James “Whitey†Bulger could be heard imitating a machine gun sound today as prosecutors played tapes of his jailhouse conversations in the notorious gangster’s trial in federal court in Boston.
Bulger’s booking photo after his June 2011 arrest in Santa Monica, Calif. (File Photo)
Bulger was talking about the 1975 murder of Edward Connors, whom Bulger and his right-hand man, Stephen “The Rifleman†Flemmi allegedly shot while he stood in a phone booth on Morrissey Boulevard.
Speaking to his nephew and niece, the children of William M. Bulger, the former president of the Massachusetts Senate, Bulger said in an Oct. 13, 2012 recording that he had been mentioned as a suspect in the murder. “The guy in the phone booth. ... Someone threw my name in the mix ... as usual. [Imitation of machine gun sound.] Anyway, that’s what happened.â€
Bulger’s nephew, William Bulger Jr., could be heard saying, “As usual.â€
Bulger denied being the shooter in the conversation, which was recorded at the Plymouth County jail.
It was the first time Bulger has been heard in a conversation at length in public since his arrest in June 2011, after 16 years as a fugitive.
The recording was introduced by Ken Brady, an investigator from the Plymouth County sheriff’s office. Brady identified the sound on the tape as a machine gun sound.
Connors, 42, was a Dorchester tavern owner. He was allegedly gunned down because he had information on the murder of James O’Toole, a rival of Flemmi’s.
John Martorano, one of Bulger’s former partners, testified that Bulger and Flemmi lured Connors to a phone booth and shot him. They allegedly said, “We got him,†when they returned from the shooting, Martorano said.
In another recording, Bulger spoke of once pointing a shotgun at kids who went by his liquor store in South Boston decades ago. “I think they’re going to stick the joint up, so I pick up the shotgun and I aimed it at them,†Bulger said, noting that Flemmi also had a .45-caliber pistol.
“I put one in the chamber,†he said. “One went this way, the other went that way. ... They were lucky.â€
At the defendant’s table, Bulger, 83, could be seen smiling.
Earlier in the trial today, Connor’s daughter, Karen Smith of Maine, emotionally told jurors of the last time she saw her father.
It was June 1975. They had dinner that night. Later, he received a phone call that they both answered at the same time. Her father left the home.
“I asked if I could go with him,†she said. He told her no.
Later, that night, she was awakened by a man in a suit who brought her to a grandparent’s home. She was told her father died.
She did not attend the funeral. “I was too young,†she said. “I was 7 at the time.â€
Bulger, 83, faces a sweeping federal racketeering indictment charging him, among other things, with playing a role in 19 murders during his decades-long reign of terror in Boston’s underworld. His legend grew when he eluded a worldwide manhunt for 16 years before his capture in Santa Monica, Calif., in 2011.
During Bulger’s criminal rise, his brother William ascended himself to become one of the most powerful politicians in the state as president of the state Senate. The James Bulger saga has inspired numerous books, TV shows, and movies.
Kevin Cullen and Martin Finucane of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
