Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger Page #7

Synopsis: WHITEY: United States of America v. James J. Bulger captures the sensational trial of infamous gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger, using the legal proceedings as a springboard to explore allegations of corruption within the highest levels of law enforcement. Embedded for months with Federal Prosecutors, retired FBI and State Police, victims, lawyers, gangsters and journalists, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Joe Berlinger examines Bulger's relationship with the FBI and Department of Justice that allowed him to reign over a criminal empire in Boston for decades. Pulling back the curtain on long-held Bulger mythology, the film challenges conventional wisdom by detailing shocking, new allegations. With unprecedented access, Berlinger's latest crime documentary offers a universal tale of human frailty, opportunism, deception, and the often elusive nature of truth and justice.
Director(s): Joe Berlinger
Production: Magnolia Pictures
  6 wins & 3 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.8
Metacritic:
71
Rotten Tomatoes:
78%
R
Year:
2014
107 min
Website
96 Views


becoming the big fish.

Carney:
Jim Bulger wants to explain

to the jury why for 25 years

he could be on top of the organized

crime pyramid in Boston,

and never once be charged

with a crime.

The chief of the Organized Crime

Strike Force, Jeremiah O'Sullivan,

promised him that he would not be

prosecuted for any federal crime,

if in turn, he did something

that the government wanted.

And that something

was not being an informant,

it was something else.

We've never revealed that information,

but Jim will at trial,

if Jim takes the stand.

Bulger:
I had met secretly

with a high official

in the federal strike force,

Jerry O'Sullivan, United States Attorney.

He was concerned that someone

was going to kill him.

He says that he's in trouble,

and he needs help.

I felt bad for him, so I told him,

I says, "Look, I'll take care of this

for you, but I'm no spy.

We don't meet, I'll take care of it

my own way.

If you can accept that,

it'll be done."

Carney:
What was O'Sullivan's

promise to you?

His promise to me was this.

He says, "Listen, Whitey,"

he says, "I feel better, I'm under

your umbrella of protection,

you're under mine," and he says,

"Any federal crimes or anything like that,

don't worry about it." He says,

"I'll always be in your corner

from this point on.

I'll protect you, you protect me."

And that was the way it went.

Bulger claims that he had

saved Jeremiah T. O'Sullivan

from imminent danger,

presumably from Mafia retaliation

for Jeremiah O'Sullivan's pursuit

of the Mafia and bringing it down,

and that his deal with Jeremiah

T. O'Sullivan was a personal one,

and he was going to

protect O'Sullivan in return

for being granted immunity

for crimes past and future.

John Connolly said that O'Sullivan

and Bulger pledged allegiance

to each other.

That's a pretty significant event,

an event by the way that was never

mentioned or even alluded to

in this trial. The government

didn't want it to be,

because then you would have

this very ironic situation

of the US Attorney's Office in Boston,

the very office

that is currently prosecuting

Whitey Bulger, had some kind of

corrupt relationship with Whitey Bulger,

that they're not being

totally forthcoming about.

The notion that a federal prosecutor

could tell an organized crime figure

that he could kill at will,

men and women,

rich and poor,

Boston, Florida, Oklahoma,

based on a personal promise

to guarantee his safety, is so absurd,

so ludicrous, we've run out

of words like "ludicrous"

and synonyms to describe it.

Woman:
Today they call to the stand

former number two

in the FBI's Boston office,

Agent Bob Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick:
Kind of upset over the fact

that this whole case

is predicated on a bunch of people

I tried to put in jail,

and the true story

is that the criminal justice system

has basically been co-opted

by Bulger, by Flemmi.

Now certain people

are culpable in the FBl,

but certain people are culpable

in the Department of Justice.

So I've got to go there

and present the truth.

Woman:
Former FBI agent

Robert Fitzpatrick

started at the Boston office in 1981,

and said the atmosphere was tense.

As Assistant Special Agent

In Charge, Fitzpatrick

evaluated James Bulger's role

as an informant.

Fitzpatrick said Bulger surprised him

by saying he was not an FBI informant,

that he was never paid anything

by the FBI to provide information.

Fitzpatrick recommended

closing Bulger as an informant,

but headquarters

thought Bulger was too valuable

in its quest to bring down the Mafia.

After several hours on the stand,

prosecutors began a tough

cross-examination of Fitzpatrick.

First question?

Kelly:
You're a man who likes to

make up stories, aren't you?

Fitzpatrick:
No.

Kelly:
Didn't you gratuitously claim

credit for arresting the mob boss

- Jerry Angiulo?

- Fitzpatrick:
I did arrest him.

Kelly:
Haven't you in fact pretended

that you were the one

who found the rifle that killed

Martin Luther King?

Fitzpatrick:
I did find the rifle,

when I was at the scene.

Woman:
At one point,

Assistant US Attorney Brian Kelly said,

"Are you on medication?"

Fitzpatrick said,

"Yes." Kelly said sarcastically,

"Does it affect your memory?"

"Not that I recall,"

replied Fitzpatrick,

as several people in court laughed.

Woman:
How do you think you were

treated on the stand?

Not good.

What do you mean?

I thought the guy was very angry,

and I don't know why.

You know, it should've been

a lot more professional,

and I didn't feel that professionalism.

And plus, as a former law enforcement

officer working with these guys,

I should have had

a little more respect.

You know, I'm actually disgusted

in some sense, to be honest with you.

To hear Fitzpatrick

get grilled like that,

and not all the other agents?

I think it's garbage.

That's the first time that

the prosecution has cross-examined

anybody in that manner.

Other than that, they been up there

kissing everybody's ass.

All the dirty FBI agents,

all ex-mobsters.

Look at Morris, they didn't treat

Morris like Fitzpatrick.

These are the guys

they gave deals to.

Fitzpatrick tried to go out of his way

and do the right thing,

but he's still fighting for a pension.

Morris got a pension.

Kelly:
With respect to my

cross-examination of Fitzpatrick,

I do think it was fair.

I think when people

come into federal court

and tell ridiculous stories,

they can expect to be confronted

aggressively with cross-examination.

That's the purpose

of cross-examination,

you try to expose

what isn't accurate.

Now Fitzpatrick was in fact

in the chain of command

at exactly the same time

all this crime and buffoonery

was occurring. And yet years later,

he wanted to distance himself

from it and pretend

he was trying to stop it.

English:
Bob Fitzpatrick was one of

the first people to say

there's something rotten here,

and to try to call attention to it.

He's drummed out of the FBl,

now here he is at this trial,

and they really seek to destroy him,

they seek to humiliate him,

and it was very personal, because

when he comes in to trial to testify,

he is a rebuke to the entire system

and to everyone who stood back

for 20 years that Bulger was in

power and allowed it to happen.

And a lot of people were

complicit in that.

Brennan:
It was a little bit tormenting

to watch Fitzpatrick get beat up.

It shows you that you're

either with the government,

and they'll accept, and guide,

and protect you

in any way they can, or you're

against the government,

and they'll try to destroy you.

We know that there was

a relationship between

the Department of Justice and

the success of James Bulger,

and nobody wants to tell that story.

They protected him for

their own reasons for decades,

and they're still lying about it.

At this trial, the United States

Attorney's Office has an exhibit.

It's a very important exhibit.

It is a memorandum

from the Special Agent In Charge

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