Exclusive: Family Of Alleged Bulger Victim Breaks Silence
BOSTON (CBS) - A man who knows the horrors of Whitey Bulger and who was the nephew of Catherine Greig is breaking his silence.
Sean McGonagle looked into the eyes of Whitey Bulger when he was 17-years-old. "They were steely blue. They were scary. They had nothing in them. They had no soul." He says, "He wanted to let me know who runs the town and I made a mistake and you don't want to make another with him."
McGonagle saw his uncle Donny murdered, allegedly by Bulger, right outside their South Boston home. "When I was seven he was getting into my dad's car and he was out the window. And I saw a flash." It's believed that Bulger was actually trying to kill Sean's father Paul. "He took away part of my childhood," Sean explains.
When he was 11, Sean's father was gunned down. The medical examiner said he was shot in the back of the head twice. His car was left in Charlestown, but in 2000, Paul McGonagle's body was found buried by the Neponset River.
Sean remembers the last time he saw his father. He believes his father was trying to "get out of that business" at the time.
"My dad dropped me off at the rink; he said it's time to start tying your own skates now. I don't know if he knew he was getting into something he might not walk out of." He says his father was no angel, but he remembers him as a wonderful father that people loved to be around. "He was really funny."
Sean also remembers Catherine Greig. "She was cold back then," he says. "She is scary too. She's pretty hardcore I think. She's no innocent dental hygienist that's for sure." Greig was married to his uncle Bobby, before they got divorced and she ran off with Bulger. "She was my aunt, and that's an amazing twisted tale that I'm giving you right now."
It's Greig's sentencing that is motivating Sean to speak out for the first time. He says he wants justice for the innocent victims and their families. He says Catherine Greig deserves the maximum sentence because she prolonged victims families pain and suffering while she shielded Whitey on the run for 16 years.
He says Greig's sister Margaret McCusker is a nice woman, and he is also friends with other members of Bulger's family.
Sean says his mother and his brother, along with their entire family, has given him the support to choose a better path in life. And they've given him the strength to finally speak out. "I hope the people who did this will get their justice and what they did is wrong. I hope other people will look at this and see that nothing good comes from doing that to innocent people."
