Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger Page #2

- Jesus Christ.

- Today, I feel fantastic.

- Man:
How come?

Well, 30 years ago, they

tormented me, and it's been

30 years of torment, and now it's

coming to an end.

Thank God he's behind bars.

My father always told me that good

will always triumph over evil.

Even if it takes a long time.

And that's just what I'm here for.

- We don't forget.

- Rakes:
No.

- No.

- You know what I mean?

The only kind of comfort I get

through this is talking with him.

You know, me and Steve

meet every morning,

just about every morning for coffee.

That's why Steve and l,

we have something in common,

this psychotic individual.

We're going to bring justice,

it has to be done.

Finally payback.

As nervous as I am, exciting,

the adrenaline is pumping, I just can't,

I can't believe I'm finally here.

I finally get to stop.

I'll have my day, my time.

Woman:
Gentleman, let me ask you

just to say a few words

as you're going in,

what your thoughts are.

Anxious. The day has come.

Man:
What are you going to be

thinking as you look at him

in that courtroom today?

Well, you know, 30 years ago,

I'd never look at him.

Now I can't wait to look him

right in the eyes.

Reporter on radio: It's day one of one of

the most anticipated trials in decades.

Reporter 2:
Cameras should've been

allowed in the courtroom.

Obviously, in federal court,

they are not allowed.

Female reporter:
For the people of

Boston, this case is about justice.

It is about redemption,

it is about retribution.

Opening statements in the trial

of James Whitey Bulger.

Reporter 3:
The Assistant US Attorney,

Brian Kelly, telling jurors.

Kelly:
"He did the dirty work himself,

because he was a hands-on killer

who ran amok in the city of Boston

for almost 30 years.

Bulger was deeply involved

in the distribution of drugs

in the South Boston area.

Bulger was one of the biggest

informants in Boston.

Bulger routinely met

with FBI agent John Connolly

and gave him information

to protect himself,

or get the competitive edge

that he wanted."

Reporter 3:
He then showed the jury

pictures of each

of the 19 people

investigators say Bulger killed.

Woman:
They described victims,

former friends, associates,

girlfriends, all killed

and buried in secret graves.

Some relatives in court listening

choked up when they heard that.

Woman 2:
The government,

ending its opening statements

by slowly, dramatically,

reading off the names

of the 19 alleged murder victims.

Man:
Bucky Barrett, Roger Wheeler,

Brian Halloran, Michael Donahue,

John Callahan, Deborah Davis,

and Deborah Hussey.

Kelly:
This is not

a traditional murder case.

It's a racketeering charge.

And within the racketeering charge,

there are multiple predicate crimes

that we have to prove.

We have to prove at least two of them.

And Bulger is charged with 33

separate predicate crimes.

19 separate murders,

multiple extortions,

drug dealing, gambling.

And of those,

we have to prove at least two

beyond a reasonable doubt,

and we have to prove

that Bulger was part of

this criminal enterprise

that was committing

all these crimes for 30 years.

Man:
Defense attorney J.W. Carney

stunned the courtroom, admitting

for the first time that Bulger was

involved in drug trafficking.

Carney:
James Bulger was involved

in drug dealing. He was involved in

bookmaking, loan sharking.

These crimes are what he did.

Man:
But he poked holes

in government witnesses.

Woman:
Carney tried to paint

a picture of Bulger associates

turned government witnesses,

John Martorano, Kevin Weeks,

and Steven Flemmi

as the real murderers

who just pinned their crimes

on his client.

Boeri:
The defense said, all those three

witnesses' testimony was purchased.

They were murderous thugs

whose testimony

was purchased by sparing them

the death penalty,

cutting their prison sentence,

and offering them all sorts of incentives.

Given these three individuals,

given their backgrounds,

given their character, would you believe

them beyond a reasonable doubt?

Woman:
Carney denied

that Bulger was an informant.

The evidence will show

that he was never an informant

for John Connolly and the FBI.

You will learn the depth of corruption

in federal law enforcement that

existed during this period.

This was how James Bulger was able

to never, ever be charged.

Boeri:
What makes this trial

extraordinary, and really crazy,

the defense is defending him

from an assertion that he was

an informant, even though it's not

a charge. And so what seems crazy

is the government has

gotten sucked into this as well,

they're trying to prove that he is,

even though it's totally irrelevant

to his guilt or innocence.

So it's not about guilt or innocence,

it's about his legacy,

of wanting to establish he wasn't

a tout, a rat, an informant,

whatever you want to call it.

(sirens wailing)

Carney:
I was as surprised as anyone

when James Whitey Bulger was captured.

Is the government excited about

having Bulger come back?

Some people certainly are.

But there are others, I think,

who have many sleepless nights

about what James Bulger

is going to testify to.

I believe the reason that they are

giving so much protection to Bulger

to transport him from the jail

to the courthouse,

is they are worried about

someone with a sniper rifle

taking him out on the way to court

so that he can't testify.

That's how explosive

his testimony will be.

Man:
This is Whitey's world.

You go from Squantum,

where he lived with Cathy...

It's basically six miles, if you drive

it, up to Castle Island over there.

That's Southie, where

he did most of his crime.

He murdered people there.

He buried people there.

And he went to sleep there.

So, that's his world.

Man 2:
I spent much of my childhood

in South Boston,

and even as a kid, I knew

Whitey Bulger ran the show here.

But Whitey was very lucky.

In the 1960s, there was

an Irish gang war.

And over 60 people were killed.

But Whitey was in prison.

So he missed all that.

He would've had

a high, high chance

of being a victim of that violence.

When he got out of prison,

Whitey went to Howie Winter, who was

the leader of the Winter Hill Gang,

preeminent non-Mafia gang

in this region. And he said to Howie,

"We got to stop the war in Southie,

too many people are dying,

we're losing money."

Howie was very impressed by Whitey.

And one of the things

that impressed him most

was that Whitey had done time

in Alcatraz.

Now, you know, for you and me,

you know, we like to hand in our resume

and say, "See, I went to Stanford,

I got my MBA at Wharton."

But in that milieu, if you're a wise guy,

you say, "Oh, you went to Alcatraz."

And Howie said

that Whitey came across

as a guy that could be a leader.

So Howie mediates the end

of the war with a rival gang

in South Boston called the Mullens,

in which the Mullens

actually were about to prevail.

And the Mullen's guys think,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes