Whitey Bulger Witness Found Dead

[Spaceman Spiff]

Crazy stuff:

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/18/bulger-boston-mob-racketeering-whitey/2557163/

 

 

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

If he wasn't going to testify, why would they kill him? I don't see the benefit of doing that at all.

[@DCGoldPants]

Sounds like something straight from the movies.

 

 

 

Senator, this man does not understand English. He came at
his own expense to aid his brother in his time of trouble. He's not under subpoena
-- and his reputation in his own country is impeccable.

[Dan T.]

This trial is showing that Whitey Bulger is a bad, bad man.  Not bad like badass, bad as in pure evil.  Here's why Stephen Rakes hated Bulger: 

 

 

Whitey Bulger detested drunks and drank very little himself. He felt that people who drank to excess were weak and inferior. But his personal feelings about alcohol consumption didn't keep him from wanting a liquor store. While driving around South Boston with Stephen Flemmi in the last week of December 1983, he spotted one he liked and decided he'd buy it. He'd been looking for a new hangout, and Stippo's Liquor Mart on Old Colony Avenue was in a good location and had just been renovated.

In the first week of January 1984, Bulger and Flemmi showed up at the store owner's home. Bulger laid a bag full of cash on Stephen Rakes's kitchen table -- $67,000 -- and informed Rakes that they were buying the liquor store. Rakes said his business wasn't for sale, but Bulger's icy stare made him nervous, particularly because his two young daughters were in the room.

 

Flemmi took a seat at the table, picked up Rakes's two-year-old daughter, and set her on his lap. He then took out his gun and laid it on the table in front of the toddler, who immediately reached for it. She picked it up and started to gum the butt.

 

According to the Boston Globe, Bulger turned to Rakes and allegedly said, "It would be a shame not to see your children grow up."
 

Knowing Bulger's reputation for violence, Rakes changed his mind about selling. He called his wife Julie, who was working at the store, and told her that someone was buying their business. Later, when Julie got the whole story, she called her uncle, Boston Police Detective Joseph Lundbohm, to see if there was anything he could do. Lundbohm went to the FBI, not knowing that Bulger and Flemmi were FBI informants, and explained the situation to John Connolly. Days later, Bulger again threatened Rakes, telling him to "back off." It was clear that he knew that the Rakeses had complained to the FBI through Lundbohm.

 

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/mob_bosses/james_whitey_bulger/6.html

[Elessar78]

Sounds like something straight from the movies.

 

 

 

 

Senator, this man does not understand English. He came at

his own expense to aid his brother in his time of trouble. He's not under subpoena

-- and his reputation in his own country is impeccable.

Refresh my memory about this picture from Godfather, please? They bought this guy in to intimidate the witness? He was the father or uncle of the guy testifying? It's been too long.

[Bang]

If i remember right, They brought him in to show that they had him, they knew where he was, and they could get to anyone.

~Bang

[Elessar78]

"Later, at a Senate hearing investigating the allegations of Michael's criminal activities, the committee presents Pentangeli as a surprise witness to corroborate Cicci's testimony against Michael. Pentangeli and Cicci have been in the protective custody of the FBI since the apparent attempt upon his life. Believing that Michael ordered him murdered, Pentangeli has told investigators, and is now prepared to testify before the Senate, that Michael is the head of the most powerful Mafia family in the nation, controls virtually all gambling activity in North America, and has ordered countless murders. Most damningly, Pentangeli tells investigators that Michael personally killed Captain McCluskey (Sterling Hayden) and Virgil Sollozzo (Al Lettieri), and also began planning his mass slaughter of New York's other Mafia bosses as early as 1950. Cicci also told this to investigators, but is unable to directly implicate Michael in any illegal activity because he never received orders directly from him. However, since Pentangeli is a capo, there is no insulation between Michael and himself. The Senate subcommittee and the FBI thus consider Pentangeli very credible, and are certain that he can corroborate Cicci's testimony and send Michael to prison. As it turned out, the whole hearing was engineered by Roth as part of his plan to eliminate Michael from the scene; the committee's lawyer is on Roth's payroll.

Because Pentangeli's protective custody is so secure, Michael knows he will be unable to have Pentangeli killed before he testifies. Instead, Michael flies Pentangeli's brother, Vincenzo, in from Partinico, Sicily, and Vincenzo accompanies Michael to the hearing at which Frank is scheduled to testify. Vincenzo and Frank exchange a silent glance before the hearing. Understanding the threat, Frank recants his earlier statements and now claims that the Corleone family is innocent of any wrongdoing, thus perjuring himself before the Senate committee and subjecting himself to over 400 years in federal prison. This testimony catches the Senators completely off-guard and effectively derails the government's case against Michael.

After the hearing, Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) visits Frank in custody. Hagen tells Frank that he did the right thing by recanting, and that if he accepts responsibility for turning on the Corleone family, Frank's own family will always be taken care of. He thanks Hagen, returns to his room, and commits suicideby slitting his wrists while taking a bath.

The finished film leaves unclear exactly what about his brother's presence motivated Frank to change his story. The final film only states that Vincenzo is a powerful and ruthless Mafia chieftain in Sicily.^[1] An early draft of the film explains that Vincenzo, shocked that Frankie is about to break his blood oath and betray the Corleones to government authorities, attends the hearing to remind Frankie that he must not break the Mafia's code of silence, Omertà. His brother's presence, as well as the stare they exchanged, serves as a threat that if Frankie follows through with his planned testimony, retribution will be taken against his children, who are living in Sicily under Vincenzo's guardianship.^[2]"

[SKINS@THEGOALLINE]

A witness against a mobster was found dead?

Shocking!

[CurseReversed]

This trial is showing that Whitey Bulger is a bad, bad man.  Not bad like badass, bad as in pure evil.  Here's why Stephen Rakes hated Bulger: 

 

 

Whitey Bulger detested drunks and drank very little himself. He felt that people who drank to excess were weak and inferior. But his personal feelings about alcohol consumption didn't keep him from wanting a liquor store. While driving around South Boston with Stephen Flemmi in the last week of December 1983, he spotted one he liked and decided he'd buy it. He'd been looking for a new hangout, and Stippo's Liquor Mart on Old Colony Avenue was in a good location and had just been renovated.

In the first week of January 1984, Bulger and Flemmi showed up at the store owner's home. Bulger laid a bag full of cash on Stephen Rakes's kitchen table -- $67,000 -- and informed Rakes that they were buying the liquor store. Rakes said his business wasn't for sale, but Bulger's icy stare made him nervous, particularly because his two young daughters were in the room.

 

Flemmi took a seat at the table, picked up Rakes's two-year-old daughter, and set her on his lap. He then took out his gun and laid it on the table in front of the toddler, who immediately reached for it. She picked it up and started to gum the butt.

 

According to the Boston Globe, Bulger turned to Rakes and allegedly said, "It would be a shame not to see your children grow up."

 

Knowing Bulger's reputation for violence, Rakes changed his mind about selling. He called his wife Julie, who was working at the store, and told her that someone was buying their business. Later, when Julie got the whole story, she called her uncle, Boston Police Detective Joseph Lundbohm, to see if there was anything he could do. Lundbohm went to the FBI, not knowing that Bulger and Flemmi were FBI informants, and explained the situation to John Connolly. Days later, Bulger again threatened Rakes, telling him to "back off." It was clear that he knew that the Rakeses had complained to the FBI through Lundbohm.

 

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/mob_bosses/james_whitey_bulger/6.html

Thats a very good read regarding the history of Bulger, thanks for posting.

 

This part is particularly weird, you can't make this stuff up. 

 

When Alcatraz was shut down in 1963, Bulger was sent to Leavenworth

Prison in Kansas, where he volunteered to take LSD as part of a

CIA-sponsored experiment called MK-Ultra. He was paroled in 1965 after

serving nine years.