"Whitey" Bulger faces judge in return to Boston

Fugitive gangster James "Whitey" Bulger faced a Boston judge Friday after 16 years on the run, his second court appearance in as many days following his capture outside the Santa Monica, Calif., apartment where he'd spent the last decade and a half.

The waterfront courthouse in South Boston greeted Bulger, 81, and longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig, with high security and curious spectators after a long, frustrating manhunt that had embarrassed the FBI and raised questions about its efforts to find one of its most wanted fugitives.

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Bulger, wearing jeans and a white shirt, looked tan and fit and walked with a slight hunch at back-to-back hearings on two indictments. He asked that a public defender be appointed to represent him, but the government objected, citing the $800,000 seized from his Southern California apartment and his "family resources."

"We think he has access to more cash," said prosecutor Brian Kelly.

At the second hearing, Bulger took a swipe at prosecutors after Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler asked him if he could afford to pay for an attorney.

"Well, I could, if they would give me my money back," he replied in his unmistakable Boston accent, prompting laughter in the courtroom.

Kelly implied that Bulger's cash came from illegal activities.

"He clearly didn't make that on a paper route on Santa Monica Boulevard," he said.

Prosecutors asked that Bulger be held without bail, saying he is danger to the community and may try to threaten witnesses.

"He's also, quite obviously, a risk of flight," Kelly said.

Kelly also said Greig told court officials that Bulger's brother may be willing to assist him in posting bail.

Bulger did not ask for a detention hearing, but his lawyer said he may later make an argument that Bulger should be released on bail while awaiting trial.

The amount of money found in Bulger's apartment confirmed a longheld belief by investigators that he kept large stashes of cash for a life on the run.

"We clearly don't think this is his last stash," Kelly said.

Attorney Peter Krupp was appointed to represent Bulger only on Friday. Among Krupp's recent clients were comedian Dane Cook, who sought millions in restitution from his half-brother and sister-in-law after they allegedly embezzled millions from him.

Bulger's brother William, a powerful former state senator, was seated in the second row and smiled at him. The defendant mouthed the word "hi" and his brother smiled back.

Greig appeared in court a few minutes later on charges of harboring a fugitive. She asked for a hearing to determine whether she can be released on bail, and one was scheduled for next week.

Bulger appeared briefly in federal court Thursday in Los Angeles, agreeing to waive extradition. He was released from downtown's federal Metropolitan Detention Center into the custody of U.S. marshals early Friday, said jail spokesman Steve Gagliardi.

In Boston, the courthouse security included at least two Coast Guard boats, one state police vessel and a police boat patrolling the harbor directly behind the building.

Bulger is charged in connection with 19 murders. He had lived in Santa Monica for 15 of the last 16 years, according to his landlord.

His capture could become a new chapter in an old scandal for the Boston FBI and others.

If Bulger decides to cut a deal with prosecutors, he could implicate an untold number of local, state and federal law enforcement officials, according to investigators who built a racketeering indictment against Bulger before he fled in 1995.

"If he starts to talk, there will be some unwelcome accountability on the part of a lot of people inside law enforcement," said retired Massachusetts state police Maj. Tom Duffy. "Let me put it this way: I wouldn't want my pension contingent on what he will say at this point."

Neighbors in Santa Monica were stunned to learn they had been living in the same building as the man who was the model for Jack Nicholson's ruthless crime boss in the 2006 Martin Scorsese movie "The Departed."

Bulger's flight in early 1995 allegedly came after a tip from former Boston FBI Agent John Connolly Jr., who was convicted of racketeering and obstruction of justice in 2002 for protecting Bulger and his cohort Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi from prosecution. Both Bulger and Flemmi were FBI informants who ratted out members of their main rivals, the New England Mob.

During Connolly's trial, Bulger's right-hand man, Kevin Weeks, testified that Bulger boasted that he had corrupted six FBI agents and more than 20 Boston police officers. At holiday time, Bulger stuffed envelopes with cash, Weeks testified.

"He used to say that Christmas was for cops and kids," Weeks said.

Edward J. MacKenzie Jr., a former drug dealer and enforcer for Bulger, predicted that Bulger would disclose new details about FBI corruption and how agents protected him for so long.

"Whitey was no fool. He knew he would get caught. I think he'll have more fun pulling all those skeletons out of the closet," MacKenzie said.

"I think he'll start talking and he'll start taking people down."

Connolly, the retired FBI agent who was convicted of protecting Bulger, also was found guilty of murder in Miami for helping to set in motion a mob hit in 1982 against a business executive.

The Bulger arrest could have a huge impact on whether Connolly spends the rest of his life in a Florida prison. Connolly is set for release next Tuesday from a federal penitentiary after serving nearly 10 years for his Boston racketeering conviction.

But Connolly will be whisked to Florida right away to begin serving a 40-year sentence for his role in the slaying in Miami of gambling executive John Callahan. Connolly was convicted of murder in 2008 for tipping Bulger that Callahan was about implicate Bulger and Flemmi in the 1981 killing of Oklahoma businessman Roger Wheeler.

Connolly, who is appealing the conviction, insists he never fingered Callahan. Now, if Bulger backs up Connolly's story, it could change the outcome of the Florida case.

"If Bulger says that John (Connolly) had no involvement in the Callahan murder, then John will file a motion for new trial based on newly discovered evidence and should prevail," said Connolly's attorney Manuel Alvarez. "If that happens, we might see Whitey testifying in a Miami courtroom."

Margaret Chaberek, who grew up in Bulger's home base of South Boston, arrived at the courthouse Friday hours before his scheduled appearance. She was a child during the height of Bulger's career but found out in later news reports about the allegations against him.

"I'm here to see him get what he deserves," she said.

Brian and Ina Corcoran of suburban Braintree came to the courthouse on a day off to see a piece of history. Brian said he grew up in Boston and has always been fascinated by Bulger. Ina Corcoran is Canadian and didn't at first understand the fascination.

"It's a great story," she said as she and her husband sat on one of the few benches outside the fifth floor courtroom not taken over by reporters. She compared it to being in the courtroom with the notorious 20th century Chicago mobster Al Capone.

"If you could go back and time to be in that courtroom, wouldn't you?" she said.