Whitey Bulger defends himself in letter from prison, talks of love

The trial of James “Whitey” Bulger may have ended, but the Boston mobster hasn’t stopped trying to portray himself as a caring man who was betrayed by colleagues and the FBI.

In a letter purportedly written by Bulger from prison to someone named Eric Morrison and posted on Radar Online, Bulger in cursive handwriting defends himself and says he’s getting together information for an appeal.

He also waxes poetic about love and the good life he had in California.

Bulger was found guilty of murder and other counts in August after being captured in Santa Monica in 2011 after 16 years on the run.

“The trial was a neck tie party and a stacked deck from day one,” he says in the letter. “Have been in isolation for 2 years here -- 24 hours in cell Tues and Thurs and 23 hours in cell 5 other days.”

Bulger says in the letter that twice in life he offered himself up so his girlfriends could go free. When he was captured, he says, he offered to plead guilty if authorities would let girlfriend and fellow fugitive Catherine Greig go. Authorities declined and she was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2012.

“Her sentence is a crime,” Bulger writes, “more time and fine than people who confessed to murder.”

Bulger says he had agreed to plead guilty when captured for a bank robbery in the 1950s, if authorities let his girlfriend at the time go free.

Bulger touches on the theme of love many times in his letter, at one point advising Morrison to meet a nice girl and enjoy life.

“She was the best thing that happened to me -- over 16 years on the run were happiest years of my life -- memories sustain me -- I expect the worst is yet to come,” he writes, about Greig.

Bulger does not mention in the letter that while living in Boston and dating Greig, he was also in a decades-long relationship with a single mother named Teresa Stanley. Bulger initially went on the run with Stanley, but she tired of the life after a month. He took her back to Boston and swapped her out for Greig, according to “Whitey Bulger: America’s Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt that Brought Him to Justice,” by Boston Globe reporters Kevin Cullen and Shelley Murphy.

Bulger also targets his allies-turned-enemies, Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi and “J.C” -- FBI agent John Connolly -- in the letter.

Flemmi, Bulger’s right-hand man, testified against Bulger at trial. Connolly, the FBI agent who worked closely with Bulger, is serving time in a Florida prison for leaking information that led to murders. Bulger says Flemmi was giving information to the FBI while he was still in prison in 1960, and that Connolly and Flemmi conspired against him.

“Money corrupts people who have wife and girlfriend who drink, gamble, etc,” he writes. “It takes $$ to live that way and its addictive.”

One of the most gruesome parts of Bulger’s gruesome trial involved the story of the murder of Debra Hussey, Flemmi’s stepdaughter and lover, who was allegedly using drugs and carelessly talking about Bulger, according to Flemmi. Bulger strangled her and then had Flemmi pull out her teeth.

Bulger’s handwriting is difficult to read in parts, but he seems set on clearing his name as an informant, something he did not do at the trial, since he declined the opportunity to testify. But he indicates he may keep speaking informally.

“We did a good job on Feds to show they falsified the file -- long story and it would take pages to explain,” he said. “Maybe at a later day you will read it in a book!”

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Twitter: @AlanaSemuels

alana.semuels@latimes.com

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