Bulger: A Timeline

(NECN: Greg Wayland)

      - Sept. 3, 1929: James Bulger is born to Irish immigrant parents
living in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. He is the second of six
children. His shock of platinum blonde hair earns him the nickname
"Whitey."

      - 1956: Whitey Bulger is sentenced to federal prison for bank
robbery. After he's suspected of plotting an escape from one
prison, he's transferred to Alcatraz to serve part of his term.

      - 1960: Bulger's younger brother, William, is elected to the
state House of Representatives. John Connolly, a childhood friend
from South Boston, works on the campaign.

      - 1965: Whitey Bulger is released from prison and comes home to
"Southie." He becomes a top lieutenant to Somerville mobster
Howie Winter, head of the Winter Hill Gang.

      - Mid-1960s: Gangster Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi develops a
relationship with Boston FBI agent H. Paul Rico. Flemmi, using the
code name "Jack from South Boston" informs on members of the
Providence, R.I.-based New England Mafia.

      - 1969: Flemmi is indicted for the murder of a mobster, and with
childhood friend "Cadillac" Frank Salemme, for a car bombing.
Rico tips off Flemmi that the indictments are coming, and the two
flee Boston. Flemmi spends the next 4½ years on the lam.

      - 1970: William Bulger is elected to the state Senate.

      - 1972: John Connolly, now an FBI agent, recognizes Salemme on
the street in New York City and arrests him. Salemme is later
sentenced to 15 years in prison. The arrest earns Connolly a
transfer back to his hometown of Boston.

      - 1974: Flemmi returns to Boston after criminal charges are
dropped when several key witnesses recant. He hooks up with Winter,
who counts Whitey Bulger among his key allies.

      - June 1975: Edward Connors is killed by Flemmi to prevent him
from telling authorities about an earlier murder by the Winter Hill
Gang.

      - September 1975: Acting partly on Flemmi's recommendation,
Bulger cuts a deal with Connolly to provide information on the
Italian Mafia in exchange for protection from the FBI.

      - 1977: Veteran agent John Morris is appointed to oversee
Connolly and his underworld informants.

      - 1978: William Bulger becomes president of the state Senate and
goes on to serve in the post longer than anyone in its history.

      - 1979: After a former business associate implicates Whitey
Bulger and Flemmi in a horse race-fixing scheme, FBI agents
Connolly and Morris persuade federal prosecutors to leave the two
out of the indictment. Twenty-one people are charged, including
Howie Winter, whose conviction paves the way for Bulger and Flemmi
to assume control of the Winter Hill Gang.

      - November 1980: Bulger and Flemmi help the FBI plant a
surveillance bug in the North End headquarters of Boston Mafia boss
Gennaro Angiulo.

      - May 1981: Roger Wheeler, the owner of World Jai Alai, a
gambling enterprise from which Bulger and Flemmi have been skimming
money, is shot between the eyes in the parking lot of his country
club in Tulsa, Okla. The killer is Winter Hill Gang hitman John
Martorano.

      - Spring 1982: Bulger and Flemmi gun down a former henchman in
broad daylight on a South Boston street to prevent him from telling
about the Wheeler murder. Connolly files a report with the FBI
saying rival gangsters made the hit.

      - July 1982: Flemmi and Bulger order Martorano to kill John
Callahan, the former president of World Jai Alai, to prevent him
from telling investigators about the Jai Alai scheme.

      - January 1995: Bulger disappears on the eve of his indictment
on racketeering charges.

      - 1997: The FBI, under court order, acknowledges that Bulger and
Flemmi were "top echelon" informants as a federal probe into the
agency's corrupt ties to its mob informants begins.

      - May 2002: Connolly is convicted of racketeering for warning
Bulger, Salemme and Flemmi that they were about to be indicted in
January 1995.

      - June 2003: William Bulger testifies before a congressional
committee investigating the FBI's ties to mobster informants such
as his brother. After receiving immunity, he acknowledged receiving
a call from Whitey shortly after he fled, but said he has not heard
from him since and has no idea where he is.

      - August 2003: William Bulger resigns as president of the
University of Massachusetts system amid growing pressure.

      - 2005: Federal and state law enforcement officials investigate
leads and Whitey Bulger look-alikes in at least 19 countries.

      - 2006: Authorities release 26-year-old surveillance video of
Bulger in the hope that someone will recognize his mannerisms.

      - 2007: FBI releases video of a couple that resembles Bulger and
his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig, in Italy.

      - 2008: Connolly is convicted of second-degree murder in the hit
on Martorano, as prosecutors argue the information he provide the
mobsters was critical to the hit.

      - 2010: FBI appeals to plastic surgeons in the effort to locate
Bulger and Greig.

      - June 20, 2011: FBI announces an effort to target Greig in the
hopes of reaching Bulger.

      - June 22, 2011: Bulger arrested in Santa Monica, Calif., with
Greig.

      - July 6, 2011: Bulger pleads not guilty to the charges against him.

      - June 12, 2012: Greig is sentenced to eight years in prison for her role in helping Bulger avoid capture.

      - June 12-Aug. 5, 2013: Bulger trial is held, with several of his former friends and partners testifying. Bulger does not take the stand.

      - Aug. 12, 2013: Bulger found guilty on racketeering, murder charges.

      - Nov. 14, 2013: Bulger, now 84, is sentenced to life in prison.

      - July 27, 2015: Lawyers for Bulger ask federal appeals court to grant him a new trial.

      - Feb. 3, 2016: Greig pleads guilty to contempt of court.

      - March 4, 2016: Court rejects Bulger's bid for a new trial.

      - April 28, 2016: Greig sentenced to additional prison time for refusing to testify about whether anyone else helped Bulger after he fled Boston.

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