I thought it was funny watching the news surrounding Eric Rudolph - the media made it seem like a big deal that he spent like five years on the run. He camped out in the woods and ate bugs and lizards - meanwhile, Whitey was on the lam for nearly 20 years, visiting England and living the easy life out in LA. I thought for certain that Whitey would be another Jimmy Hoffa, never to be heard from again.SANTA MONICA, Calif. (CBS/AP) — Boston mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger was captured near Los Angeles after spending the last 16 years on the run during an epic manhunt that served as a major embarrassment to the FBI and made the fugitive a global sensation as he constantly found a way to elude authorities.
The FBI finally caught the 81-year-old Bulger Wednesday at a residence in Santa Monica along with his longtime girlfriend Catherine Greig just days after the government launched a new publicity campaign to locate the fugitive mobster, said Steven Martinez, FBI’s assistant director in charge in Los Angeles.
Imagine my surprise this morning when I turned on the computer and was greeted with the headline of Bulger's capture. Whitey is a source of bemusement in MA, given that his brother Billy ran the Statehouse for years and then later the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the largest state-run university in MA. It was a striking dimorphism that one brother became a successful politician and chancellor while the other was a fugitive, a gang leader wanted for murder and a host of other crimes.
We'll leave the inevitable comparison between politicians and the mafia to the reader as an exercise...
That is all.
10 comments:
Successful MA politician vs. mob boss?
Yeah, that's about as dimorphic as it gets, if you don't count fraternal twins.
The most surprising thing is that he stayed on the "most wanted" list for so long, considering that the original point of the list was as a PR tactic for the FBI. They'd add some dude that they knew they were about to catch to the "most wanted" list, and then when they caught him, they'd crow to the media about how they were so great at catching America's worst criminals.
As for the politician with the mob boss brother, I'd have been tempted to ask when was the last time anyone saw them together, and how sure we could be that they weren't actually the same guy. :)
I think the FBI probably was happy that Whitey was on the lam, given the amount of dirt he could spill about the Boston FBI's office near partnership with the Winter Hill Gang. The Feebies probably figure that's all old news, by now.
Seems to me that both brothers fell pretty close to the ideological tree. Please tell me how you differentiate between 'mobster' and 'successful politician'?
You can start with the Kennedy/Fitzgerald clan and expand from there...
Billy: politician
Whitey: mobster
So, Whitey was the one with the higher ethical standards?
The mafia is illegal because the government hates the competition.
Mafia: We take 30% off the top and leave you alone to do whatever you want. We also might have to kill you some day.
Government: We take more than 30% and we harass you with stupid laws and idiotic regulations. We also might have to kill you someday.
Hmmm...
Successful MA politician vs. mob boss?
Humm, the difference is small as it's more about achieving power and fame. If
you don't kill someone(or cause their death) you can be the former or the latter.
The FBI, another mob, presumed to be benevolent, maybe.
Eck!
"He camped out in the woods and ate bugs and lizards"
More like broke into houses and stole food, ate out of grocery store dumpsters, and had help from like minded individuals.
"a global sensation". Never heard of him.
Perhaps "global" really means "from shore to shining shore"?
I wonder if the local swat team ever kicked in Billy's door and shot the place up because he was Whitey's brother. After all it's legal in Arizona!
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