Boston (CNN) -- An attorney for James "Whitey'' Bulger has petitioned a U.S. District judge to combine two pending racketeering charges against the reputed mobster, rather than allow prosecutors to drop the less severe charge against him, according to court documents acquired Thursday.
The move, prosecutors say, is meant to complicate the case against Bulger for racketeering and 19 murder charges he faces.
U.S. District judge Judge Mark Wolf is expected to decide whether the two indictments should be merged at the first of two hearings at Thursday afternoon in Boston.
Defense attorney Peter Krupp has accused federal prosecutors of dropping the less serious charge in order to "game the system" and allow a different judge to hear the case. "Having encountered difficult questions from this court in lengthy hearings in the late 1990s, the government chose to have the newest allegations returned in a separate indictment, so that it might be assigned a different docket and drawn to different judge," said Krupp.
The racketeering indictment, filed in 1995, was assigned to Wolf. The murder charges are part of a case brought in 2000 and assigned to a different judge.
"The government's apparent forum shopping is contrary to the public interest and undermines public confidence in the judicial process," Krupp argued. "The government's actions, choosing to pursue a new indictment, rather than a superseding indictment before this Court, reflect a manipulation of the case ..."
The racketeering charges would slow down their murder case, government prosecutors said.
Wolf is also expected to consider who should pick up Bulger's legal tab and how leaks from federal agents in the case can be stopped.
Bulger's attorneys have argued that the leaks about the case endanger the former fugitive's right to a fair trial on murder charges.
"If it is now possible -- and Mr. Bulger seriously questions whether it will be possible -- for Mr. Bulger to receive a fair trial, law enforcement leaks of non-public information must end, with disclosures of information limited to the judicial process," Krupp wrote.
Prosecutors say the 81-year-old Bulger was the boss of South Boston's Irish mob before he fled an impending racketeering indictment in 1995. At the same time, he was an FBI informant whose handler tipped him off about the charges -- a tale that became the basis for the Oscar-winning crime drama "The Departed."
Bulger was arrested last week in California, along with his longtime girlfriend, 60-year-old Catherine Elizabeth Greig. She has been charged with harboring a fugitive.
He has asked for a public defender, but prosecutors -- who said FBI agents seized more than $822,000 in cash from Bulger's Santa Monica apartment -- say he should pick up his own legal tab.
"He has every incentive to lie and stick the taxpayers with the bill for his defense," prosecutors wrote in court papers filed Tuesday. They said Bulger has admitted to stashing more money away with "people he trusted" but would not name, and suggested that Bulger's brother William could pay for a lawyer.
William Bulger is a former president of the University of Massachusetts and a state Senate leader. He was forced to step down from his university job after then-Gov. Mitt Romney, now a Republican presidential candidate, accused him of being evasive during congressional testimony about "Whitey's" whereabouts.
Prosecutors asked Wolf to require both William Bulger and a third Bulger brother, John Bulger, to submit affidavits before a decision is made.
Whitey Bulger also asked the judge to order federal agents to turn over notes of their interviews with him following his capture, arguing the documents are needed to defend himself against charges that he has hidden assets and will assist his defense.
Bulger lived "a relatively comfortable lifestyle" for the 16 years he was a fugitive, taking numerous gambling trips to Las Vegas, according to a government document filed in his case. Prosecutors say Bulger waived his Miranda rights after his arrest and told agents who were taking him back to Boston that he had been "a frequent traveler as a fugitive," according to the government.
"Bulger acknowledged visiting Las Vegas on numerous occasions to play the slots and claimed he won more than he lost," the filing said. "Bulger also admitted traveling to San Diego and then crossing over into Tijuana to purchase medicines."
Bulger also told the feds that he traveled back to Boston "on several occasions while 'armed to the teeth' because he 'had to take care of some unfinished business,'" the document said. Bulger refused to tell the agents any details of his Boston visits, it said.CNN's Sheila Steffen and Jason Kessler contributed to this report.
