Alex Rocco

Boston is the only city in the United States where, in the second half of the 20th century, Italians were weaker players than their competitors. Since the middle of the 19th century, many immigrants from Ireland have arrived here. At first, they lived in a ghetto in the north of the city, then, having achieved some success in their new homeland, they moved to more decent places - the southern and northern suburbs. Italians and Jews took their place in the ghetto.

In the 1920s Cosa Nostra in Boston, she waged war with the Irish Gustin gang from the southern suburbs. Irish leader Frankie Wallace was trapped and shot to death in 1930, and the Italians have been the masters of the city ever since.

The strength of the Irish had recovered by the 1950s. At this time, in the north, two Irish gangs - Winter Hill and Charlestown.

The first originated in the Winter Hill area of ​​Somerville, north of Boston. Its leaders were James "Buddy" McLean and Howard "Howie" Winter.

The second was based next door in Charlestown, a northern suburb of Boston. It was led by the McLaughlin brothers - Bernie, Georgie and Eddie ("Punchy"), as well as the Hughes brothers - Stevie and Cornelius ("Connie").

There were about 50 people in each of the groups. At first, the gangs coexisted peacefully and even were allies. They controlled their neighborhoods, collected tribute from criminals, gambling dens, hijacked trucks.

The Italians have forged partnerships with them. The Irish were for them "subcontractors" for "dirty work": knocking out debts, beatings, murders.

Buddy McLean and Howie Winter came to Providence to meet with the Raymond Patriarchy twice a month. The FBI has intercepted Patriarch's conversations, where he speaks of McLean with respect.

Buddy McLean was a very tough gangster, and constantly got into fights. He enjoyed authority in Cosa Nostra, and it was said of him that "he looks like a boy in a church choir, but fights like the devil."

The gang war began after a generally ridiculous incident that took place on Labor Day in 1961. In honor of the holiday, the Irish gangsters threw a joint party. Drunk Georgie McLaughlin began to molest Alex Rocco's girlfriend from the Winter Hill gang. Alex Rocco and his comrades beat McLaughlin unconscious and threw him on the doorstep of a local hospital.

Alex Rocco, by the way, was an interesting character. He was an Italian member of an Irish gang. Shortly after the outbreak of the gang war, he left for California, became an actor and became famous for his role as the Jew Mo Green in "The Godfather."

A month after Georgie was discharged from the hospital, Bernie McLaughlin came to Buddy McLean and demanded that he betray those who beat his brother. McLean refused.

At night Buddy McLean heard a noise in the yard and jumped out with a gun. He saw two men digging under his wife's car. After driving them away with shots, McLean discovered that they were trying to plant a time bomb. Then he declared war.

The next day, McLean took Alex Rocco and his bodyguard Russell Nicholson with him and went to hunt Bernie McLaughlin. He found him in a cafe in downtown Somerville, and shot him on the spot in front of hundreds of witnesses.

But not a single person cooperated with the police, and Buddy McLean was sentenced to only 2 years for illegal possession of weapons. When he was released in 1964, the war continued.

In different parts of the city, the Irish were killing each other. In total, over 40 people died in this war. Here are some episodes:

May 3, 1964
A certain Frank Benjamin was bragging in a bar that he would kill Buddy McLean and the entire Winter Hill gang. What he didn't know was that Vincent Flemmi, an ally of Winter Heal, was sitting next to the counter. Vincent Flemmi shot Benjamin in front of 20 people. Then he drove away the visitors, cut off Benjamin's head and set fire to the bar to cover up the traces of the crime. At first he wanted to put his head on the threshold of Punchy McLaughlin's house, but changed his mind and threw it in the forest.

Shot by Russell Nicholson, Buddy Maclean's bodyguard.

August 20, 1964
Buddy McLean, with the help of a woman, lured two Charlestown gangsters - Wilfred Delaney and Harold Hannon - to the apartment. Together with his accomplices, he tortured them with an autogenous gun, then strangled them.

September 4, 1964
Shot by Ronald Dermody. The day before, he tried to kill Buddy McLean, broke into a bar and shot another man by mistake. Performer - Portuguese Joe "Animal" Barbosa. Planned the operation was Paul Rico, a corrupt FBI agent.

October 20, 1965
Shot by Punchy McLaughlin. He stood at a bus stop waiting for the bus to go to his brother Georgie's trial. Joe Barbosa fired 9 bullets at point-blank range.

Buddy McLean is shot while leaving the bar, his headquarters. The performers are brothers Stevie and Connie Hughes.

May 25, 1966
Connie Hughes is killed. Another car drew level with his car on the highway, from which they opened fire.

After that, the war continued for some time, but it was clear that Wintre Hill had won.

Howie Winter proved to be an even more talented leader than Buddy McLean. He expanded his influence beyond the Irish suburbs. His gang collected tribute from independent bookmakers and drug dealers, installed slot machines in bars, and also tried to engage in union racketeering. It was a multimillion dollar criminal enterprise.

The Italians were not too happy, but there was nothing they could do. There were too many murders in the city anyway. The Irish were reckless, too dangerous, and used automatic weapons.

These days two new recruits joined the gang - James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "Footman" Flemmi. At first, they were simple militants, but soon they were promoted to the group of leaders.

By the mid-1970s, the Winter Hill gang had become the leading force in the city. The Boston faction of Cosa Nostra was led by Jerry Angvilo, an ineffective leader. Rumor has it that he paid Raymond Patriarca $ 100,000 for this place. The Patriarca, based in Providence, kept a weak person in Boston on purpose in order to make it easier to control him. But Howie Winter was smart enough to understand that the entire Cosa Nostra of the United States was behind the Patriarca, and no one behind him. Therefore, he showed the Italians every respect, and gave Jerry Angvilo a weekly tribute of $ 20,000.

In the mid-1970s, the gang suffered a major defeat. The Irish, with the help of Fat Tony Kuilo, made millions in racetrack machinations in New England and New Jersey. But in 1976 Fat Tony was arrested, split and pulled almost the entire leadership of the gang with him - Howie Winter, Joe MacDonald, the Martorano brothers and others.

Of the leaders, only Whitey Bulger and Stephen Flemmi remained free. Why this happened was found out later: they were both FBI informants.

The Boston office of the FBI has proven to be a disgrace to this organization. There were two agents who actually went over to the side of organized crime - Paul Rico and John Connolly. Paul Rico recruited Buddy McLean as an informant in the early 1960s and helped him in the war against Charlestown. In the mid-1960s, he recruited Bulger and Flemmi.

Rico and Connolly passed on to Bulger and Flemmi all the information that flocked to the FBI office.

For example, immediately after Howie Winter's arrest, Jerry Angvilo called Bulger and Flemmi and demanded that they pay him $ 250,000 owed by the previous gang leader. But the Irish knew from their supervisors that a bug was installed in the Angvilo headquarters, that they would soon be "accepted", and did not pay anything.

Instead, they decided to expand their operations. The gang's headquarters was moved to a car repair shop closer to downtown Boston. The Irish began to intercept racketeers from the Italians. John Connolly informed Bulger that the state police, who noticed the increased activity of the gang, had installed a bug in the new location. As a result, Bulger began to mockingly praise the police indoors, and conduct business conversations on the street.

In the 1980s, Bulger and Flemmi felt "untouchable." They immediately removed informants and potential witnesses. They killed, they sold drugs, and they got away with it.

Another thing is worse. These two are the most disgusting bastards in American organized crime. They were both pedophiles. Stephen Flemmi corrupted and then killed two 14-year-old girls. Whitey Bulger was involved in the production and distribution of child pornography.

In 1990, John Connolly retired, and Bulger and Flemmi became more cautious. They handed over the management of the gang to Kevin Weeks and Kevin O'Neil, while they themselves set out to travel the world.

The US government struck in 1995. The operation was carried out jointly by the DEA and state police, but without the knowledge of the FBI.

At the same time, Steve Flemmi, Kevin Weeks, John Connolly, Frank "Caddilak" Salemme (a New England mafia boss who was a friend of Bulger and Flemmi since the 1960s) and others were arrested. They immediately began to knock on each other like a flock of frightened rats.

Sly Bulger managed to escape. Since the 1970s, he has been preparing for life underground, and has hidden fake passports and cash reserves in various countries.

He was generally a criminal intellectual, very well-read, and served as the prototype for Hannibal Lector. Bulger is still in the FBI's TOP 10 Most Wanted. A reward of $ 2,000,000 has been assigned for him.

He was last seen in London in 2002. By the way, his brother, William Bulger, was the chairman of the state congress and the president of the local university.

Remnants of the Winter Hill Gang may continue to operate in Boston

On October 26, Scott Cooper's Black Mass, a true-to-life film about Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger, who was on the FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted Criminals list for 12 years, was released in Russia.

The film is based on the investigative journalism of Dick Lehr and Gerard O "Neal. Two Boston reporters have followed Bulger's career for quite some time, and in 2002 published the book" Black Mass. "

We tried to tell what we missed in the film.

Please note, this article contains spoilers if you have not watched the movie and are not aware of the events.

First of all, let me say that I love Scott Cooper terribly - in my opinion, he is one of the best and most promising young American directors. Crazy Heart was just good, but Out of the furnace was brilliant; and both were distinguished not only by painstaking work with building the frame, but also by an amazing subtlety to working out the characters of the characters. In "Mass" the visual component is still good, but with the characters - sadness and sadness.

Cooper sets himself the task, rather the opposite: to show that in the told story there are almost no innocent and worthy of sympathy, except perhaps in the third plane. And the main characters are all ghouls, either because of internal ugliness, or simply from stupidity. And in the end, no matter how the actors fight with the images, nothing more can be invested in the Procrustean bed of the role invented by the director and the script. And this is a pity, because the actors are great. And the images are multifaceted.

Just in case - a short retelling of the main plot of the film: in 1975, FBI agent John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) offers middle-class gangster James "Whitey" Bulger (Johnny Depp) a mutually beneficial deal. Bulger gives information on the Italian mafia, which is a long-standing dream of the local FBI office; for this, the FBI turns a blind eye to his actions, as long as he does not particularly break the law. For Bulger, this is beneficial because the mafia are his direct competitors; and he, having hesitated a little, agrees.

And then he begins to use this partnership in such a way that in more than ten years he becomes practically the master of Boston.

Let's take a look at some of the heroes?

James "Whitey" Bulger

Left - Johnny Depp as Bulger, right - James Bulger

James Bulger (he is more like "Bulger", there is a slightly blurry "y" in the last name sounds; but the authors of the subtitles and dubbing are ruthless), an Irishman from southern Boston, enters the arena of the film at a relatively young age. He is already 45: the action begins in 1975, James was born in 1929.

James received the nickname "Whitey" (from the English white - white) for his blonde hair, and he did not like this nickname so much that in his presence Bulger was not called that, of course; and we won't. Johnny Depp, due to his serious make-up, shows a very ghoul appearance; Bulger was quite a nice guy.

Before the beginning of the events described, Bulger managed to get several drives in adolescence (including for rape), served four years as a mechanic in the Air Force, served nine years behind bars (including in Alcatraz), became famous for his violent disposition, and suddenly calm down quite suddenly. The calm, of course, was superficial: he really, five years after leaving prison, kept himself quieter than water, below the grass, worked as a cleaner in the municipal court and told everyone that he would never go to jail again, for nothing.

Not because he decided not to lead a thieves' life anymore, as you understand; just decided not to get caught.

And in this respect, the deal with Connolly was a heavenly gift for him. With the help of Connolly, he could remove the competition with someone else's hands, which he did.

“They play checkers, this is how we will play chess. Fuck them all, ”were the words that accompanied the historic agreement with Connolly.

At the same time, of course, no one in life would have thought that Whitey Bulger personally knocks the FBI; moreover, when journalists first heard about it in the late 80s, they took it as a joke, so much contrary to the image of the Irishman.

In the reports of Bulger and Flemmi of those years, it is clear that they gave out very targeted information: exactly what Connolly wanted to know, that is, about the Italian mafia, and what could not harm them personally. However, Connolly himself was not in the mood to expose “his own” - that the city police were watching Bulger, he considered it possible to warn his old friend, as well as about an attempt to put a bug in his car.

After the victory over the mafia (namely, the arrest of the five Angilo brothers, important representatives of the Patriarca family), a vacant place was formed in the underworld of Boston, which Bulger did not fail to take. But he did it so quietly that it was only in the nineties that the FBI realized what kind of monster they had created with their own hands. Yes, he was personally involved in an extremely small number of cases (and almost always raked in the heat with someone else's hands, especially since he had Connolly at hand); however, it has not yet stood out.

Bulger never littered with money like many bandits; first he ran the business from the garage, then from the liquor store. Until his mother's death, he lived in her house, in his old neighborhood; after - at the common-law wife (while keeping the mistress). He led a healthy lifestyle, practically did not drink (one of his mistresses recalled that after several glasses of wine she had drunk, he scolded her like an alcoholic), did not eat fast food (the police watching him witnessed the scene when he threw out something bought by someone with a scandal) of McDonald's hamburger subordinates).

Like many American Irishmen, he was nostalgic for Ireland, not missing an opportunity to make money on it: he sold weapons to the IRA, albeit not very successfully.

Finally, when Bulger began to understand that things were bad, he began to create a "fake identity" - he created several accounts in the name of Thomas Dexter, acquired documents in this name and was ready to flee at any moment. The moment came thanks to Connolly - if not for him, then Bulger, like Flemmi, would have been arrested back in 1994.

A funny moment from Bulger's escape: when Connolly warned him on Christmas Day 1994 that an arrest was being prepared, Bulger left town with his girlfriend Theresa Stanley; three weeks later she got tired of such a life, and she decided to return to the children (the children were not common). She returned to Boston, and his second mistress, Catherine Grieg, went on the run with Bulger. When Bulger was arrested in 2010, he was with Catherine.

Unfortunately, the film does not mention how interesting Bulger's life was outside of criminal activity; only Lindsay Saint-Cyr (played by Dakota Johnson) and their common son with Bulger got a little time. Meanwhile, Katherine Grieg was also in the script; moreover, she was played by Sienna Miller, just not a single scene with Miller-Grieg was included in the final editing. Cooper said it was "a choice of looking at history"; the choice, apparently, assumed a hero completely devoid of human features. It's clear why - but it's a pity.

John Connolly

Left - Joel Edgerton as Agent John Connolly, right - John Connolly

The main question - why Connolly even made a deal with Bulger exactly in such a format as he could - is touched on tangentially in the film. But this is precisely what is important.

John Connolly grew up in the same South Boston as Bulger, on the same streets, only ten years later. And even then James Bulger was a bit of a local legend: the main bully of the quarter, while not giving offense to his own people. Bulger will exploit the image of "her boyfriend" and "local Robin Hood" to the last; but needless to say, John Connolly was his main success in this field. John later recalled how they met Bulger: a local bully gave the kids ice cream on the street, and then somehow interfered with the beating of Connolly during a school football game.

Connolly was also friends with Bulger's younger brother, Billy: he first lent him books, and then attracted him to work on his first election campaign.

In other words, Connolly was his own; and in South Boston, “friend” was more important than anything else.

The pity of being "our" everywhere is perhaps the best way to describe John Connolly: in the FBI he was the guy who was able to recruit Bulger, and for Bulger - the same guy who helped him become king of the hill.

In the FBI, Connelly was nicknamed "Cannoli" (Italian pastry) - because with his pointed boots, nice suits and an eternal chain around his neck, he looked more like an Italian mobster than an FBI agent.

There is a very dramatic scene in the film where Bulger threatens Connolly's wife, who is afraid of him. Unfortunately, this scene is a complete fiction; Not only did Connolly and his wife not live at the time described in the film, the relationship between the FBI agent and his informants was extremely warm (up to the exchange of small gifts), and meetings at Connolly's house did not take place after the FBI remarked to him that such "fraternization" with informants looks ugly. “Okay,” Connolly said, and they have met ever since at the homes of the other agents, John Morris, as well as at the Flemmi home.

He, too, was first of all his own, and only then - an FBI agent.

Stephen Flemmi

Left - Rory Cochrane as Stephen Flemmi, right - Stephen Flemmi

The film stubbornly ignores the fact that Steve "The Shooter" Flemmi, Bulger's right-hand man and ruthless hitman, was already working for the FBI prior to the events. FBI agent Rico, not mentioned in the film, recruited a veteran of the Korean War in the mid-60s; and for ten years, Flemmi regularly and happily informed Rico and his partner, Agent Condon, of the state of affairs at Cosa Nostra in Boston.

And when Bulger consulted with Flemmi whether he should become an FBI informant - Flemmi saw nothing wrong with it, if it only brings benefits.

Further - again, which is not reflected in the film - Flemmi continued to stubbornly supply the FBI with facts. And, the funny thing is, when in 1978, due to a bureaucratic procedure, Flemmi was excluded from the list of FBI informants, they forgot to inform him about it, and until the arrest, the lion's share of what surfaced in general reports on working with informants Bulger and Flemmi. belonged to Flemmi.

It's just that Connolly - a holy soul - all the time exposed the case as if Bulger was the first to give the information. By forging documents, errors in reports and other bureaucratic trifles. Because, of course, both informants are good, but Bulger was his own.

John Morris

Left - David Harbor, who played the head of the fight against organized crime John Morris, right - John Morris

The film does distort the image of Morris, but in his case - only in his case! - does it for the better. An innocent, not very smart, agent who fell under the influence of Connolly, intimidated by everyone - no, alas. Is that not very smart, once caught.

Those "social" dinners were not so much at Connolly's as at Morris's; and Bulger did not intimidate him - why was it necessary to intimidate a man who could guarantee his safety?

Here's a lunch scene in the movie for comparison: just feel sorry for Morris, right?

But what did he guarantee - in 1985 Morris said in plain text that he was ready to help conceal everything except the murder. All but the murder, think about it. He was not intimidated, just 10 years of cooperation with such good guys should be somehow celebrated.

The very title of the book and film, Black Mass, is a reference to that dinner, when Morris allowed Bulger and Flemmi to commit crimes. “Everything that the bearer of this did was done by my order and for the good of the state,” so to speak. Gathering of people with criminal purposes, taking place in the house of Morris and at the initiative of Morris.

At the same time, the film did not show the very, it seems, vile detail from the biography of Morris: how exactly Morris began to take bribes from Bulger. At the beginning of their interaction at common dinners, Morris drank too much (so much so that Bulger and Flemmi among themselves called him "wino" - drunk), and therefore Bulger took it as a habit to send him wine as a gift - sometimes by boxes, sometimes by passing it through Connolly directly to underground parking in the FBI building. But this could still be regarded as a gesture of goodwill; but in 1982, Morris was undergoing advanced training in another state and got bored without his secretary mistress. He contacted Bulger (!) And asked to arrange her arrival - and this was done by giving the secretary $ 1,000 in local bills in an envelope.

To lose a reputation for a thousand dollars and the arrival of a mistress is, you know, petty.

Although no, in 1988 Morris did even worse: tormented by, according to him, remorse, he went to the press (the very Boston reporters Leroux and O "Neil, who wrote the book) to tell that Bulger works for the FBI. if he was tormented by remorse - then, probably, he would go to the leadership with a guilty head?

Kevin Weeks

Left - Jesse Plemons as Kevin Weeks, right - Kevin Weeks

Unlike John Morris, Weeks' claims to the film are much more interesting: he says in an interview that the murders are not shown correctly. Why, everything in the film is shown incorrectly: they dressed not so poorly, washed and generally did not look like idiots (according to Weeks, he is shown in the movie "as if he has Down syndrome").

A number of other complaints Wickles expressed to the fact that the heroes all the time yell at each other: Bulger did not shout at his own people, according to Weeks. “He would never yell at Steve or humiliate him. Steve was a psychopath, he would have killed him on the spot. "

The scene of the murder of Debbie Hussey, Steve Flemmi's mistress, received the harshest criticism from Weeks:

“We were at the house with Jimmy, and he said - Steve and Debbie are coming to see the house now. I went to the toilet upstairs, I go down - I hear a rumble I go in and see that Jimmy strangled her. I thought she was dead, but Stevie put his ear to her chest and she was still breathing, and then he twisted a clothesline around her neck and strangled her. And then Steve dragged her body into the basement and pulled out her teeth. So Stevie was not as empathic, suffering and sad as he was in the movie. Stevie enjoyed murders ".

Billy Bulger

Left - Benedict Cumberbatch as Billy Bulger, right - Billy Bulger

James's younger brother, Billy, chose a career not criminal, but political; however, there was little choice in South Boston at the time.

Army. City Hall. Factories. Crime. Well, or as Leer and O "Neal write in their book, quoting a cop who grew up at the same time as the Bulger brothers -" gas, electricity, city, cop or bandit. "James tried the army and crime; Billy - the army and politics. ”And he successfully chose - by the time our history began, he was already President of the Massachusetts Senate.

Benedict Cumberbatch is probably the most explicit type of miscast in history; the lively Irishman does not come out of him in any way. Billy did not hesitate to get into a fight to sort things out; Billy did not hesitate to yell and swear when it seemed necessary, from calling the police "Gestapo" in the face of the Boston Police Commissioner to sending him in plain text. From one of the judges in Boston, Billy received the epithet "corrupt dwarf": Billy, like James, was short.

At the same time, Billy did not at all try to maintain an impeccable image at any cost; on the contrary, for the most part it was James who deliberately did not interfere with his affairs. Out of respect, love, or with distant plans - it is unknown; however, even at his mother's funeral, James sat separately so that the photographers would not photograph him and his brother together.

A rare photograph of the Bulger brothers together (mid-60s): left - Billy, center - James, right - unknown

When James was on the run for over 15 years, Billy kept in touch with him. In 2003, during a congressional hearing, when asked directly whether he knew what his brother was doing, Billy replied that "gambling and the like," and then added that he loved his brother and hoped that most of the rumors about him would turn out to be lies.

The Bulger brothers were an amazing, but typical Boston case: when everyone knows who is who, but no one really cares about it. Moreover, even not very respectful of the law Billy (for example, there was a case with the laundering of half a million dollars in bribes) remained a politician who was re-elected in his district every two years from 1960 to 1994. Both him and James - again in an amazing way - were loved. They were their own.

All six heroes of this story are still alive.

Kevin Weeks is interviewing for the release of the film. He served less than five years due to a deal with the investigation. John Morris is not interviewed.

After retirement, Billy Bulger took up science: he lectures on political science at Boston College (Catholic University).

Stephen Flemmi disappeared after his release: they say he got into a witness protection program.

James Bulger and John Connolly are serving their sentence: Bulger - two life sentences, Connolly only 35 years left to serve.

“You sucked,” the defendant declares to the main prosecution witness. "You know what, go *****!" - he answers. "You go ***** too!" - echoes the defendant. "What are you going to do?" - the witness asks. The bailiffs are already ready to interfere with the skirmish between former friends, but the matter does not go beyond swearing. The defendant is former Irish Mafia boss in Boston, James "Whitey" Bulger, and his former protégé and successor Kevin Weeks testifies. Passions boiled over because of the dispute about which of them is the big "rat" - that is, in terms of Russian realities, "snitch".

James Joseph Bulger was born in 1929 to a Boston laborer family, the oldest of six children. At some point, the family was left without a livelihood: the father lost his hand in production. The situation was saved by the first-of-its-kind social housing project, which the Bulgers were able to take advantage of, but this did not save it from the influence of James Street. He fought, stole, and was first prosecuted for theft at thirteen. Because of his blond hair, the local police nicknamed him "Whitey", which is what the press calls him now, but Bulger himself, according to friends, hates this nickname.

Bulger never graduated from high school, but, having joined an Irish youth gang called the Shamrocks, during the Second World War, he managed to earn himself a rather high-profile reputation in the underworld. He eventually ended up in a juvenile prison, from which he was released in 1948 and was immediately drafted into the Air Force. In the army, the future crime boss was predictably not distinguished by discipline, but three years later he was demobilized with honor and returned to his hometown, where a great criminal future awaited him.

But to begin with, Bulger had to serve a very impressive term - from 1956 to 1963 - for car theft and armed robbery. During this time, he tried to arrange an escape, sat in the famous federal high security prison "Alcatraz" in California, made useful contacts with "colleagues", and also was a test subject for the FBI's experiments with LSD and other drugs. Of course, none of this had a corrective effect.

In South Boston they don't report

The Irish mafia in the United States is not as world-famous as the Italian one, but it is a very solid community with a set of unwritten laws and rich traditions. The exchange of pleasantries in the courtroom between the defendant and the witness was devoted precisely to the violation of an important rule: "In South Boston, they do not report - neither friends nor enemies." It is believed that Bulger violated this commandment decades ago, which allowed him to engage in the bandit trade for so long and fruitfully.

Presumably, the FBI has been trying to recruit Bulger since the early 1970s, and it took several years. By that time, he managed to become one of the important, albeit not of the highest order, figures in the Winter Hill syndicate, which ran in South Boston. This was preceded by a war between two Irish groups - the Killeen gang and the Mullen gang. Bulger began working with the Killins shortly after his release, but as the conflict progressed, they turned out to be weaker. In the end, the leaders of the gang were shot, and the rest had to flee the city.

According to some reports, the leader of the Killeen was killed by Bulger himself, who wanted to end the bloodshed in this way and received the appropriate sanction from the boss of the Winter Hill syndicate. Be that as it may, Bulger played a key role in organizing the peace negotiations, as a result of which the Mullen and Killin gangs united, which increased his criminal status. In the late 1970s, Winter Hill executives were jailed for horse racing fraud. Bulger remained at large and became the new boss of the syndicate.

This career rise, apparently, was directly facilitated by the FBI, which persuaded prosecutors to drop charges against Bulger, as well as Stephen Flemmi, nicknamed Shooter, who became his right-hand man. Flemmi, unlike the bulk of the Winter Hill bandits, was not Irish in origin, but Italian, which was of particular interest to the federals. The main goal of the recruitment was to neutralize the Patriarca family, which represented the interests of the New York mafia clans in New England and fought for influence with the Irish.

Such an alignment of forces, presumably, made it easier for Bulger to resolve a moral dilemma: by becoming an informant, he not only escaped persecution, but also defended his group from competitors. In addition, the syndicate developed a close relationship with FBI Special Agent John Connolly, an Irish man who also grew up in southern Boston and became Bulger's most important accomplice and informant. This story is partially reflected in Martin Scorsese's film The Departed: Bulger was the prototype of the Irish Mafia boss Frank Costello, played by Jack Nicholson.

"Unholy Union"

The FBI and Winter Hill Syndicate have developed a fruitful partnership - an “unholy alliance,” as investigative writers Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neal called it. Bulger and Flemmi reported to Connolly, who paid the gangsters in return. At the same time, the bandits had other valuable informants in law enforcement, for example, Massachusetts Police Lieutenant Richard Schneideran.

With the backing of corrupt security officials and a code of silence on the streets of South Boston, the Irish syndicate has consolidated its positions in racketeering, gambling, car thefts, usury, as well as the arms trade and, albeit reluctantly, drugs. However, Bulger's interests were very diverse: for example, according to some sources, in 1990 he participated in a daring and large-scale theft of paintings, including paintings by Rembrandt.

In addition to corrupt police officers and federals, Bulger, like any respectable gangster, had his own "pool" of loyal politicians, and not of the last magnitude. Suffice it to say that his younger brother, William (Billy) Bulger, has been re-elected to the state legislature from the Democratic Party over and over again since the early 1960s, first to the House of Representatives and then to the Senate. In the Massachusetts Senate, he presided over eighteen years, until 1996 - a record for the history of the state. By the time of his resignation, his older brother was already on the run, but the younger Bulger for many years headed the board of the University of Massachusetts. The former senator listened to many unpleasant questions about his connections with his brother, he even used the fifth constitutional amendment, which allows him not to testify against himself, but he was never caught in anything serious.

1 /10

It was rumored that in 1995 it was Billy Bulger who helped his brother escape from persecution. However, it seems that the same special agent Connolly played a key role in this. Back in late 1994, he warned the Irish boss that the Justice Department had prepared charges against him and that arrests might begin soon. Accustomed to impunity, the ringleader of the Winter Hill syndicate did not fully believe in it, but just in case he left Boston. He was about to return when the feds arrested Flemmi. Bulger received word of this from Weeks, his trusted junior associate, and went to the bottom.

Even at the trial, where he testified against a former patron, Kevin Weeks noted that Bulger was like an older brother to him. Kevin joined the gang in the late 1970s as an ordinary "fighter", but over time he entered the inner circle of the boss - along with Flemmi. When the latter went to jail and received a life sentence for the murders, and Bulger went on the run, Weeks remained on the farm and periodically contacted the former boss. His attitude towards the "big brother" changed when in 1997 he met with the already retired Federal Connolly and learned about the boss's cooperation with the FBI.

This discovery allegedly shocked Weeks so much that after his arrest in 1999, he agreed to testify. Thanks to the deal with the investigation, he served only five years for complicity in several murders, was released and now allegedly freely walks around South Boston and is not afraid of anyone: yes, he broke the code of silence, but surrendered the "rats", which does not count. “We killed people who were rats, but the two main rats were right next to me,” Weeks lamented in court. It was these moralizing arguments of the former ward that caused the abuse from Bulger, who until then remained completely impassive.

Sixteen years on the run

In total, 83-year-old Bulger is charged with nineteen murders, not counting other crimes. Wicks has already spoken about some of them in full detail, more testimonies to come. All in all, the leader of the Irish mafia personally sent forty people to the next world - in any case, according to Weeks, he himself asserted this. For his age, Bulger was perfectly preserved - contrary to the popular image of an eternally drunk Irish bandit, he did not drink, did not smoke, and did physical exercises every day - and, judging by the photo, he retained that piercing cruel look that plunged ordinary Boston residents into horror.

However, being one of the country's most wanted criminals, Bulger skillfully portrayed an ordinary American pensioner. He used the personal data of a real resident of Massachusetts Thomas Baxter and entered public organizations on his behalf, acquired bank cards and issued a driver's license for him, which he subsequently successfully renewed over and over again.

When the moment came to go on the run, Bulger's constant partner was frightened of difficulties and refused to follow him, but he was not taken aback and took with him his mistress Catherine Grieg, a dentist by profession who was more than twenty years his junior. She faithfully followed her boss and also regularly played the role of a respectable American woman: in Louisiana, where they hid for a long time, Grieg, for example, constantly went to get a haircut to the daughter of the local police chief and left her a generous tip.

Grieg pleaded guilty to conspiracy to harbor an escaped criminal and identity fraud in March 2012 and was sentenced to eight years in prison a few months later. Bulger, on the other hand, faces life in prison for nineteen murders, this is the maximum punishment: the death penalty has not been used in the state for 66 years, and in the 1980s it was completely declared unconstitutional there. However, the case will not come to a verdict soon, and in parallel with lawyers the Irish gangster saga is being studied by filmmakers.

Scorsese's 2006 script for The Departed draws heavily on the story of Bulger and his associates, but the film is a remake of the Hong Kong action movie Castling Double. Now in the work are as many as two original projects dedicated to the adventures of the boss "Winter Hill". First, a film called Black Mass, based on the book by Lehr and O'Neill, is planned to be directed by Barry Levinson: Johnny Depp was supposed to play the role of Bulger, but he refused to shoot because he did not agree on the fee. Secondly, another picture is going to be directed by Ben Affleck, and Matt Damon, who played a mafia agent in the police in "The Departed", should appear.

Exactly what episodes from Bulger's life will be filmed is still unknown. But his biography will be enough not for two, but for a significantly larger number of films. Indeed, with each new court session, more and more details emerge, and the process is still far from the end.

A film by Scott Cooper has been released - based on real events, the story of the most wanted criminal in US history, James "Whitey" Bulger and his Irish mafia group "Winter Hill".

The film follows Bulger's meteoric rise to the top of the Boston criminal underworld through secret partnerships with corrupt FBI agents John Connolly and John Morris. Despite the fact that Kevin Fix, who served as Whitey Bulger's personal bodyguard from 1978 to 1994, criticized the film for some distortion of real events, "Black Mass" in general accurately conveys to the viewer facts about the life of the Boston mafia of those times.

After watching the film, and having studied in detail the story of James Bulger, we tried to figure out which events from the "Black Mass" actually took place, and which were invented or distorted for the sake of cinematography.

The early life of James "Whitey" Bulger (Johnny Depp)

"Black Mass" begins after Bulger was released from prison, in which he spent nine years. As mentioned in the film, the real Whitey did manage to serve part of his sentence in the famous federal prison "Alcatraz", and before that he visited three other US correctional facilities. He was finally released from custody in 1965 and joined one of the two most influential Irish groups in Boston - the Killeen gang. The group competed with the Mullin gang for many years, and in 1972 was defeated by them, when almost all of the Killeen members were killed. According to rumors, the leader of the Killin gang was killed by Whitey Bulger himself, who was beneficial to stop the war between the groups. After that, both sides entered into a truce and joined forces, and Bulger became an influential crime boss in Boston.

In the middle of the film, Bulger allegedly wins a large sum of money in the lottery, but in fact it happened much later, in 1991. Then a man named Michael Lynskey bought a winning lottery ticket worth just over $ 14 million from a liquor store owned by the Bulger gang. Lynskey, his brother, Whitey Bulger himself and Kevin Weeks split the winnings in four. A little later, the court attorney proved Bulger's involvement in falsifying the winnings for the sake of money laundering.

Stephen Flemmi (Rory Cochrane)

Black Mass emphasizes the fact that Stephen Flemmi was the only one to whom Whitey Bulger spoke about his deal with the FBI. Bulger tells him in detail about the positive aspects of this agreement and his future plans. In fact, it was Flemmi who was the first to go to the "dark side": he became an FBI informant back in 1965, ten years before Bulger was brought in by the feds. Whitey's cover issue of the Boston Globe, which is shown in the film towards the end, did exist. In this article alone, in addition to exposing Bulger, journalists also mentioned Flemmi's role as an informant.

Kevin Weeks suggests that it was Stephen Flemmi who turned Whitey over to the feds, since he had already worked with them for a very long time. According to Weeks, he met with Agent Connolly and he showed him Bulger's informant dossier, 90 percent of the information from which came from Flemmi.

John Connolly (Joel Edgerton)

Black Mass focuses on the fact that John Connolly and James Bulger grew up in the same neighborhood and had an almost brotherly relationship. This is indeed the case. The film also mentions the true story of a fight between Connolly and the older boys, in which Whitey intervened, and for this Connolly was always grateful to him.

Already as a federal officer, John Connolly convinces Bulger to become an informant, and this makes him a real star in the ranks of the FBI. During his time at the bureau, Connolly falsified most of Bulger's testimony, adding to his dossier information that came from other informants (mainly from Stephen Flemmi). For a long time, this provided Whitey Bulger, who was already in full swing with his criminal activities on the streets of Boston, complete immunity. John Connolly retired in 1990 to avoid being involved in the Bulger and Flemmi case. In 1995, he was charged with corruption and extortion, and in 2002 the court delivered a final verdict. In 2008, Connolly was implicated in Bulger's murder of businessman John Callahan in 1982. The verdict was overturned in 2014 and enforced again in 2015.

Interestingly, John Connolly was not the first to try to recruit Whitey Bulger to work for the FBI. Bureau staff contacted Ballger in 1971, but then Special Agent Dennis Cordon could not win the gangster's trust and the deal fell through.

William "Billy" Bulger (Benedict Cumberbatch)

The film describes in some detail the real picture of the relationship between Whitey and his younger brother. The real Billy Bulger did not meddle in James's criminal cases and never asked unnecessary questions: we saw about the same thing in "Black Mass". The writers of the film decided to throw out of the narrative another younger brother of Whitey: John "Jackie" Bulger, who was four years younger than Billy. In 2003, retired clerk John Bulger was sentenced to six months in prison for obstructing police from looking for his brother.

John Morris (David Harbor)

In the film, John Morris, John Connolly's immediate superior, is portrayed as the so-called "good cop" and contrasts well with Joel Edgerton's corrupt hero. But if you carefully examine some aspects of the real story, Morris was much more involved in dirty business than Connolly himself. The film features a dinner scene with Bulger, Flemmi, Connolly, and Morris in attendance. We see that the latter feels uncomfortable, although in reality John Morris had dinner with Boston mobsters more than once and was very happy to befriend them. Morris loved the good wine that Whitey Bulger supplied him, accepted money and gifts from the Irish.

Lindsay Cyre (Dakota Johnson)

There is practically no time for female characters in the film. The only one that the plot focuses on in detail is Lindsay Cyre, a waitress and former model. She started a relationship with Whitey Bulger at 22 and was with him for 12 years. The couple had a son named Douglas Glenn Cyre. The boy actually passed away from an illness called Reye's syndrome in 1973 (much later in the film) after a severe allergic reaction to aspirin. After his death, Bulger and Cyre parted ways.

The writers of the film ignored two other women with whom James Bulger had a relationship at different times after his divorce from Lindsay Cyre. He met one of them, Teresa Stanley, a single mother of four children, back in 1966, and in 1976 bought her a house. A little later, Bulger started a relationship with a girl named Katherine Greig, who was 22 years his junior. Bulger was involved in the murder of her two half-brothers, but she either did not know about it or did not attach much importance to it. For many years Bulger dined and dined at Theresa Stanley's house, and then left for the night with Catherine Greig.

When Connolly warned Bulger of the impending arrest, Whitey went on the run, taking Teresa with him. However, two months later, the woman could not stand it and announced that she wanted to leave him. Bulger dumped her in the parking lot and drove to Catherine Greig, with whom he spent the next 16 years until his arrest in 2011. The creators of "Black Mass" filmed several scenes with Sienna Miller as Katherine Greig, but later felt that her story was not dramatic enough for the film and nothing of the footage was included in the final version of the tape.

The crime drama "Black Mass" will run in Minsk cinemas until November 11.

Anton Kolyago,ByCard

Current page: 10 (total of the book has 16 pages) [available passage for reading: 11 pages]

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John Connolly was busy with the Angelo case. The new boss confused all the cards for him. Jim Ring turned out to be a tough, domineering and much less accommodating boss. However, the charming Connolly still made contact with him. They even became friends and began to visit each other.

One evening, Stephen Flemmi and Jim Bulger came to see Connolly. They routinely brought several bottles of wine as a gift. Evenings like this happened quite often, there was nothing special about it. The doorbell rang. It turned out to be William Bulger, Connolly's neighbor. He was surprised to find his brother in the living room, but soon the evening continued as usual. They reminisced about their childhood, Jim talked about the horrors of Alcatraz and the medical research in which he took part.

“… For this, my term was reduced by three years. I still have nightmares. It wasn't worth it, ”Bulger finished. There was a knock on the door. John Connolly looked anxiously at his guests, but nevertheless went to open. It was Jim Ring. The interim head of the organized crime department unceremoniously walked into the living room and saw the brothers Bulger and Flemmi. There was silence for a few minutes, but Connolly tried to rectify the situation. For about twenty minutes they kept the semblance of peaceful small talk, after which William and Ring got ready to go home.

The next day, a wild scandal erupted. Ring promised to fire Connolly immediately. This was a violation of all the rules. Ring was of the opinion, as was most of the Bureau's staff, that the informers were second-class people. Inviting them into your home is like volunteering to breed rats and insects in your bedroom.

- They are criminals, they should know their place, and not eat from the hands of a Bureau employee! - Ring finished his tirade.

Connolly still managed to convince the boss that these were not just informants, but the most important people for the Bureau. Various letters of thanks that John collected were used. Ultimately, Ring limited himself to taking Connolly's word not to meet Bulger and Flemmi again in such an informal setting. The meetings now had to be moved to the house of Nick Gianturco. Bulger once saved his life, and Gianturco turned out to be from a rare breed of people who know how to be grateful. Over the years of communication, the FBI and the mafia have turned, if not into best friends, then into good friends for sure.

Business

Whoever works all day has no time to earn money.

John Rockefeller

Angelo's arrest made it difficult for Connolly's top informants. However, the Bureau still managed to convince that informants are able to help with exposing the "family" of Patriarch.

From now on, the main task of law enforcement agencies was declared to be the fight against drugs that flooded Boston, as well as other cities in the United States. According to Kevin Weeks, Bulger hated all kinds of illegal drugs, but in the end he was told about the same thing as Vito Carleone in the immortal novel by Mario Puzo: “We hate drugs, but we can no longer ignore this business. We are losing money. "

Nevertheless, Bulger managed to establish clear rules of the game. He suppressed all attempts at the appearance of "hard" drugs on "his" territory. Forbidden to sell near places where children have been. And also, he never directly sold them.

Jimmy, Stevie and I have never been in the business of selling drugs. We were doing business blackmail. We did not sell them, we took money from those who did it. We, of course, did not deal with street vendors. We knew several large suppliers. In other words, large importers gave the goods to distributors, who sold them to middlemen, who then sold them to street vendors. To get to Jimmy, Stevie, and me, someone would have to go through these four layers of insulation.(Kevin Weeks)

Jim never understood how people voluntarily buy themselves madness. More than anything, he was afraid of losing control of himself, of ceasing to be the master of his thoughts. After Pfeifer's experiment, he found himself on the brink of an abyss. Then he realized that one more step and he could never be the same. He had very little left. Day after day, he forced himself to move on and found himself anew. These strange people voluntarily bought themselves drugs, voluntarily and for money lost their human appearance. How is this possible? It was beyond his comprehension. Nevertheless, this is money, this is a business and, one way or another, demand will still find supply. So Bulger decided to leave people with a choice. He banned the sale of "dirty" drugs. Those, after the reception of which, the person instantly turned into a zombie.

However, drug addicts themselves were afraid to buy such, and they were expensive. A couple of serious conversations with suppliers solved the problem. It turned out to be more difficult with sellers selling goods to children. Kevin Weeks recounted how they once spoke to a large salesperson and he told about a teacher selling merchandise. Bulger and Weeks immediately went to this character and talked to him.

“… If you leave the city within 24 hours, you have a chance to survive,” Bulger finished his speech.

According to Bulger's logic, if an adult and reasonable person decides to purchase a prohibited drug for himself, this is his own business. Children are unable to make informed decisions, and they do not need to see salespeople. Adults, on the other hand, should have a chance to make a mistake and a chance to correct it. Some drugs did not cause immediate addiction, and therefore, the person had the opportunity to quit taking them. However, Bulger saw that drugs still change people. In most cases, a person very soon lost orientation in time and space, began to steal and betray. Nothing but the longed-for "medicine" mattered to him anymore. This was the case with his faithful assistant Nick Femia, who became addicted to drugs and soon became completely insane.

At one time, Bulger and Angelo divided Boston north and south. The Italians ran in the North End, and Winter Hill in Southie. Soon the fame of the Lancaster Street garage spread throughout the countryside. In addition to criminal bosses, ordinary people began to come here who had problems. Someone quarreled with one of Bulger's bandits, someone urgently needed money, someone's car broke down. James Bulger became the godfather, as Mario Puzo portrayed them in his day. He never refused to help ordinary people in difficult situations. Once he was asked to deal with the guys who made a brothel out of their apartment. They were selling drugs there, making fights. Bulger went to talk to them, but a week later the guys resumed their business. Then Bulger and Kevin Weeks came here at night and boarded up the window with a sign on which they wrote: "No drugs, get out of here ..." Finally, they set fire to the door of the brothel. Soon the guys left the apartment, and along with the city.

Kevin Weeks often later recalled how they dealt with offenders, bad neighbors, petty blackmailers, etc. However, once Jim still refused to help. His neighbor came to him and said that several guys began to annoy her. The cause of the conflict, Kevin did not grasp, as Bulger suddenly interrupted the woman.

- Wait, you have two sons, as far as I remember. Why don't you send them to figure it out?

- But how ... They can get hurt. They can be beaten, - the woman was confused.

- Can't my guys get hurt? Bulger asked softly. “You have sons, they have to protect you,” he finished the audience very categorically.

In the spring of 1983, Kevin Weeks and Jim Bulger stopped to pick up their friend Ronnie Costello on the way to the Projects. As the three of them approached D-street, Bulger suddenly ordered Kevin to slow down.

“Something is wrong,” he explained, pointing to some movement at the end of the street. Kevin pulled out his binoculars and saw the crowd outside the warehouse of Joe Murray, a drug dealer who had been working with Bulger for half a year. He was engaged in large supplies in Boston, the poet Kevin knew him personally. At first, Murray sold the goods to small traders without permission, but soon Kevin and Stephen discovered him. Murray, not without resistance, nevertheless agreed to pay a monthly fee. The other day, a large consignment of goods was to be brought to his warehouse. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau staff and the police were now in this warehouse.

“Let's get out of here,” Bulger commanded.

They did not have time to leave, and the police detective saw them. He approached and began to interrogate. Bulger answered him rather sharply. That skirmish ended with the detective's report of the Winter Hill bandits they met near Murray's warehouse.

A couple of months later, Connolly announced that the DEA and the FBI intend to seriously tackle Bulger. In their opinion, it was James who was the main reason that drugs were sold in Boston. The Bureau was in full swing discussing the impending Operation Beans. Connolly asked Bulger to be on the alert and temporarily suspend the business.

It turned out to be very difficult to organize. A huge number of small traders paid Winter Hill for "protection." The monthly contribution ranged from $ 1,500 to $ 3,000. Big sellers like John Shea paid $ 5,000 a week.

However, Stephen Flemmi suffered more from this heightened DEA scrutiny. Bulger has always distributed income and has never been known for being overly greedy.

Lover of women Stephen Flemmi has always wanted to make the most of his money. Charming, outwardly reminiscent of Robert De Niro, he could fall into a wild rage when he realized that everything was not going as he planned. Intelligence and prudence helped him to conduct business, and greed and a feeling of complete permissiveness confused all the cards. He never forgave debts, killed easily and brutally took revenge on his enemies.

Kevin Weeks later recalled that Jim Bulger never fully trusted neither him nor Stephen. He knew that Flemmi was not betraying him for the simple reason that with Bulger Stephen could earn more. He knew what to expect from him, that was enough.

Soon after the wedding of Stephen Flemmi's daughter and his first and only official wife, Jeanette, Connolly asked them to meet. Bulger brought John two boxes of wine. One for Connolly, one for Morris. After nothing meaningful conversation, Connolly got down to the essentials. John announced that the bookmaker Richard Castucci contacted the Bureau. The man wanted to testify against Bulger. He was more than determined and posed a serious threat. Jim Bulger thanked Connolly and decided to take action.

The next day, John Martorano, Stephen Flemmi, Kevin Weeks and Jim Bulger made huge bets at Richard Castucci's office. As expected, they lost. Richard volunteered to personally come to them for money.

Kastucci arrived at the indicated address. They laughed for a long time at the stupidity of the Winter Hill leaders. Kastucci could not put his mind to how the guys at once could lose such a huge amount.

Jim entered the kitchen and gloomily laid a plastic bag of money on the table.

“Steve and I will count,” he said.

Together with Castucci, they took up the most exciting occupation in the world - counting money. Castucci did not notice how John Martorano went out somewhere, and then returned again. Martorano silently raised the pistol to the back of the bookie's head and fired. Whitey quite calmly collected the money from the table back into the bag, after which they processed the body and loaded it into the trunk.

The very next day, everyone forgot about the unfortunate bookmaker. Winter Hill's business flourished. Together with Patrick Nee, they stole and then resold trucks with goods. One such transaction could have generated hundreds of thousands of dollars. Bookmakers paid an average of 3-5 thousand dollars a month. Dealers also paid tribute. Usury brought in a notable income of 246 percent a year. Banks gave loans at completely different interest rates, but in official organizations they would never give money to an unemployed person, a drug addict, a dealer in drugs or weapons, etc. Recently, Bulger and Patrick Nee began to sell weapons for the IRA. Anything illegal and profitable made Winter Hill money.

Racket was one of the main sources of income. South Boston has been divided into sections. Stephen Flemmi took for himself a huge territory, with which, with all the desire, he simply could not cope. Kevin Weeks had a modest income from a few people. Whitey's income was anyone's guess. Different schemes were used. Sometimes people asked to kill a competitor. In this case, they often went to the unfortunate person for whom the order was received, and demanded from 50 to 300 thousand dollars. Half of the amount had to be paid immediately, and then the person paid monthly. Sometimes, without any order, they would come and say that the person was “ordered”, but everything can be replayed.

Once Long, O'Malley and Fraerlik stopped their inglorious attempts to find an excuse to arrest Bulger, the Drug Enforcement Administration came into play. In 1983, they arrested Murray's warehouse and several small merchants. Now the DEA and the police have decided to completely cleanse the city of drugs. They began to actively prepare a new operation. Rumors began circulating in the Bureau that Bulger had his own informant in law enforcement.

Wine store

Nobody gives anything voluntarily, you have to take everything yourself.

From the movie "The Departed"

In the early 1980s, Kevin Weeks was approached by his sister's former classmate Stephen Rakes. He asked for a meeting. It was clear from his frightened voice that the matter was important. Kevin arrived at the appointed place and listened to the man. It turned out that Stephen and Julia Rakes had dreamed of starting their own business for many years. They decided to stop at a liquor store, since Stephen knew about this business. They recently finally bought a license for $ 5,000 and even converted a former gas station into a store. Just before the opening, threats began to come to them. The voice on the phone promised to blow up their store, and soon the real problems began. Someone set fire to the door, stole equipment, and so on. The man believed that the owner of Boston Whitey Bulger, who needs to be paid, as he heard, was to blame. Weeks promised to help Stephen and said goodbye. He immediately reported Stephen's complaint to Bulger, who had never even heard of the Rakes family.

Kevin and Jim went to see Stephen's former boss, the owner of a small liquor store in the square. Hearing the name Raiks, he could not even speak out of anger. It turned out that the former employee stole and lied like a gray gelding, for which he was fired. After that, the store started to get into trouble every now and then. At the end of the conversation, the man said that he had nothing to do with threats, but he would be glad if someone still dared to blow up Rakes's store.

After passing a couple more places, Jim still found a man who threatened the couple. It turned out to be the owner of a small store, from whom the Rakes stole all the customers. Kevin and Jim asked the family not to touch any more, and then went to the couple's house and said that all the issues were settled.

James Bulger, meanwhile, was faced with the problem of a new office. The Lancaster Street garage has been defamed. For a long time, all the conversations were carried out in the car or in the Triple O club. The small, evil place, which always smelled of something nauseous, could not be the main location of Winter Hill for long. Shortly before the arrival of the Rakes, Bulger opened his own small bar, where he held all business negotiations at that time.

Stephen Rakes came to this bar a couple of days later. He asked Jim, and when he left the back room, he asked if he would like to buy a store from him.

- Well this is the dream of your life, - Bulger was surprised.

Stephen clarified that it was a lifelong dream of his wife Julia, who would not dare to argue with her husband. The only question is the price. Jim didn't mind legalizing some of his income and buying a shop in addition to the bar. Stephen just forgot to tell his wife that he was going to sell the store.

The next day, Kevin Weeks went to the Rakes store and asked how much they wanted for it. Julie categorically stated that the store was not for sale and asked Weeks to leave the premises. Kevin was confused. I had to look for Stephen. The man confirmed that the store is still for sale. The issue price is $ 100,000.

In the evening, Kevin Weeks and Whitey Bulger knocked on the door of the Rakes house. Julie opened it to the intruders. Bulger and Kevin sat down unceremoniously in their chairs. James took Stephen and Julie's one-year-old daughter in his arms. Stephen started talking about the fact that Julia doesn't really want to sell the store, so it would be good to raise the price.

“He was just filling up the price. In order to somehow come to an agreement with him, I laid out the pistol. The court accused me of the fact of extortion, although in fact it was Raiks who was engaged in extortion. "(Kevin Weeks)

Kevin defiantly pulled out his pistol and put it on the table. The one-year-old girl, sitting in Jim's arms, reached for the weapon. Jim managed to push the pistol to the other end of the table and ordered Kevin to put the weapon away. Then he gave the girl to her mother and asked them to wait in the kitchen.

Ultimately, Kevin and Jim agreed that the store would go into their possession for 150 thousand, 100 for the premises and 50 for the goods that are displayed there. Jim went to the car and brought a plastic bag with the required amount.

Poor Julia did not know about her husband's intention to sell the store. She felt that Jim Bulger had arrogantly taken away their brainchild, even if he paid a decent amount. The woman turned to her uncle, Detective Joseph Lindbom, for help. He, having learned about the complete lawlessness happening in his hometown, promised to personally investigate the situation. He immediately went to Judge O'Sullivan. He listened to the man and said that he would transfer the case to the FBI, since it was a criminal organization.

A couple of days later, Bulger and Weeks paid a second visit to the Rakes and forced them to sign papers for the store, and also made a promise not to meddle in this business anymore. Frightened to unconsciousness, Stephen and Julie decided that it would be better to leave somewhere for a while.

Kevin has repeatedly regretted contacting Stephen. After the couple left, creditors began to call him in the store. It turned out that no one paid for the rent or the goods displayed in the store. Paying the debts inherited by the Rakes went to Weeks and Bulger almost at the cost of the store again. However, the problems did not end there anyway.

The memories of Paul Corsetti's accusatory articles were still fresh in the minds of the people of Southie. The sudden disappearance of the Raiks led to a lot of rumors. They said they were tortured, burned, dismembered ... In the end, Bulger broke down and called Stephen.

“Come to Boston at once,” he ordered.

- What else do you need from me, I signed everything? - Stephen was frightened.

Bulger reassured the man, saying that he was only needed for one day. The air ticket will be paid. Rakes had no choice. He got on a plane and flew to Boston. The man had already mentally said goodbye to life when he saw that he was met by James Bulger. Whitey hugged Stephen in a familiar manner and was somehow too glad to meet them. They drove to the entrance to the central park and began to have a casual conversation. Bulger smiled at everyone and hugged Steve in an incredibly friendly hug.

“Rumors have spread around town that you are no longer alive, so for today you are my best friend,” Bulger said quietly. - A couple more days, and people would start saying that I ate you.

After the "catwalk" in the central park, Jim, Kevin and Stephen went to the liquor store. They stood for a couple of hours at the entrance to the Souphie Liker Market, happily waving to all the visitors, after which Stephen safely boarded the plane and returned to his family.

Journalists continue to sacrifice Stephen, although the only victim of that story was his wife. Poor Julia was not even aware of her husband's plans. He lied to her just as he lied to us.(Kevin Weeks)

The Stippo Liker Market wine store soon became Southie Liker Market. Oddly enough, the store was doing very well. Here all the members of Winter Hill, the people who collaborated with the gang, the people of Patrick Nee, some police officers and employees of the Bureau considered it their duty to buy alcohol. They even bought alcohol for various official events. Good service was played not only by Bulger's reputation, but also by Connolly's advertising talent, who overnight made the shop famous.

Jim Bulger, Kevin Weeks and Stephen Flemmi used to spend time here before heading to Triple O. Jim Bulger usually showed up here around three or four in the evening, spent a couple of hours here and went on business. Sometimes meetings with business partners took place in the store's back room. A room was soon equipped here, especially for this. Excellent soundproofing completely silenced all protests from Bulger's guests.

One day Jim and Kevin sat at a table in the trading floor and discussed one of the recently read books. Bulger was famous for his love of reading. He bought all the books on the history of World War II and the Korean War, memoirs and biographies of famous gangsters, and books on psychology. Especially interesting things he made sure to buy Kevin. Since after reading it was supposed to lead many hours of discussions on the topic of the book, it was difficult for Kevin to evade reading. On that day, they discussed a book about the life of the famous criminal Johnny DeMeo, which Jim especially liked.

Suddenly a car stopped on the opposite side of the street. Bulger and Kevin looked up and watched from the glass doors of the store.

The man got out of the car and went to the door of the store. Then he stood in the middle of the road and thought. I took a step back. Then he completely got to the car and stood in front of the entrance to the Southie Liker Market. Gathering his courage, the man again went to the entrance. As he made this maneuver for the third time, his gaze came across Bulger watching him. Whitey smiled and waved his hand.

The man turned white with horror. He suddenly turned sharply, got into the car and tried to hide from Bulger's all-seeing eye as quickly as possible. At that moment, the next program of the journalist Howie Carr began on the radio.

“… We all know that the main problem in Boston is James Bulger and his gang of thugs. I conducted a journalistic investigation ...

Bulger and Weeks burst out laughing.

- And he writes all these articles? The great Howie Carr, who didn't even dare to enter the store? - Laughing, asked Bulger.

A notorious journalist by the name of Howie Carr at that time began to publish with enviable frequency articles that were directed against William Bulger, Jim's brother. Naturally, as always, his younger brother became the weak point in the reputation of the President of the Senate. The articles were so funny and absurd that at first no one from Winter Hill paid attention to them. Howie was famous for the fact that he endlessly sued the heroes of his articles and radio programs. For example, in 2002, the Boston Gerald newspaper began to publish articles about Judge Murphy and his overly lenient sentences for rapists. In one of the articles, Howie wrote: “... She cannot be a victim. She is fourteen. She was raped. Tell her to get over it somehow. " In another article dedicated to Murphy himself, Howie wondered what would happen if the judge's daughter had been raped.

“Howie Carr was a breed of people that has become very common lately. He could not tell the person in the eyes and a hundredth of what he had just squealed into the microphone. In his office, he completely forgot about the fact that sometimes you have to answer for your words. "(Kevin Weeks)

In the 1980s, Howie Carr did even more scandalous reporting. In the end, Bulger, Flemmi, and Weeks turned their attention to him. At first, they just jokingly discussed plans to assassinate him. After another article, Jim has already seriously asked Kevin to deal with him.

Weeks tracked down Carr's address, picked up his rifle, and found a good spot to watch. Everything happened in the morning. It didn't take long. Less than an hour later, the door of the house opened, and the familiar silhouette of Carr appeared in the doorway. Weeks braced himself, but suddenly saw that Carr was next to his little daughter. Kevin realized he just couldn't do it. In the evening Weeks told Bulger about the incident and promised to finish what he started tomorrow.

"Leave him alone," Bulger waved his hand.

Later in his memoirs, Kevin told the story, adding that given the libel Carr began to write, it would be better if he killed him that day.

At first, there were frequent incidents in the store. Kevin Weeks once noticed that college students behave indecently towards high school girls who want to start their adult life by buying a couple of bottles of beer. Kevin and his friends got into a fight, and the next day the guys sued him. Kevin got hit simply because he managed to introduce himself to them for some reason. In court, the students honestly said that for $ 5,000 they agreed to forget about everything.

“I’m suing you guys too,” Kevin chuckled.

He had no intention of paying these young racketeers. The prospect of litigation was not tempting to college law students, and they dropped the charges the next day.

One day in the summer of 1986, Jim Bulger was discussing with Steve and Kevin one of the recently read books on the history of World War II. A car pulled up next to the shop with a loud squeal. Jim watched with interest as the boys, barely over sixteen, tried to park. Three guys got out of the car. One remained standing by the car, while the other two went towards the store. They went through the door and began to look around nervously. Jim nudged Kevin, who was sitting next to him. Young people suddenly ran out abruptly without buying anything. The guy who remained on the street, for some reason removed the license plate from the car.

“For the first time,” Jim sighed mockly.

- I just want to go out and cheer them up, - Stephen Flemmi grunted.

The guys decided to rob Bulger's store no less. They had only one pistol and two knives in their arsenal. Steve ran to the door, Jim went up to the second floor, and Kevin stayed behind the checkout counter. They all laid out their pistols in front of them and waited.

The guys entered, but did not have time to say at least something.

- Are you sure? Bulger asked, looking at them from the second floor of the store. The one with the pistol stared at the weapon in fascination. Then he slowly looked away and saw Kevin. A moment later, he saw Stephen Flemmi lurking behind him.

- Well, we, perhaps, will go, - the "leader" of the gang said uncertainly.

They ran out at the speed of a jet.

- Well, how would I later explain that with the weapons registered to me, these guys were shot from three different points: from the attic, right and left.

"Apparently, the examination would have confirmed that you are very smart," Bulger shrugged.

Over the years of the store's existence, there have been many more similar stories. However, it was a very convenient office for doing business.