Tommy Donahue: ‘My Heart's Broken for Stevie Davis'

(NECN/AP) - James "Whitey" Bulger, the feared Boston mob boss who became one of the nation's most-wanted fugitives, was convicted Monday in a string of 11 killings and other gangland crimes, many of them committed while he was said to be an FBI informant.

Bulger, 83, stood silently and showed no reaction upon hearing the verdict, which brought to a close a case that not only transfixed the city with its grisly violence but exposed corruption inside the Boston FBI and an overly cozy relationship with its underworld snitches.

Bulger was charged primarily with racketeering, which listed 33 criminal acts - among them, 19 murders that he allegedly helped orchestrate or carried out himself during the 1970s and '80s while he led the Winter Hill Gang, Boston's ruthless Irish mob. The racketeering charge also included acts of extortion, conspiracy, money-laundering and drug dealing.

After 4½ days of deliberations, the jury decided he took part in 11 of those murders, along with nearly all the other crimes, as well as a laundry list of other counts, including possession of machine guns.

Bulger could get life in prison at sentencing Nov. 13. But given his age, even a modest term could amount to a life sentence for the slightly stooped, white-bearded Bulger.

Outside the courtroom, relatives of the victims hugged each other, the prosecutors and even defense attorneys.

One of the murders the jury found Bugler took part in was that of Michael Donahue’s. His widow, Patricia, and son, Tommy, were two of the people who spoke outside of court after the verdict.

They also spoke in an interview with NECN shortly after.

Patricia said her husband was an innocent victim killed by Bulger. Her husband had offered to give Brian Halloran a ride home from a restaurant he was at. When they left the restaurant, Bulger shot them, killing Michael, Patricia said.

Patricia said it’s been a long time coming and it’s been an emotional couple of months. All her emotion came to a head when she heard the guilty verdict. She called it ‘a happy upset.’

Her son Tommy said the prosecution did not fully bring out the corrupt relationship between the FBI and mobsters.

He said a lot of the corruption will end up dying with Whitey Bulger.

Tommy said Bulger will probably try to hop on the news and tell his side of the story, ‘which is crap because he had his chance to tell the story, if he took the stand, but he’s too much of a coward and he avoided that.’

Tommy said he would have blown a gasket if Bulger got immunity.

“Everybody else got immunity, and I would have been extremely upset if he got immunity. He doesn’t deserve it. None of those guys deserved immunity. They killed people, cut people up, buried them. It’s unbelievable the immunity that they got, you know, it’s a shame. The prosecution should be ashamed of themselves, giving those people those types of deals, but that’s how our government works and that’s how it’s been working the whole entire time.”

Tommy and Patricia plan to go after the government on corruption, taking things to a state level.

Tommy said the government is responsible for killing his father and they deserve to take care of his mother ‘for the hell’ that they’ve put his family through.

“The other one is Patrick Nee. He was the other man in the car who pulled the trigger, who has been walking the streets for 30-something years, with no problem, with not being prosecuted or nothing so we have to go to the state level and then press charges against Pat Nee.”

Is there any relief after Bulger’s verdict?

Tommy said it’s time to get life back together and back on track. He said they can go after Pat Nee without sidetracking their life like they have been for Bulger’s trial.

What about the no finding in Debra Davis murder?

“I was sick to my stomach. Stevie Davis got up and walked out of the courtroom. I actually went out of the courtroom and chased him, gave him a big hug and told him how I felt. He deserved justice. He should have known who the one who killed his sister, and for some reason, the government just doesn’t want to come out with that. So, my heart goes out to Stevie Davis, he’s been trying like heck to see who killed his sister and try to search for justice, same as us. My heart is broken for him and his family,” Tommy said.

Will they speak at the sentencing?

Tommy said he wouldn’t be surprised if his mother Patricia is the one who ends up being the one who says something at the sentenincg.

“Hopefully my mother will,” he said.

Patricia said she’s not sure yet. She said the whole point was to prove that her husband was innocent, and now that that’s proven, she said they have to let people know just what type of person Whitey Bulger is, but she needs time to think on that.

Watch the attached video for more.

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