Whitey Bulger on Life as a Fugitive: 'I Was Armed to the Teeth'
June 27, 2011— -- Whitey Bulger told federal officials he dressed in disguise and snuck into Boston "armed to the teeth" to visit close confidants and "take care of unfinished business" while he was living in hiding as a fugitive, according to a government court document, obtained by ABC News, arguing against the mobster getting taxpayer-funded defense.
Bulger spilled that staggering detail -- along with the news that he stashed money with people he trusted -- while traveling from California to Boston's Logan Airport after his capture at a Santa Monica rent-controlled apartment where he had spent the last 15 years on the lam, according to the government's argument.
"Bulger acknowledged visiting Las Vegas on numerous occasions to play the slots and claimed he won more than he lost,'' according to federal prosecutors.
Bulger, according to prosecutors, did not specify whom he visited with or what kind of "unfinished business" he engaged in. The 81-year-old Boston mobster, who was the FBI's most wanted fugitive, fled Massachusetts in 1995 with his moll, Catherine Greig.
The couple were arrested without incident June 22 outside his apartment where investigators found $822,198 in $100 bills bundled together and secreted in a hiding space behind the walls. He also stashed more than 30 weapons at the apartment.
Tuesday the federal prosecutors plan to argue that Bulger has hidden money with friends and possibly family members since he became a fugitive. They will petition a judge to require affidavits from Bulger's brothers, William Bulger, the former speaker of the House in Massachusetts, and John Bulger, about their assets. John Bulger used a check from his personal checking account to pay rent on a safe deposit box at a Clearwater, Fla, bank where Whitey Bulger had obtained the box in 1982 and put in the name of another longtime girlfriend, Theresa Stanley, prosecutors said.
"Bulger may have additional assets and or allies willing to assist him in his current predicament,'' the government argued. "After he was arrested, defendant Bulger told the U.S. Pretrial Services Office in Los Angeles that the defendant's brother, William Bulger, might be willing to assist in posting bail for the defendant's long-time companion Catherine Greig."
On Monday, Greig hired well-known criminal defense attorney Kevin Reddington. It is unclear who is paying for the defense, and Reddington did not return calls from ABC News. Bulger attorney Peter Krupp could not be reached for comment.
Investigators also said they are analyzing two cell phones to see whom the Boston mobster was contacting.
