A retired State Police detective who led the agency’s surveillance of notorious gangster James “Whitey†Bulger’s crime headquarters near Boston Garden in 1980 has resumed testifying today in Bulger’s federal trial in Boston.
Robert Long led the operation at a garage on one of the narrow side streets near Boston Garden. Detectives observed Bulger, local, Mafia leaders and other gangland figures meeting at the garage, but the investigation was thwarted, unbeknownst to them, by a corrupt State Police officer. Bulger and his right-hand man Stephen “The Rifleman†Flemmi inexplicably stopped coming to the garage.
Long, whose testimony began Wednesday, said that he had seen Arthur “Bucky†Barrett leaving the Lancaster Street garage with Bulger and others. Barrett, a safecracker, is one of the 19 people Bulger allegedly killed. Bulger allegedly tortured Barrett into disclosing where he had hidden $40,000 stolen during a 1980 bank heist, then killed him.
Also expected today is testimony from retired State Police colonel Tom Foley, who was the head of the agency during the 1990s investigation that ultimately led to the first charges against Bulger in 1995.
Before Long took the stand Wednesday, prosecutors and defense attorneys gave their opening statements, outlining their cases.
Bulger’s attorney admitted, contrary to the myth that Bulger had promoted, that Bulger was involved in drug dealing. He was also involved in illegal sports betting and loansharking, making millions, said J.W. Carney Jr.
But Bulger, who is charged with the murders committed during the 1970s and 1980s, denies being an informant and does not admit to killing anyone, Carney said. Carney specifically denied that Bulger strangled two young women and orchestrated the slayings of two businessmen in the death penalty states of Florida and Oklahoma.
The prosecution described Bulger as a remorseless “hands-on killer,†who left others to bury his victim while he took a nap, the Globe reports today.
Follow the trial live with updates from reporters at the courthouse on bostonglobe.com and boston.com.
