Today marks five years since we collectively woke up to the news that Massachusetts' most notorious mobster — James "Whitey" Bulger — had been found and captured alive out in California; setting the stage for his 2013 trial, in which he was charged with racketeering, money laundering, extortion, weapons violations.. and involvement in 19 murders.
He was ultimately found guilty of the majority of those charges sentenced Bulger to two life terms, plus another five years, and ordered to pay nearly 20 million dollars in restitution to his many victims.
To that end, prosecutors seized about a million dollars in assets from Bulger which the U.S. Marshal's office is putting up for auction this weekend here Boston. U.S. Marshal for the District of Massachusetts John Gibbons gives Adam a preview of the auction.
Gibbons and his staff found that going through the private belongings to be exciting. He also has a personal satisfaction that they may be able to sell his items and maximize the proceeds, so they can pay the victims. In response to seeing a ‘psycho killer’ ring, Gibbons found that he was able to oversee the dark side of the imagery related to Bulger. He said, “it does bring about questions” about Bulger’s worldview.
Gibbons did share that a 1986 Montreal Canadiens Championship replica ring will generate a lot of interest. Gibbons thinks that it will be a high priced item. “I think the pre-bidding starts off somewhere in the area of eleven thousand dollars.” Gibbons believes that the ring was a gift to Bulger. He hopes that Bulger’s notoriety would interest the public and raise the prices on the items.
Adam brought up that US Attorney Carmen Ortiz did not want to bolster Bulger’s image through the sale. Adam asked Gibbons if his office considered not selling Bulger’s items, but storing it instead. Gibbons responded by saying, “We are executing the court order and are putting on this auction, which the United States Marshal service asset forfeiture is one of our missions.” They are working together with the US Attorney’s office, and the FBI to decide which items should up for auction.
Some of the items not included with the auction includes Bulger’s undergarments-it is considered distasteful. Also, the 33 firearms that were seized from Bulger’s apartment will not be auctioned because it is against federal law. Lastly, Bulger’s personal memoir is not up for bid.
You can see everything going up for auction yourself during the preview at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center Friday, June 24th from 2 to 7 p.m.
