June 22

This Day in History

Also on This Day

Lead Story
FDR signs G.I. Bill, 1944
American Revolution
Congress issues Continental currency, 1775
Automotive
Blockbuster hit movie "The Fast and the Furious" released, 2001
Civil War
Lee strikes back at Petersburg, 1864
Cold War
Cease-fire established in Angolan civil war, 1989
Crime
Notorious Boston mobster Whitey Bulger is arrested, 2011
Disaster
Mysterious crash in Guadeloupe, 1962
General Interest
Hudson set adrift by mutineers, 1611
Louis becomes champ, 1937
Battle of Okinawa ends, 1945
Hollywood
George Carlin dies, 2008
Literary
Anne Morrow Lindbergh is born, 1906
Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown is born, 1964
Music
Bernstein, Copland, Seeger and others are named as Communists, 1950
Old West
General Santa Anna dies in Mexico City, 1876
Presidential
FDR signs GI bill, 1944
Sports
Hand of God helps out Maradona, 1986
Vietnam War
South Vietnamese fight for Fire Base Fuller, 1971
New troops sent to An Loc, 1972
World War I
Erich Maria Remarque born, 1898
World War II
Germany launches Operation Barbarossa—the invasion of Russia, 1941

Crime

Jun 22, 2011:

Notorious Boston mobster Whitey Bulger is arrested

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On this day in 2011, after 16 years on the run from law enforcement, James “Whitey” Bulger, a violent Boston mob boss wanted for 19 murders, is arrested in Santa Monica, California. The 81-year-old Bulger, one of the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” fugitives, was arrested with his longtime companion, 60-year-old Catherine Greig, who fled Massachusetts with the gangster in late 1994, shortly before he was to be indicted on federal criminal charges. At the time of his 2011 arrest, there was a $2 million reward for information leading to Bulger’s capture, the largest amount ever offered by the agency for a domestic fugitive.

Born in Massachusetts in 1929 and raised in a South Boston housing project, Bulger, who earned his nickname as a child for his light blond hair, served time in federal prison in the 1950s and early 1960s for bank robbery. Afterward, he returned to Boston, where he eventually built an organized-crime empire with partner Stephen Flemmi. At the time the two men were involved with drug trafficking, extortion, murder and other illegal activities, they were serving, since the mid-1970s, as FBI informants, providing information about rival mobsters in return from protection from prosecution.

After a rogue FBI agent tipped off Bulger that he would soon be arrested on racketeering charges, Bulger disappeared in December 1994. (John Connolly, the agent who tipped off Bulger, was later convicted on charges of racketeering, obstruction of justice and second-degree murder.) Despite an international manhunt, Bulger eluded authorities for over a decade and a half. Then, on June 20, 2011, the FBI employed a new tactic by airing a public service announcement focused on Greig, Bulger’s companion. The ad, which aired in cities across the U.S. where the mobster was thought to have once lived or have contacts, was aimed at female viewers who might have seen Greig, who underwent a variety of cosmetic surgeries, at a beauty parlor or doctor’s office. Based on one of the tips they received, FBI agents staked out Bulger and Greig, then going by the names Charles and Carol Gasko, and arrested them without incident at the modest, two-bedroom Southern California apartment building they had long called home.

Law enforcement officials found weapons, fake identification and more than $800,000 stashed in Bulger’s apartment. He later revealed to them that during his years on the lam he had traveled frequently to such places as Boston, Mexico and Las Vegas, armed and sometimes in disguise.

After their arrest, Bulger and Greig were returned to Boston. In June 2012, as part of a plea agreement, Greig was sentenced to eight years in prison for helping Bulger to stay in hiding. Bulger remains behind bars, charged with 19 murders and awaiting trial.

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This Week in History, Jun 22 - Jun 28

Jun 22, 2011
Notorious Boston mobster Whitey Bulger is arrested
Jun 23, 1934
Even without the corpse, a murderer is uncovered
Jun 24, 1993
Mail bomb injures Yale professor
Jun 25, 1910
Congress passes Mann Act
Jun 26, 1957
A serial killer preys upon a woman out for a drive
Jun 27, 1921
Four-time thief escapes Baumes law
Jun 28, 1975
A teenage girl's boyfriend murders her parents
Jun 28, 1993
A serial rapist strikes in Allentown

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