; here are the trailers for it.

 

Can't wait to see this one.

 

 

 

 

 

[SiamSam]

Can't wait for this movie. It's going to be terrific. 

[Kahuna]

Johnny D is one of those actors who shines in quirky roles - Capin Jack Sparra - Although he is having his probs in Australia right now or not in Australia right now filming the latest Pirates film...

 

The trailers for Black Mass look very interesting....and he looks to be terrific as Bulger....

 

I'll mark my calendar......

[JaiDee]

Initially I was a bit perturbed they couldn't get a Boston actor to play that role, maybe Marky Mark or Matt Damon?

 

 But then I remembered the forced accents in The Departed - why, if they are from the area anyway? - and realized maybe Depp would be a good choice; he certainly does have range.

 

If you guys haven't read Black Mass I'd highly recommend it, along with 4 or 5 other great books about Bulger.  Howie Carr from the Boston Herald has written a few, The Brothers Bulger was a good one of his which shows the corruption which took place under Bill Bulger at the state senate.  One quick story from that one;  Whitey once was caught trying to fly to Montreal from Logan with 50 grand in a carry-on bag, some state trooper pulled him out of line and sent him off to the clink. He got out right away of course, and told his brother Billy, the most powerful man in Massachusetts for 25 years, and that state trooper got reassigned to some post way out in the middle of nowhere and basically his life was ruined.  He committed suicide a couple years later.

 

   People outside New England may not realize how much of a psycopathic murderer this guy really was, and indeed I am sure lots of people in about 40 states have never even heard the name.  Hell, if there was some crime boss in Milwaukee or Kansas City I would surely have little interest in him as well.  But I remember well, during the 80's at the height of his crime spree, this guy being all over the Herald and The Globe on a regular basis; their reporters were always perplexed how this gangster could run the city with impunity and never be put away.  In fact it was 2 Globe reporters who finally ran an expose on Bulger in the 90's over several days which finally got the heat coming down on him; the same 2 guys later wrote Black Mass based on that series of articles.

[JaiDee]

Here was one favorite tactic of Whitey;  he'd summons some poor sap from the neighborhood in Southie to come visit him in his office above The Triple O's saloon. No one turned down those invites.  And they would be locals but guys with some money, like real estate brokers or bankers, etc....  so he'd get these guys in his little office and he'd start with "You know,  so-and-so has put out a contract for your life. But for 50 grand I will get the contract canceled; waddaya say?" Of course there was no contract, no one really wanted to kill these people, but Bulger would walk away with 50 large for 5 minutes work;  not a bad gig.

 

  When he wanted to have a legit place to launder his money, he approached the owner of the South Boston Liquor Mart, a guy named Stippo Rakes, and told him he was interested in buying him out.   Rakes had just put a ton of money into fixing the place up, had a grand opening, and was running the place with his wife.  He told Bulger "sorry, not for sale" and Bulger pulls out a gun and says "wanna bet?" right in front of his kids.  He paid him half of what it was worth and Rakes signed on the dotted line.

 

That's just 2 of many stories, hell the guy murdered more than 20 people, most with his own bare hands. Pure psychopath.

[Pdoggg]

 

 

I'll mark my calendar......

 

Movie opens on Friday.