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

Top cartel leader captured in Mexico

Mexico City (CNN) -- Mexican authorities captured the top leader of one of the country's most violent drug cartels Tuesday, officials said.

Federal police captured Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas, also known as "The Monkey," in an operation in the state of Aguascalientes, Mexico's national security spokesman said.

Spokesman Alejandro Poire called Mendez the "principal head" of La Familia Michoacana cartel and said his capture was the federal government's "most overwhelming blow" to the group.

"This capture destroys what remained of the leadership structure of this criminal organization," he said.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon praised the capture on his official Twitter account: "A large blow by federal police to organized crime. One of the most wanted criminals was captured. Congratulations."

Mexico's Attorney General's Office had offered a 30 million peso ($2.5 million) reward for information leading to his arrest, saying Mendez was the mastermind behind drug trafficking, kidnappings and killings.

Tuesday's operation marks the fall of 21 of the suspects on Mexico's "most dangerous criminals" list, Poire said.

No deaths or violent clashes have been reported from Tuesday's operation, he said.

La Familia began operating in the state of Michoacan more than a decade ago, the country's national security spokesman told reporters last year. But it grabbed national attention in 2006 after reportedly hurling five decapitated heads of rival gang members onto a dance floor.

Mexico's public safety secretary has said Mendez was responsible for passing on the organization's values to new generations of drug runners in the cartel. Along with other leaders, he helped expand La Familia's reach to other Mexican states.

Extorting residents and charging fees to drug traffickers operating in Michoacan allowed the cartel to push away competitors, Mexican authorities said.

The cartel is known for its violence and the rules it imposes on its members.

Last year Mexican federal police gunned down Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, whom they described as the group's "spiritual leader."

Mexican authorities say the ideology advocated by the cartel's leaders includes banning members from consuming drugs and alcohol with the goal of keeping a tighter emotional grip on subordinates.

"The indoctrination of this group consists of courses in self-improvement, values, ethical principles and morals in keeping with the purposes of the criminal organization. With the objective that their subordinates separate themselves from drugs and alcohol and they unite with their families," Mexico's public safety ministry said in a 2009 statement after capturing the alleged head of La Familia's training operations.

La Familia's approach shows a "strong religious background," the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said in a 2009 statement.

"It purportedly originated to protect locals from the violence of drug cartels. Now, La Familia Michoacana uses drug proceeds to fuel their agenda that encompasses a Robin Hood-type mentality -- steal from the rich and give to the poor," the statement said. "They believe they are doing God's work, and pass out Bibles and money to the poor. La Familia Michoacana also gives money to schools and local officials."

Intelligence reports indicate that the cartel is "heavily involved in the production of methamphetamine" for export to the United States, according to the DEA, in addition to the distribution of cocaine and marijuana.

CNNMexico.com and CNN's Rene Hernandez, Maria Elisa Callejas and Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this report.

CNN

Notorious Hutu militia leader captured

The Hutu militia, known as the Interahamwe, was responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in Rwanda in the 1990s.Bernard Munyagishari is accused of genocide and crimes against humanity, including rapeHe was detained in an operation led by Congolese troops, the tribunal for Rwanda saysThe tribunals for Rwanda and for the former Yugoslavia are both making progress

(CNN) -- One of the most notorious leaders of the Rwandan Hutu militia in the 1990s has been apprehended in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) announced Thursday.

Bernard Munyagishari was wanted by the tribunal on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, including rape.

The announcement of his capture was almost a side note in the struggle to bring to justice those indicted for crimes against humanity, coming as it did on the same day that Bosnian Serb Gen. Ratko Mladic was apprehended after a more-than-15-year manhunt.

Mladic: Commander turned fugitive

In the spring of 1994, the international community was preoccupied with the Bosnian Serbs' campaign of ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia, a campaign that would culminate the following year in a massacre at Srebrenica. But at the same time, thousands of miles away, Hutu militia were beginning a rampage across Rwanda, unhindered by any international intervention. Munyagishari was allegedly one of their leaders.

The militia, known as the Interahamwe, was responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in Rwanda as they set about a campaign of genocide against ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutu. An estimated 800,000 people were killed in three months of massacres and arbitrary executions.

Munyagishari was detained in an operation led by Congolese troops in a remote and forested area of north Kivu, the ICTR said. He is currently being held in Goma in Congo, awaiting transfer to the tribunal, which is based in Arusha in Tanzania.

According to an indictment published in 2005, Munyagishari led the Interahamwe in the district of Gisenye. It alleges that long before the genocide occurred, Munyagishari was training and distributing weapons to Interahamwe groups to enable them "more efficiently to attack and kill the Tutsis and Hutu opponents."

Early in 1994 he is alleged to have spread rumors that Tutsi were poisoning the water supply and "masterminded a virulent hate campaign against the Tutsis."

In April 1994, the indictment alleges, Munyagishari "selected Tutsis and ordered his Interahamwe to take them to be killed and buried at the 'Commune Rouge,'" an infamous cemetery in Gisenye. He also created a special militia "to rape Tutsi women and girls before killing them" and was allegedly involved in an attack on a Catholic church where many Tutsis had taken refuge.

That attack took place in the same week that US F-16 jets attacked the positions of Mladic's forces as they lay siege to the Bosnian town of Gorazde.

For years it seemed that both the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the ICTR were destined to be expensive failures, unable to bring those accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity to justice. There was also widespread criticism of the ICTR for its perceived failure to prosecute those accused of crimes of sexual violence.

But as the years have passed, the political landscape has changed and hiding places have shrunk. The old generation of Serbian hardliners has lost influence and the young republic has eyes on joining the European Union. In central Africa, after years of antagonism, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have begun cooperating on a range of issues, from trade to tackling the militia rife in eastern Congo.

Such tribunals are expensive. Both the ICTR and the Yugoslav tribunal cost more than $130 million a year to sustain. And they move slowly as evidence is collected and translated, defense teams assembled and the scope of international law tested.

Both courts have focused on bringing to justice the alleged architects of atrocities rather than the foot soldiers, in a calculated message to any who might contemplate such strategies in the future. And in the view of Antonio Cassese, the former president of the Yugoslav tribunal, "Justice is an indispensable ingredient of the process of national reconciliation. ... It breaks the cycle of violence, hatred and extra-judicial retribution.'

Eventually some of the most wanted figures from both Rwanda's genocide and the civil war in the former Yugoslavia -- not all of them Serbs by any means -- have been brought to trial.

At the ICTR, 32 cases have been completed and nine accused remain at large. A further 22 cases are currently being heard. At The Hague, the Yugoslav tribunal has charged more than 160 people, including heads of government and high-level military figures. More than 60 have been convicted and more than 40 are in various stages of proceedings.

Add to that list: Ratko Mladic and Bernard Munyagishari.

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Father of captured soldier seeks Pakistan's help

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The father of the only U.S. soldier held captive in the Afghan war appealed to the Pakistani military for help in freeing his son in a video posted on YouTube on Friday.

The parents of Spc. Bowe Bergdahl have declined to say much publicly since their son went missing from his base in southern Afghanistan on June 30, 2009. While it's unclear where the 25-year-old soldier is being held, a video that surfaced earlier this week shows him standing next to a senior official in the al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network in Paktika province in Afghanistan.

In Friday's video, Idaho resident Bob Bergdahl urges members of the Pakistani military to help secure his son's release. He directly references Pakistani Army Chief of Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, the head of the country's intelligence service.

"Our family is counting on your professional integrity and your honor to secure the safe return of our son," he said. "And we thank you. Our family knows the high price that has been paid by your men in the army and the frontier corps. We give our condolences and thanks to the families of those who have fallen for Pakistan."

Idaho National Guard spokesman Col. Tim Marsano, a liaison for the U.S. Army in Idaho, confirmed that Bob Bergdahl is the man in the video.

Wearing a long beard he began growing just after his son's capture, Bob Bergdahl speaks in both English and Arabic in the video, and he talks directly to members of the Haqqanis and their military commander, Mullah Sangeen.

"Strangely to some, we must also thank those who have cared for our son, for almost two years, Mullah Sangeen, the Haqqanis, and others who have played a role in sheltering the American prisoner," he said. "We know our son is a prisoner and at the same time a guest in your home."

The video comes after Osama Bin Laden's death in a U.S. raid on Sunday in Pakistan. Bergdahl doesn't allude to any relationship between that and the timing of this video.

The U.S. considers the Haqqani group to be its greatest enemy in Afghanistan. U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, complained last month that Pakistan's military-run intelligence service maintains links to the Haqqani network. The Haqqanis are Afghan Taliban who control parts of eastern Afghanistan and have bases in Pakistan's North Waziristan frontier tribal region.

Speaking to his son, Bob Bergdahl offered reassurances that the family has done all it can — and that they want him home safe.

"We have been quiet in public, but we have not been quiet behind the scenes," Bob Bergdahl said. "Continue to be patient and kind to those around you. You are not forgotten."

In the video, Bergdahl appears to reference the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the government founded by the Taliban in 1996 that was toppled from power in 2001.

"We understand the rationale the Islamic Emirate has made through their videos," Bergdahl said. "No family in the United States understands the detainee issue like ours. Our son's safe return will only heighten public awareness of this. That said, our son is being exploited. It is past time for Bowe and the others to come home."

Bergdahl does not indicate to whom he's referring to with the phrase "the others." There are no other U.S. soldiers in captivity in Afghanistan.

Marsano said he was uncertain about the passage.

"I'm not privy to all the information Mr. Bergdahl has, nor did he ask me to expand upon his remarks," Marsano said.

A phone call to U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida, wasn't immediately returned.

The Bergdahls, who live in a home outside of Hailey near the tourist resort of Sun Valley, have largely shunned media attention following their son's capture. Last year, Bowe Bergdahl's mother, Jani Bergdahl, attended an elementary school ceremony after students wrote President Barack Obama urging him to help bring about the captive's release.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

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Father of captured soldier seeks Pakistan's help

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The father of the only U.S. soldier held captive in the Afghan war appealed to the Pakistani military for help in freeing his son in a video posted on YouTube on Friday.

The parents of Spc. Bowe Bergdahl have declined to say much publicly since their son went missing from his base in southern Afghanistan on June 30, 2009. While it's unclear where the 25-year-old soldier is being held, a video that surfaced earlier this week shows him standing next to a senior official in the al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network in Paktika province in Afghanistan.

In Friday's video, Idaho resident Bob Bergdahl urges members of the Pakistani military to help secure his son's release. He directly references Pakistani Army Chief of Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, the head of the country's intelligence service.

"Our family is counting on your professional integrity and your honor to secure the safe return of our son," he said. "And we thank you. Our family knows the high price that has been paid by your men in the army and the frontier corps. We give our condolences and thanks to the families of those who have fallen for Pakistan."

Idaho National Guard spokesman Col. Tim Marsano, a liaison for the U.S. Army in Idaho, confirmed that Bob Bergdahl is the man in the video.

Wearing a long beard he began growing just after his son's capture, Bob Bergdahl speaks in both English and Arabic in the video, and he talks directly to members of the Haqqanis and their military commander, Mullah Sangeen.

"Strangely to some, we must also thank those who have cared for our son, for almost two years, Mullah Sangeen, the Haqqanis, and others who have played a role in sheltering the American prisoner," he said. "We know our son is a prisoner and at the same time a guest in your home."

The video comes after Osama Bin Laden's death in a U.S. raid on Sunday in Pakistan. Bergdahl doesn't allude to any relationship between that and the timing of this video.

The U.S. considers the Haqqani group to be its greatest enemy in Afghanistan. U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, complained last month that Pakistan's military-run intelligence service maintains links to the Haqqani network. The Haqqanis are Afghan Taliban who control parts of eastern Afghanistan and have bases in Pakistan's North Waziristan frontier tribal region.

Speaking to his son, Bob Bergdahl offered reassurances that the family has done all it can — and that they want him home safe.

"We have been quiet in public, but we have not been quiet behind the scenes," Bob Bergdahl said. "Continue to be patient and kind to those around you. You are not forgotten."

In the video, Bergdahl appears to reference the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the government founded by the Taliban in 1996 that was toppled from power in 2001.

"We understand the rationale the Islamic Emirate has made through their videos," Bergdahl said. "No family in the United States understands the detainee issue like ours. Our son's safe return will only heighten public awareness of this. That said, our son is being exploited. It is past time for Bowe and the others to come home."

Bergdahl does not indicate to whom he's referring to with the phrase "the others." There are no other U.S. soldiers in captivity in Afghanistan.

Marsano said he was uncertain about the passage.

"I'm not privy to all the information Mr. Bergdahl has, nor did he ask me to expand upon his remarks," Marsano said.

A phone call to U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida, wasn't immediately returned.

The Bergdahls, who live in a home outside of Hailey near the tourist resort of Sun Valley, have largely shunned media attention following their son's capture. Last year, Bowe Bergdahl's mother, Jani Bergdahl, attended an elementary school ceremony after students wrote President Barack Obama urging him to help bring about the captive's release.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

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