Below is my review of Where the Bodies Were Buried: Whitey Bulger and the World That Made Him as submitted to the Sturbridge Times Magazine for the November 2015 issue.
Where
the Bodies Were Buried: Whitey Bulger and the World That Made Him
by
T. J. English
Book
Review by Richard Morchoe
September seemed to be Whitey
Bulger Month in Massachusetts, if not the Nation. Johnny Depp gave
an excellent performance as the South Boston gangster in the movie,
Black Mass. His character exuded menace in most every scene.
Crime
in Boston, however, did not begin with Bulger, and though the players
have changed, has not ended with his incarceration. Around the time
the movie came out, Where
the Bodies Were Buried: Whitey Bulger and the World That Made Him
also
appeared. The book, by veteran crime reporter T. J. English, is in
the words of the late Boston radio personality Larry Glick, “The
story behind the story.” English is probably most famous for The
Westies,
the story of a deadly New York Irish-American gang. Havana Nocturne,
about how Meyer Lansky and the Mafia lost Cuba to Castro is a finely
crafted story reviewed in the September, 2010 issue of The Sturbridge
Times Magazine. The author has, as the saying goes, “been around
the block.”
According
to English, the FBI, who are supposed to be a law enforcement agency
has systemic problems and they long predated Bulger and continue to
this day. Rules were not just bent, but broken if the agency wanted.
He concludes the book with the statement, “In the end, the system
protects itself.”
Joe
Salvati was an average guy and no criminal. He did like to bet on
horses and had borrowed money from a loan shark. Joe ran afoul of a
man who, before Whitey's time, had a reputation for brutality maybe
worse than Bulger's. His rep did not include sanity. The FBI wanted
to use mad man Joseph Barboza to gut the Mafia or LCN, short for La
Cosa Nostra. Barboza would testify that Salvati had been part of a
murder, and Joe would do life until his vindication after 30 years in
jail.
Barboza
lying under oath would be protected by the FBI because they wanted to
keep him as an informant even if an innocent man would rot in jail.
The
men who handled Barboza would run other gangsters who would lead to
Whitey. They would eventually pass the baton to agents who would
carry on the tradition. When Bulger finally had to face a court of
law, the government prosecutors tried to portray history as a couple
of bad apple agents. John Connolly and John Morris, in a good system
serving justice.
Before
Connolly and Morris, there was H. Paul Rico. Rico ran Barboza as
well as the the Flemmi brothers, Vincent and Steven. Steve Flemmi
would become Whitey's partner. Connolly would work with Flemmi and
developed Whitey Bulger as a “Top Echelon Informant.”
What
did this lead to? Getting away with murder. It turned out that
Whitey and Flemmi were running Connolly, his supervisor, John Morris
and the Boston office of the FBI rather than the other way around.
The
whole thing was so absurd that it had to end. Whitey would go on the
lam until he was captured and bought to trial.
There
was no chance Bulger was ever going to end his life a free man. He
was interested in making the case that he had the FBI's approval.
His defense team, headed by Jay Carney wanted to show that the
corruption was pervasive and historic. The prosecution, lead by Fred
Wyshak attempted to build a cordon sanitaire around the agency and
limit the damage to the Whitey era.
Judge
Denise Casper, presided over the trial in the Moakley Federal Court
Building. Though English does not come out and say it, it did appear
that she favored the prosecution. Carney's attempt to show endemic
corruption led to constant objections by the prosecutors. Judge
Casper seemed to sustain most of them. Then again, she is a federal
employee and the same treasury that issued Attorney Wyshak's paycheck
issued hers.
Whether
or not Bulger, or his legal team actually proved anything, “juror
number twelve” Janet Uhlar came away with questions about the
system. English would get to talk with her and she was appalled at
the deals the government had made for testimony with criminals
arguably as bad or even worse than Bulger. She was pilloried in the
media, but if the English book is accurate, she is right in her
opinion.
Big
Pharma has the FDA in thrall. The Department of Agriculture does the
bidding of Monsanto and Big Ag. If you have been following the F-35
fighter jet debacle, the Defense Department seems to be serving
contractor interests. Why should anyone be surprised that the FBI
can be captive to Big Crime.
Where
the Bodies Were Buried
is typical T.J. English, hard to put down and filled with informative
detail. I admit, however, it was not pleasant to read. George
Orwell wrote that the England of his day was corrupt, but it could
only get so corrupt. I'm not sure we can say the same.
