Overdue: FBI delayed getting at Whitey's deposit box

The FBI received detailed information at least six years ago that fugitive crime boss James J. ``Whitey'' Bulger had a safe deposit box at Barclays Bank in London, but did not take the steps necessary to open it up until last fall.

Soon after Bulger became a federal fugitive in January 1995, agents in the FBI's Boston office interviewed his longtime girlfriend, Teresa M. Stanley, who told them about the safe deposit box and its location, sources familiar with the Bulger investigation confirmed.

But the FBI did not pursue the information until approximately four years later, when agents approached Stanley again and tried to convince her to fly to London and open up the box, which was also in her name, the sources said.

Stanley tentatively agreed to make the trip, but the deal fell apart at the last minute when the FBI refused to guarantee Stanley would retain ownership of the box's contents, a source said.

Stanley, reached yesterday, declined to be interviewed by the Herald, saying only that she wants to put the past behind her.

FBI officials, who finally had Bulger's safe deposit box opened in October, said it contained $50,000 in a variety of currencies, which is now being held by police in England.

The box also contained a key, which investigators traced to another Bulger safe deposit box in Dublin. Bulger's Irish passport and other evidence were seized and turned over to the bureau.

The FBI also said bank records listed Bulger's brother, University of Massachusetts President William M. Bulger, as the contact person for the London safe deposit box.

Asked yesterday about the London box, FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz claimed the bureau did not learn of its existence until October and made no mention of the FBI receiving information from Stanley years earlier. She said the box was uncovered by ``the work of Scotland Yard.''

FBI agents ``always had suspicions there were boxes over there but the information wasn't complete,'' she said.

The disclosure that it apparently took at least six years for the Boston FBI to track down a credible and promising lead is likely to fuel suspicions that the bureau previously did not aggressively search for Bulger, who served as a ``top echelon'' FBI informant for more than 15 years.

It also suggests federal authorities may have missed an opportunity to question William Bulger about the safe deposit box when the UMass boss went before a federal grand jury in April 2001.

James Bulger listed William Bulger on bank records as the contact person for the London box, which was first opened in 1992.

``If this information is true, there are several issues of concern,'' said one former FBI supervior. ``First of all, a case can be made that they didn't want to find him and didn't do anything with it. Secondly, it indicates there may have been information withheld from other agencies.''

Since he was tipped to his impending indictment in late 1994 by former FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. and fled, Bulger has been re-indicted and charged with 20 murders, most of which occured while he was building his criminal empire with protection from the Boston office of the FBI.

With a $1 million bounty on his head, Bulger is currently second on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list behind terrorist Osama bin Laden.

The FBI's last credible sighting of Bulger, now 73, was on Sept. 10 in London. A British businessman reportedly recognized Bulger on a street in the city's Piccadilly section as a man he knew in 1994 from his gym. A few days later, he was watching a video of the movie Hannibal and saw Bulger's face appear in a Most Wanted poster, the FBI said yesterday.

The man gave the FBI a photo that Bulger had given him years ago of a gravestone belonging to Bulger's former Alcatraz cellmate Clarence ``The Choctaw Kid'' Carnes. Bulger said he paid to have Carnes' body exhumed from a pauper's grave and buried on an Indian reservation in Oklahoma, the man told the FBI.

``He likes to brag about himself. He probably did carry a photo,'' said William Chase, the acting Special Agent in Charge of the Boston FBI.

The businessman's story prompted renewed focus on Europe in the hunt for Bulger. The FBI made a presentation in November to Interpol and officials from 35 countries, according to Tom Larned, the FBI supervisor who heads the agency's fugitive task force in Boston.

Larned yesterday said the bureau has battled to win international law enforcement's interest in Bulger and praised Scotland Yard for uncovering the safe deposit boxes.

``We've had to go convince them how serious the crimes are that he's committed,'' Larned said.

Agents believe Bulger immediately fled London after the man tapped him on the shoulder in Piccadilly.

Other claims of Bulger sightings in Thailand and Sinapore since September have proved not credible, Larned said.

Detective Sergeant Keith Richardson of the Metropolitan Police Service's Extradition and International Assistance unit at New Scotland Yard said his agency has been working closely with the FBI on tracking Bulger's activities in England.

``We've had total cooperation with the FBI. They've been telling us everything we need to know to help'' catch the fugitive, Richardson said.

Meanwhile, the existence of the London safe deposit box was not the only information Stanley gave the FBI.

According to sources, Stanley told the FBI that she and Bulger traveled to London twice in 1994 and on each trip they went to Barclays Bank and Bulger opened the safe deposit box.

The FBI yesterday revealed that Bulger rented an apartment for a brief period in 1994 in a London suburb.

Stanley told the FBI that on the second London trip, the couple also traveled to Dublin, Venice and Rome. She also revealed that she and Bulger had traveled several times to Paris, sources said.

The FBI gave this story to the Boston Globe - their preferred media outlet since they swallow on command - yesterday. Today they're spinning Bulger as a victim of LSD experiments while he was in prison in the 50's.

It seems like the FBI wants us to believe they are actually interested in catching their psychopathic serial killer informant who just happens to be the brother of a Demonrat politician.

Next thing we'll hear is that they're so busy catching terrorists that they can't find their star informant.

Time to give the case to an agency that might actually want to hear what Bulger has to say about his bosses at the FBI.

Are you listening Dan Burton?

Today they're spinning Bulger as a victim of LSD experiments while he was in prison in the 50's.

That's a chuckle because the prison LSD experiments were conducted not at Alcatraz, where The White Man seved his time, but at Concord State Prison in Massachusetts.

United States Prison Experiments

Vacaville, CA

Behaviour Modification
Mind Control By Harry V. Martin and David Caul, The Napa Sentinel: a series which includes information on behaviour modification Medical Facility

Walla Walla, WA

Radiation Experiments

"Dozens of prisoners had their testicles bombarded with radiation in the name of science back in the '60s and '70s. Now, they're getting some long-delayed payback" by Rick Anderson, Mother Jones 1/4/2000

'Balls at the Walls-- Historic $2.4 million settlement may soon be reached in inmate testicular radiation case'. BY Rick Anderson, Seattle Weekly 12/16-22/99

OT-14. Testicular Irradiation of Washington State Prison
Inmates

Oregon State Prison in SalemOT-21. Testicular Irradiation of Oregon State Prison Inmates
August, 1963 to May 1971, the Pacific Northwest Research Foundation in Seattle, Washington,

Colorado State Penitentiary in Canon CityOT-43. Blood-Cell Studies in Colorado Prisoners Using Iron-59,
Phosphorus-32, and Chromium-51 ;1960 and 1968/ University of Colorado Medical Center, Denver

Utah State Prison

OT-81. White Blood-Cell Labeling Studies Using Phosphorus-32 in Utah Prisoners, OT-82. Granulocyte Studies Using Phosphorus-32 in Utah Prisoners 1950s, University of Utah College of Medicine in Salt Lake City

OT-83. White Blood-Cell Production Studies Using Phosphorus-32

1960s, University of Utah College of Medicine in Salt Lake City

OT-85. Blister Studies Using Phosphorus32 in Utah Prisoners, 1960s, University of Utah College of Medicine in Salt Lake City

OT-88. Study of Cortisone-Induced Granulocytosis Using Phosphorus-32BLabeled Diiso-propylfluorophosphate in Utah Prisoners, University of Utah College of Medicine in Salt Lake City,1964 and 1966

OT-90. Study of Granulocyte Kinetics During Endotoxin-Induced Granulocytosis Using Phosphorus-32, 1969 AND 1971, investigators at the University of Utah College of Medicine in Salt Lake City and the Salt Lake Veterans Administration Hospital

Illinois State Penitentiary at Statesville

UC-3. Chromium-51 Used to Study Primaquine Sensitivity

1953, THE UNIVERSITY of Chicago and the Argonne Cancer Research Hospital

Holmesburg Prison, Pa.Military, CIA and Pharmacetical Co
Allen Hornblum Interview- audio interview of "Acres of Skin", excerpt from book
"Acres of Skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison" by Allen Hornblum, -- An exposé of experiments performed on prisoners by doctors, the University of Pennsylvania and prison officials. The captive subjects were used as human guinea pigs for everything from facial creams to chemical warfare agents.(Routledge ISBN 0 415 92336 0)

Retin A's Wrinkled Past by Jonathan Kaye, Penn History Review, Spring 97-CIA and Military funded experiments with chemical warfare agents, "skin hardening" agents, dioxin

Massachusetts Correctional Institute

"Leary took the drugs to be tested..LSD and psilocybin ...agents in behavior modification....psychotropic drugs in interrogation".
CIA Shrinks & LSD CounterPunch October 18, 1999

I don't see Alcatraz mentioned, do you?

Do you remember years ago when the Staties stopped Whitey at Logan and found him with $90,000 in cash? He just threw it at them and fled the airport and nothing was ever done.

"The FBI gave this story to the Boston Globe - their preferred media outlet since they swallow on command - yesterday. Today they're spinning Bulger as a victim of LSD experiments while he was in prison in the 50's."

It amazes me how they shine the media, even Fox.

I watched TV as they removed a bullet-riddled stump from a previous back yard of the beltway snipers in Washington State. "Retired Special Agent Chris Whitcomb" appeared, explaining how amazed we were gonna be when we found out about the brilliant detective work "the Agency" had done to solve these crimes.

They had pieced together forensic evidence from all over the country, used sophicticated tools, and connected the shooters to crimes in the South, bla-bla.

Barely mentioned in the news a few days later, the sniper's friend in Washington had just given them up for the reward!

I will say they probably deserve SOME credit for the fact we haven't had major mainland terrorist attacks lately. Now if they could just find Rudolph, (Eric).

The mobster, a longtime FBI informant, fled in 1995, just before his indictment on charges of racketeering, extortion and drug trafficking. Bulger has also been charged since with involvement in the murders of 21 people and is on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list.

Since the sighting, the FBI's multiagency violent fugitive task force in Boston and inspectors from New Scotland Yard have scoured London hotels, Internet cafes and gyms in search of Bulger, and have spent hours watching department store surveillance videos, Marcinkiewicz said.

The FBI weighed possible drawbacks to releasing information about the sighting -- such as tipping Bulger to leave England -- but in the end decided it was best to go public, Marcinkiewicz said.

"If you continually saturate the public with his photo, it's going to make someone recognize him," she said.

The businessman who alerted authorities said he had met Bulger while working out at a London hotel gym in 1994, a year before Bulger went on the lam.

The businessman, who was not identified, told The Boston Globe in Friday's editions that he spotted Bulger again on a London street in September, called his name and said, "Hi, mate, how are you doing?"

"He sort of looked quite shocked," the man said. Then Bulger walked away quickly, saying "No, no, you've got the wrong guy."

He described Bulger as wearing horn-rimmed glasses, a neatly pressed denim shirt and light-colored chinos. He said Bulger was white-haired and tanned and had a gray goatee.

The businessman said he only learned that Bulger was a fugitive a week later.

The sighting was the most reliable since January 2000, when a hairdresser reported seeing Bulger and his girlfriend, Catherine Greig, 51, in Fountain Valley, Calif., the FBI said.

"It just brings us closer," Marcinkiewicz said. "If you have more recent information, it gives you a better place to start."

Since the sighting, authorities have discovered two safe deposit boxes in London and Dublin, Ireland, that Bulger used. Nearly $60,000 and Bulger's Irish passport were seized, law enforcement officials said.

Bulger may have tapped Irish Republican Army contacts to get false ID, said William Chase, the acting special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office. He would not elaborate.

"Most of his criminal association with the IRA and others probably gave him avenues to pursue false identifications, which we're sure he's availed himself of," said Chase, noting that they've investigated the IRA angle in years past but found no concrete link. William Bulger is listed as the contact person for a safe deposit box Whitey Bulger opened in London in 1992. Thomas R. Kiley, an attorney for William Bulger, refused to say if his client knew about the safe deposit box.

William Bulger, former longtime president of the Massachusetts state Senate, last month refused to tell a congressional committee whether he knows his whereabouts. At a committee hearing on FBI ties to mob informants, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

His brother disappeared after former FBI Agent John J. Connolly Jr. told him he was about to be indicted. Connolly, who grew up in the same neighborhood as the Bulger brothers, was convicted last year.

By Associated Press January 3, 2003, 4:10 PM EST

RACKETEERING INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS (RICO) - MURDER (18 COUNTS), CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT MURDER, CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT EXTORTION, NARCOTICS DISTRIBUTION, CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT MONEY LAUNDERING; EXTORTION; MONEY LAUNDERING

JAMES J. BULGER

Photograph taken in 1994	Photograph taken in 1994	Photograph altered in 2000
Retouched Photographs

Aliases:

Thomas F. Baxter, Mark Shapeton, Jimmy Bulger, James Joseph Bulger, James J. Bulger, Jr., James Joseph Bulger, Jr., Tom Harris, Tom Marshall, "Whitey"

DESCRIPTION

Date of Birth:	September 3, 1929	Hair:	White/Silver
Place of Birth:	Boston, Massachusetts	Eyes:	Blue
Height:	5'7" to 5'9"	Complexion:	Light
Weight:	150 to 160 pounds	Sex:	Male
Build:	Medium	Race:	White
Occupation:	Unknown	Nationality:	American
Scars and Marks:	None known
Remarks:	Bulger is an avid reader with an interest in history. He is known to frequent libraries and historic sites. Bulger is currently on the heart medication Atenolol (50 mg) and maintains his physical fitness by walking on beaches and in parks with his female companion, Catherine Elizabeth Greig. Bulger and Greig love animals and may frequent animal shelters. Bulger has been known to alter his appearance through the use of disguises. He has traveled extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, and Mexico.

CAUTION

JAMES J. BULGER IS BEING SOUGHT FOR HIS ROLE IN NUMEROUS MURDERS COMMITTED FROM THE EARLY 1970s THROUGH THE MID-1980s IN CONNECTION WITH HIS LEADERSHIP OF AN ORGANIZED CRIME GROUP THAT ALLEGEDLY CONTROLLED EXTORTION, DRUG DEALS, AND OTHER ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES IN THE BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, AREA. HE HAS A VIOLENT TEMPER AND IS KNOWN TO CARRY A KNIFE AT ALL TIMES.

CONSIDERED ARMED AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS

IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION CONCERNING THIS PERSON, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LOCAL FBI OFFICE OR THE NEAREST U.S. EMBASSY OR CONSULATE.

REWARD

The FBI is offering a $1,000,000 reward for information leading directly to the arrest of James J. Bulger.

August 1999
Poster Revised November 2000

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