Whitey Bulger, Boston’s famous mob boss amassed over 25 million dollars through racketeering in his 20 years as an FBI informant, according to documents filed in Federal Court. CNN reports that a federal jury convicted Bulger in August on 31 counts of racketeering, extortion, and money laundering. They ultimately ruled that Bulger participated in the murder of 11 people. He will be sentenced on November 13.
The evidence presented at trial read that “the proceeds from the Defendant’s racketeering conspiracy totaled millions upon millions upon millions of dollars,” according to the federal prosecutors’ “motion of forfeiture” released on Friday, which breaks down Bulger’s spoils that were exposed in testimony from gangsters, former associates, drug dealers, convicted felons, and extortion victims during the 41 day trial this summer.
The notorious mob boss began building capital off his criminal empire around 1972. He continued until around 2000, 5 years after he went on the lam after being tipped off by his rogue FBI connection to a pending indictment.
Michael Solimando, a business entrepreneur testified that Bulger pointed a gun at his belly, and then threatened to kill his family. Solimando, 64, described how, at a meeting between them, Bulger took a machine gun and “shoved it underneath the table, pointed at my stomach and my groin,” and how he was forced to pay Bulger $400,000.
Marijuana smuggler, David William Lindholm, testified he almost didn’t survive a high-stakes Russian-roulette style drama when Bulger ordered his goon to load the chamber of a gun with one bullet and fire that bullet past his head.
“A bullet was put in the chamber it was spun and pointed at my head,” said Lindholm. He lived to testify that Bulger extorted $250,000 from him.
Many convicted drug dealers testified that Bulger collected “rent” from criminal operatives, a tax that had to be paid to him in order to do drug business in South Boston during the “Bulger Era”.
Richard Buccheri, a Boston real estate developer used two fingers to show the a gun barrel as he described how Bulger “takes a shotgun off the table and sticks it in my mouth. Then he took it out, punched me in the shoulder and said, ‘Richard you’re a stand-up guy. I’m not going to kill you.'” But then, Buccheri said, Bulger “puts a 45 to my head” and demands $200,000 in 30 days, “threatening to kill me and my family.”
Whitey Bulger was found hiding out in Santa Monica, California, with his girlfriend and $822,000 in cash in 2011. They also had 30 guns and an assortment of knives and a taser. Before his conviction, Bulger waived his right to a forfeiture hearing. The government has moved to seize Bulger’s personal assets that they say he gained from a life of gambling and drug dealing. These include jewelry, electronics, art, furniture, clothing and other items found in the Santa Monica apartment.