'Whitey' Bulger wants public defender, FBI leaks stopped

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.

CNN

Captured fugitive 'Whitey' Bulger could be taken to Boston Friday

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Captured alleged mobster James "Whitey" Bulger may be moved back to Boston Friday to begin facing the numerous charges of murder and other crimes connected to what authorities say were his days as the leader of the Winter Hill Gang.

Bulger, who vanished in 1995 into lore and became the inspiration for the 2006 Martin Scorsese film "The Departed," was nabbed by the FBI Wednesday night in southern California.

Bulger was arrested with his longtime girlfriend Catherine Elizabeth Greig, 60, who was also charged in the case.

Sporting glasses and a white beard, Bulger appeared relaxed Thursday at a Los Angeles hearing. The FBI says Bulger could be extradited back to Boston as earlier as Friday.

Waiting in Boston will be the indictments he fled in 1995. Bulger, 81, faces 19 counts of murder along with conspiracy to commit murder, extortion, narcotics distribution and money-laundering charges, the FBI said.

Bulger, who was subject of a $2 million FBI reward, had been living in a Santa Monica apartment and was arrested outside it, the FBI said.

Acting on a tip, members of the Fugitive Task Force staked out the residence Wednesday and arrested Bulger and Greig, 60, who was inside the home, said FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers. Greig is suspected of harboring Bulger.

Neither put up a fight, authorities said. After the arrests, members of the Fugitive Task Force, which included the FBI and police, searched the apartment.

More than $800,000 in cash, 30 firearms and fake IDs were found in the apartment, the FBI said.

The tipster called the FBI's Los Angeles office on Tuesday, and the information led authorities to the apartment, Martinez said. He would not divulge the city from which the call came.

"We were not aware he was in L.A.," Martinez said of Bulger.

Asked by reporters if it was embarrassing to the FBI that Bulger, who reportedly used an alias, and Greig were hiding in plain sight, Martinez said, "I wouldn't say embarrassing. I would say challenging.

"It's not the first time that a fugitive has evaded justice for many years," Martinez continued. "But he was not able to be successful ultimately."

Federal prosecutors have portrayed Bulger as a violent and dangerous man whose criminal enterprise included gambling, extortion, loansharking, narcotics and the alleged murders of people who got in the way or knew too much.

Tipped off by an FBI agent about an impending racketeering indictment, Bulger disappeared. The search even reached Italy, where a reported sighting of the South Boston crime figure didn't pan out.

The end of the manhunt for one of the nation's most notorious gangsters came within days of the FBI launching a publicity campaign, airing ads about Greig in 14 markets across the country where the couple were known to have ties, authorities said. The arrests were a "direct result" of the media campaign, authorities said.

Some of the allegations go back 40 years, and it is unclear how many potential trial witnesses survive.

Carmen Ortiz, U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said she believes the death penalty is not an option in the federal charges Bulger faces in her district, but that she believes he could face the death penalty for two cases outside the district.

FBI Director Robert Mueller traveled to Boston on Thursday to meet and congratulate staff involved in Bulger's capture. Mueller was an assistant U.S. attorney in Boston in the 1980s, during the height of Bulger's reign.

Bulger -- known to alter his appearance through disguises -- was "considered armed and extremely dangerous," according to his description on the FBI's Most Wanted list. "He has a violent temper and is known to carry a knife at all times."

"He's definitely a legend back there," Jimmy LeBlanc, who lives in California and used to live in Boston, told CNN affiliate KABC. "You've heard all the stories, things he's done, corruption and all that. A lot of people said, 'Oh he's dead,' or maybe they don't want to see him get caught. He might take down the whole FBI if he starts talking."

The agent who tipped Bulger about an impending indictment, John Connolly, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for racketeering and obstruction of justice. Connolly was later also sentenced to 40 years in prison for a mob-related killing of a witness who was about to testify against Boston mob members.

Prosecutors said Connolly was corrupted by his two highest-ranking snitches: Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi.

Bulger's brother William, former president of the Massachusetts State Senate, released a brief comment Thursday. William Bulger stepped down as president of the University of Massachusetts in 2003 after months of pressure by then-Gov. Mitt Romney. He had accused Bulger of being evasive during congressional testimony about his fugitive brother's whereabouts.

"I wish to express my sympathy to all the families hurt by the calamitous circumstances of this case," William Bulger said,. "As the judicial process takes its course, I shall make no further comment at this time. Along with everyone else involved, I look forward to a resolution of this matter."

CNN's Carey Bodenheimer, Michael Martinez, Carol Cratty, Paul Vercammen, Josh Levs and Deborah Feyerick contributed to this report.

CNN