Keller @ Large: Whitey Bulger's Miserable Lifestyle
BOSTON (CBS) - I've just had a chance to catch up with the Globe's excellent article about Whitey Bulger's life on the run, and if you haven't read it yet I urge you to do so, for the many new details about the alleged serial killer's flight and capture, and for the answer it suggests to a key question – were the 16 years between the time Bulger skipped town and his arrest a period of bonus freedom, or a time of rough justice being served?
Listen to Jon's commentary:
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Some will argue that every second Bulger was not confined to a prison cell was an egregious miscarriage of justice, and given the role corruption played in his evasion, it's hard to deny the truth there.
But the Globe reporters paint a pretty unappealing picture of what most of those years in Santa Monica were like.
Yes, Bulger and his partner in crime took walks on the boardwalk and occasionally dined out, privileges not accorded in the lockup.
But then they went home to a ratty little apartment with holes in the wall and worn-out furniture, where the most wanted man in America sat up late every night, reports the Globe, "watching TV in his living room with black curtains drawn. When he finally went to bed, the aging gangster slept alone in the master bedroom - windows covered in opaque plastic sheeting - while his girlfriend used the guest room."
Without a social life or contact with family, it appears the two fugitives were left to lavish affection on stray cats, the behavior that caught the eye of the woman who eventually turned them in.
One neighbor put it this way: "He did not have a nice life. He lived afraid in his little apartment with the curtains drawn without any opportunity to spend his money and enjoy his life."
It sounds like a form of prison to me.
As much as he – as the both of them – deserved?
Probably not.
But misery is misery.
And for someone who inflicted so much of it, Bulger's years on the run sure do seem like the lifestyle of a miserable wretch.
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
