Whitey Bulger’s longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig, is set to enter a guilty plea today in federal court in Boston to multiple counts relating to her 16 years on the run with the notorious Boston gangster. The Bulger case has fascinated us for almost 2 decades after his flight to avoid prosecution just before his indictment in January 1995. Strangely, the Superseding Indictment to which Greig is pleading guilty does not mention that Bulger’s former FBI handler, John Connolly, was the one who tipped Bulger to his imminent arrest. Connolly was ultimately tried and convicted of that offense in 2002 and sentenced to serve 10 years in federal prison. Before he was released from federal custody, Connolly was convicted in the State of Florida of second degree murder and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
For decades, Bulger was suspected of leading the South Boston Winter Hill gang. The FBI ultimately conceded in federal court that at the same time that Bulger was under investigation, he was one of the Boston FBI’s most productive confidential informants, delivering evidence to lock up top members of the Italian mafia.
Greig, who fled Boston with Bulger in 1995, will plead guilty to conspiracy to harbor a fugitive, conspiracy to commit identity theft, and identity fraud. She also agrees as part of her plea to forfeit any profits she receives from the story of her life with Whitey. The facts outlining Greig’s life on the run with Bulger are outlined in court documents. According to the New York Times family members of victims of Bulger’s crimes met with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston on Monday and were told that Greig could receive a sentence of as few as 2-3 years in prison.
Greig and Bulger were arrested last June in Santa Monica where they were living under assumed names. More than $800,000 in cash and a stash of weapons were recovered from their apartment. Bulger is expected to go on trial in November for having committed more than a dozen murders. Greig is not cooperating with the government in that prosecution.
