The Bulger Brothers Boston, Massachusetts the home of the divergent including the contrastive James Whitey Bulger and William M. Bulger who are two brothers with extreme differences. The two brothers grew up together but struck up different lives all within the same community and city. One a criminal and the other a politician, but both became very successful and lived separate paths with similar upbringings. The Bulger brothers, James Whitey Bulger also know as Whitey and William M. Bulger also known as Billy, were lifelong companions who separated in their politics and extreme lifestyles. They were raised in South Boston in a homing project on the south side with a highly Irish population which was separated from the community (Rimer).
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Whitey Bulger grew into his criminal character beginning with his large offense in 1956 for robbing several banks. This led to his sentence of 20 years while he ended up spending only 9 years, 3 of which were in Alcatraz (Padnani). The brother’s were infinitely separated into two stereotypes and needed to balance on one another to stay afloat in the competitive city of Boston where Whitey was wanted in jail and Billy was wanted in the political field. Whitey kept himself out of prison for over 20 years and in that time he recruited a large crew of friends to join the Winter Hill gang which Whitey was running. The Winter Hill gang was known for distribution of drugs, murder, and money laundering. Whitey rarely did his own work, he would make his teammates do it because he knew that was the way for his hands to stay clean in his highly dirty business. Although he thought this would work out, most of the people who did his work would later end up informing to the FBI about him and be the reason he returned to prison (Cooper). Whitey went about his business and dealt day to day with the South Boston Police and the FBI. Whitey eventually made a deal with the FBI as an informer after having them chase him for decades. This gave his gang a large protection and relieved pressure from both his and his brother’s backs. Whitey did …show more content…
No one knew how seriously they should have taken Whitey and Billy, both were incredibly successful men. They both acquired lots of money, funds, and supporters but also many enemies. The brothers held each other and their family up in times of grief and heartache. They were the two brothers who were raised the same but chose the opposite paths.
Works Cited
Cooper, Scott, director. Black Mass. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2014.
Padnani, Amy, and KATHARINE Q. SEELYE. “Whitey Bulger: The Capture of a Legend.”The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 Mar. 2014, www.nytimes.com/interactive/us/bulger-timeline.html#/#time256_7542.
Rimer, Sara. “A Tale of 2 Brothers and 2 Divergent Paths.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 Jan. 1995, www.nytimes.com/1995/01/17/us/a-tale-of-2-brothers-and-2-divergent-paths.html.
Ryan, David L. “A Personal Letter from Whitey - The Boston Globe.” BostonGlobe.com, 28 June 2015, www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/06/27/personal-letter-from-whitey/aBZbGUb8X0qDWRnCjNU9nN/story.html.
Seelye, Katharine Q. “Sticking by a Murderous Brother, and Paying for It Dearly.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 24 Nov. 2013,
Whitey Bulger grew into his criminal character beginning with his large offense in 1956 for robbing several banks. This led to his sentence of 20 years while he ended up spending only 9 years, 3 of which were in Alcatraz (Padnani). The brother’s were infinitely separated into two stereotypes and needed to balance on one another to stay afloat in the competitive city of Boston where Whitey was wanted in jail and Billy was wanted in the political field. Whitey kept himself out of prison for over 20 years and in that time he recruited a large crew of friends to join the Winter Hill gang which Whitey was running. The Winter Hill gang was known for distribution of drugs, murder, and money laundering. Whitey rarely did his own work, he would make his teammates do it because he knew that was the way for his hands to stay clean in his highly dirty business. Although he thought this would work out, most of the people who did his work would later end up informing to the FBI about him and be the reason he returned to prison (Cooper). Whitey went about his business and dealt day to day with the South Boston Police and the FBI. Whitey eventually made a deal with the FBI as an informer after having them chase him for decades. This gave his gang a large protection and relieved pressure from both his and his brother’s backs. Whitey did …show more content…
No one knew how seriously they should have taken Whitey and Billy, both were incredibly successful men. They both acquired lots of money, funds, and supporters but also many enemies. The brothers held each other and their family up in times of grief and heartache. They were the two brothers who were raised the same but chose the opposite paths.
Works Cited
Cooper, Scott, director. Black Mass. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2014.
Padnani, Amy, and KATHARINE Q. SEELYE. “Whitey Bulger: The Capture of a Legend.”The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 Mar. 2014, www.nytimes.com/interactive/us/bulger-timeline.html#/#time256_7542.
Rimer, Sara. “A Tale of 2 Brothers and 2 Divergent Paths.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 Jan. 1995, www.nytimes.com/1995/01/17/us/a-tale-of-2-brothers-and-2-divergent-paths.html.
Ryan, David L. “A Personal Letter from Whitey - The Boston Globe.” BostonGlobe.com, 28 June 2015, www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/06/27/personal-letter-from-whitey/aBZbGUb8X0qDWRnCjNU9nN/story.html.
Seelye, Katharine Q. “Sticking by a Murderous Brother, and Paying for It Dearly.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 24 Nov. 2013,