WRKO - Whitey Watch

Whitey Watch

JAMES 'WHITEY' BULGER - Have you seen this man?

THE BROTHERS BULGER ON AMAZON.COM

WELCOME TO WHITEY WATCH!

Greetings to everyone new to this site, which is dedicated to the pursuit and career of fugitive serial killer James "Whitey" Bulger and the Boston underworld in general. All of the topics discussed here are covered in Howie Carr’s new book, "The Brothers Bulger: How They Terrorized and Corrupted boston for a Quarter Century", published by Warner Books. It’s on sale in bookstores everywhere, or you can order from Amazon by clicking here.
For those of you who wish to see photos of Whitey's victims, scroll down the page. Further down you will also find video of former mayor Kevin White’s statement that he feared that Whitey would murder him, and you can see how to order free magnets promoting "The Brothers Bulger" by sending a stamped, self-addressed enveloped to P.O. Box 812330, Wellesley MA 02482.

Archbishop Earl Paulk (far right) the 80-year-old leader of a suburban Atlanta megachurch who is at the center of a sex scandal bears a suspicious resemblance to Whitey (center photo) and maybe sited in Italy Whitey (Far left) don't you think?

Sweet ‘victory’ for Bulger victims’ kin
Boston Herald 11/20/2007

This week Whitey Watch provides a roundup of some gangland-hit photos that we have put up over the past two years.
If you want to delve even further into the sordid life and times of Whitey Bulger and organized crime in Boston, go to Whiteyworld.com, or buy The Brothers Bulger.

In Old Revere

Lou Fox, right, in Chesterfield coat, tries to avoid photographers as he leaves the courthouse in Pemberton Square in the early 1940’s. Fox was an old Prohibition bootlegger, a protégé of King Solomon. Until his death of heart attack in 1963, “LF,” as he was called, ran the rackets in Revere out of his insurance office on Shirley Ave. He was invariably described in the Boston newspapers as a “prominent North Shore sportsman.” LF’s top underworld associate was…

Maurice “Marsie” Lynch

Marsie also passed on, of natural causes, in the early 1960’s, and Revere reverted to the Mafia. Below are several famous Revere hoodlums.

Fat Vinnie Teresa

A con man who went into the Witness Protection Program after his arrest in 1967. In 1973, he wrote the first true-life New England Mob bestseller, “My Life in the Mafia,” an ironic title, considering he was never inducted into the Mafia. Died in Seattle 1990 at age 61.

Arthur Ventola

Owner of Arthur’s Farm, a giant fencing operation in Revere. Made the cover of Life magazine in 1967 when it was revealed that several pro athletes, including then Boston Patriots quarterback Babe Parelli, patronized the joint, although no inside information was ever passed.

Alexander Santoro “Sonny Boy” Rizzo

Longtime Revere LCN figure, attended the famous Guild Street Mafia initiation in 1989, was convicted of racketeering in 1995 at the age of 82 and did three years in federal prison before being released in 1998.

Mugshot Monday

Richard G. Tiberi

DOB 3/5/43 Photo Courtesy of the Rhode Island State Police.

The Irish Gang War of the 1960s.

Connie Hughes

Connie Hughes, shot to death May 1966

Stevie Hughes

Stevie Hughes and Sam Lindenbaum, shot to death September 1966

The Irish Gang War started between the McLaughlin Mob of Charlestown and the Winter Hill Gang of Somerville in September 1961. After a slow start, the bodies started piling up, and the Mafia began tying up its own loose ends, knowing every killing, of whatever ethnic group, would be blamed on the Hibernians. By 1967 so many bodies had piled up – over 40 – that a major national magazine ran a five-page spread on the bloodletting, including mugshots of all the victims up to that point.

Here made public for the first time ever is the FBI’s own list of the victims, compiled in early 1967. A few more murders occurred after this was written, including that of a third Bennett brother, Billy, and the gunsel who fingered him, Richard Grasso. But otherwise this compilation is relatively complete.

FBI List
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3

World Exclusive!
Johnny and Jimmy Martorano high school photos

John Martarano

James Martarano

Johnny and Jimmy Martorano, born 11 months apart in 1940-41, became gangsters at an early age, and Johnny eventually pleaded guilty to murdering about 20 people. He was freed from prison last March. Along with Howie Winter, Johnny Martorano was the boss of the Winter Hill Gang. Jimmy Martorano was also in the gang, although he was later inducted into LCN – the Mafia.

In high school, Johnny was an All-State fullback. In one year at a Rhode Island prep school, one of his blocking linemen was the late CBS newsman Ed Bradley, who recalled Johnny’s nickname as “the Milkman… because he always delivered.” Both brothers graduated from Milton High School in 1959.

Milton High Yearbook
Book Cover
Martarano Page

Here are the captions, first for Jimmy:
“Popularity is glory.”
Friendly and spirited Jim… dynamic football co-captain and Youth Club President… a marked leader in all activities… a smart dresser. Home Room Delegation 3; Football 1,2, Co-Captain 3; Track 1,2.

Johnny’s caption:
“Courage can be a very difficult neurosis.”
Johnny… will always be remembered for his great football potentials and innumerable touchdowns… admits his pet peeve is history. Football 1,2, Co-Captain 3; Basketball 2,3; Baseball 2.

Mugshot Monday

Louis S. Martone

DOB 11/5/41 Photo Courtesy of the Rhode Island State Police.

World Exclusive!
June 1965: FBI Agents Pay Hospital Visit to Gangster They Know Killed at least 6 Men.

This is Vincent “Jimmy the Bear” Flemmi, brother of Whitey’s partner Stevie Flemmi. In April 1965, the FBI’s corrupt Boston office made him a Top Echelon informant, even though they knew he had killed several hoodlums, and was about to kill another – Teddy Deegan. The Flemmis were involved in a gang war along with their older leader and mentor, Wimpy Bennett….

… whom Stevie would murder in January 1967. On the other side of the war were the McLaughlins of Charlestown, led by Edward “Punchy” McLaughlin….

… who would be murdered in October 1965. The McLaughlin crew included a Dorchester hoodlum, James “Spike” O’Toole….

On the night of June 3, 1965, as Flemmi left his house in Dorchester, O’Toole and another McLaughlin gunner opened fire on him. He was wounded and taken to Boston City Hospital, where he was visited the next day by his FBI handlers, who filed the three-page report below. Pay particular attention to page 3, in which you will read, for the first time publicly, the names of the Boston gangsters the FBI knew that the Bear had murdered….

FBI report
Memo

The victims

Frank Benjamin – served time at MCI-Norfolk with Jimmy, head chopped off, never found

John Murray – South End hoodlum

George Ashe – another FBI informant

Joseph Francione – murdered January 1965

Teddy Deegan – the other shooter was future FBI informant Joe Barboza.

Leo “Iggy” Lowry – another former MCI-Norfolk inmate.

Key sentence: “From all indications, he is going to continue to commit murder.” But the G-men didn’t care, because the Bear was providing them with information.

Postscript: Spike O’Toole was shot to death in Dorchester in December 1973. Jimmy the Bear ended up in prison, received a weekend furlough from Gov. Mike Dukakis in 1975 and escaped for three years. He died of a drug overdose at MCI-Norfolk in 1979. Both of his brothers, Stevie and Michael, a former Boston police officer, are in federal prisons.

Mafia thug Larry Zannino's high-school yearbook picture

Ilario Zannino, a/k/a Larry Baione, the number-two LCN gangster in Boston under Gennaro Angiulo, graduated from Franklin High School in 1938, even though he was from the South End. His nickname was, of all things, "Zip," just like his future nemesis, crooked FBI agent John "Zip" Connolly. He said he was interested in medical school -- shades of Meadow Soprano! Here's the inscription on the page, to his friend Nat, who went on to become an elementary-school principal:

"To Nat: One of my best pals in fact my best pal. I'll miss you kid but I'll be out to see you don't worry. When you become a big 'bookie' look me up. Well so long Nat, Larry. P.S. Let's go."

Let's go was the name of the boys' clique, or should I say gang? In 1954, Larry showed up at Nat's wedding, pressed a $100 bill (a lot of money in those days) in Nat's hand and said, "Buy yourself a necktie, kid."

Larry died at the federal prison hospital in Springfield MO in the late 1990's. Below is a mugshot from his prime stealing and killing years:

Mugshot Monday

Gerald M. Tillinghast

DOB 3/11/46 Photo Courtesy of the Rhode Island State Police.

Richie Castucci, hard-luck hood 1930-1976

With his dad, after busting up a robbery, late 1940’s.