Whitey Bulger Arrested In Santa Monica

Seeking to allay American doubts about the reliability of the Pakistani government, that country’s ambassador to the United States asked Jeffrey Goldberg in May “If Whitey Bulger can live undetected by American police for so long, why can’t Osama Bin Laden live undetected by Pakistani authorities?”

I never really understood why that analogy was supposed to bolster Pakistan’s standing, since it’s quite evident that Bulger was, in fact, able to remain criminally active as long as he did in part because of corruption within American law enforcement. But now it’s irrelevant since he and his mistress have been caught and arrested in Southern California just days after the FBI “began airing a 30-second public service announcement in 14 cities across the United States urging people to be on the lookout for [Catherine] 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.” Obviously, the closeness in time between airing the ads on Monday and catching the fugitive Wednesday night strongly suggests some new evidence had surfaced.

I don’t have a ton of substance to say about it, but I read Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob several years ago and it’s a great narrative non-fiction read by some of the reporters who blew the lid off the story. Very much worth your time. I’ve also seen it said that the Whitey Bulger story is the inspiration for The Departed, which can’t be right since The Departed is very clearly a remake of the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs which, in turn, is very much not about the Irish Mob in Boston. Which I take to be a good thing, since a Black Mass movie adaptation would be welcome.