The Legend of Whitey Bulger!

James J "Whitey" Bulger is one of the most talked about and written about criminals in U.S. history. So what stories are myths and what are truths?

1) Was Whitey an FBI Informant?  

     This is a difficult one to answer because I don't think he was an informant. There is no doubt that the FBI aided Whitey on his way to being the number one crime boss in Boston. However, the information was always going from the FBI to Whitey and rarely the other way around in a true informant/handler relationship. If you study the files closely it seems Whitey's FBI handler John Connolly was cooking the books. He would attribute information he got from other sources to Whitey to justify the relationship. Mostly what Whitey gave the FBI was nothing but street gossip that would not get anyone convicted of any crimes. So why did the FBI protect Whitey? I think the answer is in our number 2 myth.

2) Was Whitey in the CIA's MKUltra program?

     Yes, Whitey was in the MKUltra program while he was in prison in Alcatraz. Whitey volunteered for the program to get an early release. He didn't know exactly what it was, but he said the experiments left him with massive headaches throughout his life and anger issues he could not control. Perhaps the FBI protected Whitey because they knew he was a CIA creation.

3) Was his brother involved in Whitey's business?

     Whitey's brother Billy was State Senate President in Massachusetts and one of the most powerful politicians in the south. Certainly, he was smart enough to know what Whitey did for a living, but I never read any credible evidence of him being involved in Whitey's illegal business deals.

4) Is the Dana White UFC story true?

     So, the story goes that Dana White, before he built the UFC into an empire, was run out of Boston by Whitey because he couldn't pay a street tax. Dana White told this story to countless reporters however Kevin Weeks, Whitey's henchmen, denied this and said it was not true. I think this will go down as one of the many legends of Whitey that will be hard to prove true or false. 

5) Did Whitey win the lottery fair and square?

     Whitey did win the Massachusetts state lottery but if anyone really thinks this was on the up and up then I have a bridge to sell you. This would prove to be his downfall as the once untouchable Mob Boss just became too high profile and Law enforcement would finally catch up to him shortly after.

     We will be doing another podcast episode on Whitey Bulger in the future. It is difficult to clear up all the legends out there on this man, but we always do our research. Whitey is long dead but the interest in his infamous life will continue for a long time!