Battle of the Bulger: The Mutter of All Trials

June 25, 2013

The trial of reputed mobster James “Whitey” Bulger proceeds apace this week with the prosecution opening up FBI informant files detailing what came out of Bulger’s  rat trap as he sold out friends and enemies alike. But today’s local dailies have – wait for it –  different versions of Bulger’s reaction to the revelations.

Start with the Boston Globe’s report:

Jurors see FBI files describing Bulger as informant

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James “Whitey” Bulger fed the FBI information for 15 years about everyone from New York Mafia don John Gotti to some of his closest South Boston associates, sometimes blaming others for his own alleged crimes, according to detailed reports presented in court Monday.

FBI informant files shown to jurors at Bulger’s racketeering trial indicate that in 1980 he warned his handler that “an armored car score is going down in the very near future” and named six men involved, including his longtime friend Patrick Linskey of South Boston.

“They expect the score to be in excess of a million dollars,” top echelon informant 1544, code for Bulger, advised the FBI, according to the report. “[Bulger] advised that the weak link is Patty Linsky [sic] and although crafty, Linsky [sic] is a drinker and would be the logical one to tail.”

 

Then the Globe story adds this:

The files appear to contradict Bulger’s assertions that he was never an informant. The 83-year-old gangster seemed visibly annoyed as he sat between his lawyers in US District Court in Boston, reading portions of the reports as they were displayed on screens.

 

Actually, not just visibly according to the Boston Herald’s Howie Carr, who relates this (second-hand) story:

Top Echelon Informant? Low Echelon Informant is more like it. Whitey’s official number was BS-1544-TE. Fill in your own joke about the BS.

According to people sitting near the White Rat in the courtroom yesterday, he mumbled, “I am not a (expletive) informant.”

 

All righty, Whitey. You just keep muttering that.

 

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Baby I Won’t Drive Your Carr (Peter Gelzinis Edition)

June 20, 2013

All the while self-styled vigilante John Martorano has occupied center stage in the James “Whitey” Bulger trial this week, he’s been joined at the hit – sorry, hip – with Boston Herald scribbler Howie Carr, who split a six-figure advance with Martorano for the book Hitman.

But in his Herald column today, Peter Gelzinis writes Carr out of the picture.

New England MobBlood money only motivation for Johnny Martorano

“Other than the 20 people you killed, Mr. Martorano, is there anything else notable in your life?”

The 72-year-old henchman of Winter Hill decked out in a light blue suit seemed a bit bewildered by the question Hank Brennan, co-counsel for Whitey Bulger, tossed at him.

After momentarily wrestling with it, much like a bear might grapple with a camper’s jar of peanut butter, Johnny Martorano said, “I can’t change it.”

No, he can’t. But that hasn’t stopped him from trying to squeeze every nickel he can from the loathsome life he’s lived.

 

Gelzinis writes further, “[y]esterday, we learned that in addition to the $250,000 Johnny pocketed for the movie rights to his life story, he stands to make another 250 grand if such a film ever makes it into production. And that’s not counting the $70,000 or so he says he’s made from his book.”

What Gelzinis chooses not to mention is that Carr was Martorano’s partner in Murder, Ink.

Conveniently, the Boston Globe’s Kevin Cullen fills in the blanks in his column today:

Brennan nailed Johnny when he got him to talk about how he has made money since being released from custody.

“Are you remorseful, Mr. Martorano?” Brennan asked.

“Yes,” Johnny replied.

But, Mr. Martorano, you wrote a book with Howie Carr and made money off the blood of your victims, Hank Brennan suggested. You split the $110,000 advance for the book with Carr, Mr. Martorano.

 

So, wait – Martorano got $70,000 and Carr got $40,000? Sounds like someone got strong-armed.

 

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Baby I Can Drive My Carr (Hair Mail Edition)

June 19, 2013

Talk about mailing it in: Apparently Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr can cover the James “Whitey” Bulger trial without actually attending it.

First, today’s third-class piece:

Johnny’s bad, but not the real rat

The worst word you can ever use against Johnny Martorano is “rat,” so you can bet that Whitey Bulger’s lawyers will be throwing it up against him again this morning within 30 seconds or so of resuming their cross-examination.

They’ll be trying to make him lose his cool. Good luck with that.

Stipulated, I wrote a book with Martorano, and we split the profits. I get along pretty well with him. So does just everybody else I know who knows him, believe it or not.

 

Carr’s readers? Not so friendly. Representative (if ungrammatical) sample:

 

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And it gets even worse when it turns out Carr was a no-show yesterday:

 

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Unless the hardreading staff is misreading this, Howie’s reporting telepathically.

Meanwhile, crosstown at the Boston Globe Kevin Cullen has his daily bookend to Carr’s whatever.

Pretty sure Cullen was even in the courtroom.

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Baby I Can Drive My Carr

June 18, 2013

From our Walt Whitman desk

By now it’s clear to the hardreading staff – as it should be to everyone – that the trial of mobster James “Whitey” Bulger is about one thing and one thing only:

Howie Carr.

The Boston Herald columnist previously milked his presence on Bulger’s witness list for some bulk-mail pieces. Now it’s John Martorano’s turn to get a Carr ride.

From today’s piece:

061713evidence 007Martorano’s ‘career’ nothing to be proud of

Johnny Martorano seems a little more subdued these days. He’s 72 now, but it’s more than that.

I think it’s the fact that unlike during the earlier Zip Connolly trials, he’s been back in Boston for a while now. He sees his family, they can read the papers, and even though “hit man” is a fearsome job 
description, obviously it’s not anything to brag about.

And by the way, Johnny was absolutely correct on the witness stand yesterday. I did name the biography about him “Hitman” — actually, it was one of my neighbors in Florida. And yes, it is named “Hitman” because I thought that title would sell more.

 

And etc.

Crosstown at the Boston Globe, Kevin Cullen also addressed what label should be attached to Martorano:

[A]ccording to Johnny Martorano, he was no hitman. He murdered people. Many people. But he didn’t do it for money. He did it for friendship. He did it for honor. He did it for blah, blah, blah.

Seriously, I don’t know what’s more ridiculous: Whitey’s claim that he was never an informant, or Johnny Martorano’s insistence that he was never a hitman.

 

Hey, Kevin, don’t you know:  That’s “Hitman” with a capital Howie. Just ask ‘im.

 

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Hark! The Herald! (Whitey You Can Drive My Carr Edition)

June 1, 2013

From our Walt Whitman desk

As the hardreading staff noted earlier, the Boston Herald is all aglow over the imminent trial of James “Whitey” Bulger, especially the personal involvement of its star columnist Howie Carr (who “vowed to watch Whitey every step of the way through judgment day,” according to the feisty local tabloid).

And maybe testify on the mobster’s behalf. From today’s front page:

 

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And the navel-gazing piece:

 

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Yeah yeah – I’m Spartacus. Lede:

It’s not exactly the resume-enhancer I’d have picked for myself — “defense witness for Whitey Bulger.”20130601howie

But I can’t say I wasn’t expecting it either. And I’m not sure how serious Whitey’s lawyers are. Maybe they’re just trying to keep me and the Globe reporters out of the courtroom.

There’s an old saying in the law: If you have the facts, pound the facts. If you have the law, pound the law. If you have neither, pound the table.

Hey, J.W. Carney, lay off that table. Put your shoe back on.

 

Carr says he’ll probably “be relieved of my awesome responsibilities as a defense witness Monday, when the feds and Whitey’s lawyers make their final motions.”

That’s a relief, eh? He can then go back to “watching Whitey every step of the way” yak yak yak.

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Hark! The Herald! (Battle of the Bulger Edition)

May 31, 2013

From our Walt Whitman desk

The Boston Herald is still pounding away at Gov. Deval Patrick (D-Elsewhere) over the Massachusetts welfare rumpus, but the feisty local tabloid has its eye on bigger game next week when the trial of James “Whitey” Bulger begins in earnest.

Here’s the preview the Herald ran in today’s edition:

 

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And here are some of the details:

 

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It’s all fabulously overdone:

Look for Howie Carr, who vowed to watch Whitey every step of the way through judgment day, on the video reports.

No deadly detail is too small, so Herald reporters will be tweeting live . . .

[Reporter Laurel Sweet will] be close enough to look into Whitey’s eyes as loved ones of his 19 alleged murder victims take the stand. She’ll also be able to read jurors’ reactions to the gruesome evidence and chilling testimony.

 

Sweet.

Crosstown, there’s no word yet from the Boston Globe on who’ll be close enough to look into Whitey’s eyes, but today’s edition does feature this:

Globe’s Cullen, Murphy may testify in Bulger trial

Lawyers for James “Whitey” Bulger, who has bragged about strafing The Boston Globe offices with gunfire during the busing crisis of the 1970s, may call two of the newspaper’s journalists as defense witnesses at his upcoming trial.

His legal team filed a list of 78 potential witnesses Thursday, including Globe columnist Kevin Cullen and reporter ­Shelley Murphy.

Both have covered Bulger for decades and earlier this year published a book detailing his rise to power in Boston’s underworld and his capture in 2011 in Santa Monica, Calif., ­after 16 years on the run as one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives . . .

Other journalists on the ­potential witness list include former Globe reporters Gerard O’Neill and Dick Lehr, as well as Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr.

 

Damn – the Herald forgot to mention that part in its full-page promo, although it did have this online (tip o’the pixel to Mike Deehan at Massterlist).

Then again, there’s always tomorrow.

 

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