William M. Bulger - Controversy Over Brother

Controversy Over Brother

Bulger's older brother James J. "Whitey" Bulger, is an alleged former Boston crime boss accused of murder and several other crimes. Whitey was a fugitive from justice from 1995 until his arrest in June 2011. William Bulger's role in his brother's escape from authorities is a matter of some dispute. On June 19, 2003, he testified to a House of Representatives committee about an incident in which, while still President of the Massachusetts State Senate, he "went to an arranged location in 1995 to take a call from his fugitive brother, apparently to avoid electronic eavesdropping. He said that accepting the call from the gangster without bothering to inform the FBI was 'in no way inconsistent with my devotion to my own responsibilities, my public responsibilities.'"

During the hearing, when asked what he thought James (Whitey) did for a living, William Bulger said: Rep. ...

I had the feeling that he was in the business of gaming and... whatever. It was vague to me but I didn't think, for a long while he had some jobs but ultimately it was clear that he was not being, you know, he wasn't doing what I'd like him to do.

He added that he loves his brother and hopes that the most brutal rumors concerning him will be proven false. In addition, he grudgingly admitted to visiting an isolated pay phone in order to speak to his older brother, who was by then a fugitive. As fallout from these remarks, he was forced out by then-Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney from his position as president of the University of Massachusetts in 2003.

Bulger also testified that the FBI never asked if he knew of Whitey's location. Those remarks were disputed by a former FBI agent who claimed Bulger declined to submit to an interview with the bureau. Months later, the committee report found Bulger's testimony "inconsistent" about whether the FBI had contacted him in its search for his fugitive brother.

The controversy over the relationship between the two brothers, one a political leader, the other a crime boss, is further examined in a recent book The Brothers Bulger by Howie Carr published by Warner Books, New York in 2006.

Upon Whitey's arrest in California in June 2011, William Bulger issued a statement expressing his "sympathies to the families hurt" in the case, and asking for privacy for his family.