Widow Of Man Killed By Whitey Bulger: 'I'd Like To Open Up A Champagne Bottle And Celebrate'
BOSTON (CBS) – The death of notorious Boston mobster Whitey Bulger, reportedly killed in a West Virginia prison on Tuesday, is bringing closure to the family of one of his victims.
Michael Donahue was killed in 1982; prosecutors said he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. A jury convicted Bulger of a host of federal charges in 2013, including being involved in the murders of Donahue and 10 others.
Donahue's widow Patricia told WBZ-TV that she was a little surprised to hear that Bulger was killed.
"I thought they had him under a lot of security," she said. "I thought that maybe when he died he'd die of natural causes."
Bulger's trial was a "very hard" time for the Donahue family, Patricia said. But Tuesday's news brought relief.
"We're very happy that the man is not here any longer because we don't have to hear his name again," she said. "Myself? I'd like to open up a champagne bottle and celebrate."
As she sat on her front porch processing the news, she said she doesn't applaud whoever killed Bulger.
"Two wrongs don't make a right and if the man's going to die, then he's going to die, but that doesn't give anybody else that right to take his life," Patricia said. "He did have it coming. I agree."
Inside, her son Tommy Donahue had very different words for Bulger's killer.
"I'm glad he did it. If I could I'd put money in his canteen for him," Tommy told WBZ. "He spent many years destroying my family and a lot of other families, so a guy like him doesn't deserve a nice easy death. He deserved a slow death and that's what I hope he got."
"I think that there's one less scumbag on this earth," Patricia said. "That's how I feel."
