Federal magistrate sets Nov. 5 trial date for James ‘Whitey’ Bulger

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

A federal magistrate judge has set Nov. 5 as the date for the trial of 82-year-old gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, rejecting claims by Bulger’s lawyers that they needed another year to prepare for the trial.

James “Whitey” Bulger’s booking photo

US Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler set the date in a hearing today in US District Court in Boston. She said she wanted to keep a close eye on the progress both sides were making in getting ready for trial and set a status hearing for March 19.

Federal prosecutor Brian Kelly argued that Bulger was trying to avoid a trial. “Frankly, it appears to us that Mr. Bulger is trying to run out the clock and delay it so he doesn’t have a trial,” he said.

“We don’t need to delay this endlessly for discovery issues that are irrelevant,” he said.

Immediately after Bowler announced the trial date, defense attorney J.W. Carney Jr. spoke up, saying, “Your honor, I object. We can’t possibly be ready.”

Bulger, who is charged with 19 murders as part of a sweeping racketeering case, did not attend the hearing.

Bulger, who became one of the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted after fleeing to evade a 1995 federal racketeering indictment, was captured last June in Santa Monica, Calif. He had been living there in a rent-controlled apartment with his girlfriend, Catherine Greig, for at least 13 years, according to neighbors.

In a memorandum filed with the court this morning, Carney said prosecutors had turned over approximately 580,000 pages of documents and 921 wiretap tapes, of which only a few have been transcribed. He estimated it would take at least a year to review all of the evidence if the lawyers spend 40 hours a week on the task.

The revelation in 1997 that Bulger and his sidekick, Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, were longtime FBI informants who allegedly got away with murder while being protected by corrupt FBI agents, triggered federal court and Congressional hearings into the FBI’s handling of its informants. Several of Bulger’s former associates cooperated against him, testifying in criminal trials, as well as civil trials brought by the families of his alleged victims.

Bulger’s former handler, John J. Connolly Jr., has already completed a 10-year sentence for racketeering and is now serving a 40-year prison term in Florida for a 1982 gangland murder.

Martin Finucane of the Globe staff contributed to this report.