FBI doubles reward for Bulger's 79th's birthday

September 3, 2008 05:20 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

(Wiqan Ang/Globe Staff)

US Attorney Michael Sullivan was one of the law enforcement officials who announced the increase in the reward.

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

The FBI marked fugitive gangster James "Whitey" Bulger's 79th birthday today with an announcement that it has increased the reward for information leading to his capture from $1 million to $2 million -- the largest amount the bureau has offered for a domestic fugitive.

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff/file 1994)

"Let this be a reminder to Mr. Bulger, his family, his friends and supporters, the community and to anyone who is harboring Mr. Bulger during his fugitive status that the Bulger Fugitive Task Force will doggedly hunt for Mr. Bulger until he is apprehended and returned to Massachusetts,'' Noreen Gleason, an assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office, said at a news conference today.

The task force also released two new age-enhanced photos of Bulger, who fled just before his January 1995 federal racketeering indictment and was later charged with 19 murders and publicly identified as a longtime FBI informant. He has been a fixture on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list since 1999. The only fugitive on that list with a higher bounty on his head is Osama bin Laden. The US State Department is offering a $25 million reward for information leading to bin Laden's arrest.

US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan said that anyone who provides information that leads directly to Bulger's arrest -- including the fugitive's girlfriend, Catherine Greig, who is charged with harboring Bulger and believed to be traveling with him -- could qualify for the reward.

"If she decides at this point in her life she wants to come home and be with family and friends and wants to turn James 'Whitey' Bulger in, I think we would welcome the opportunity to sit down and negotiate the reward with Catherine Greig,'' Sullivan said. "I can't think of anybody we would not welcome the opportunity to pay this reward to, except to James 'Whitey' Bulger ... It's our intent to put the cuffs on Bulger and have him stand trial for the charges he faces.''

During the news conference, the FBI acknowledged publicly for the first time that Bulger, who has not been charged with any sexual offenses, was suspected of molesting a number of young girls. One of Bulger's former associates first raised the allegations years ago.

In addition to the murder, extortion and drug charges facing Bulger, Gleason said, investigators believe Bulger "preyed on innocent girls as young as 12 years old.''

Gleason revealed today that some of Bulger's sexual assault victims, who are now women, have been interviewed in recent years by the task Force, which comprised of FBI agents and officers from the State Police and the Department of Correction.

"These victims expressed their fear and concern of retaliation from Mr. Bulger and his associates for cooperation with law enforcement,'' said Gleason, calling Bulger "a true predator in every sense of the word.''

A new wanted poster of Bulger, with the two new age-enhanced photos, will be posted on the FBI's website today and distributed to the FBI's 56 field divisions in this coutnry and its 60 legal attache offices worldwide, officials said.

Officials said they hoped the increased reward and international media attention about Bulger's case will lead to the capture of the former South Boston crime boss.

"He's got to be sleeping somewhere and going down to get his cofee someplace,'' said Massachusetts State Police Colonel Mark F. Delaney. "He can't be invisible. He can't be living in the shadows forever.''

The last confirmed sighting of Bulger was in London in 2002, according to the FBI.

Today's announcement comes as Bulger's former handler, retired FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr., is about to stand trial in Miami on state murder charges. Jury selection is slated to begin Monday in the case against Connolly, who is accused of plotting with Bulger and fellow informant, Stephen "The Rifleman'' Flemmi, to orchestrate a 1982 slaying. Connolly is already serving a 10-year prison term for his 2002 conviction in Boston on federal racketeering charges for protecting Bulger and Flemmi and warning them to flee before their 1995 indictment.