Whitey Bulger, the notorious Winter Hill gang mob boss from Boston, who was played on the big screen by Johnny Depp, has been found dead in a federal prison.
That has some people wondering about the family that James “Whitey” Bulger leaves behind. Was Whitey Bulger married? Did he have a wife? The answer is no, not formally anyway. Whitey Bulger did not have a wife. However, he did have several girlfriends and, decades ago, he was dating a woman many considered to be his common law wife.
According to NBC News, Bulger was found deceased at the federal penitentiary USP Hazelton in West Virginia on October 30, 2018. His cause of death was not immediately specified, and the Bureau of Prisons said that he was found unresponsive. He was 89. Here is the full initial statement from the federal Bureau of Prisons. The Boston Globe reported that Bulger was “killed” and an inmate with Mafia ties is being investigated in the “slaying.” However, the Bureau of Prisons has not yet confirmed the death as a homicide. TMZ is reporting that Bulger was beaten in a wheelchair by a trio of inmates who tried to gouge his eyes out.
Read the full statement from the Federal Bureau of Prisons on James ‘Whitey’ Bulger: t.co/uuacs0r5uQ
Here’s what you need to know:
Whitey Bulger Was Captured With His Girlfriend, Catherine Greig
Bulger girlfriend Catherine Greig should serve 37 months in prison, prosecutors say t.co/fNihtAGo2N
The former fugitive was with a girlfriend when he was finally captured. They were arrested together, according to NBC News. Her name is Catherine Greig.
Today, Greig is in her late 60s, and she’s still in federal prison. She “pleaded guilty in 2012 to identity fraud and harboring Bulger,” NBC News reports.
According to ABC News, Greig was a long-term girlfriend. She spent 16 years on the run with Bulger.
ABC News reported that the pair was captured “in June 2011 living in a rent-controlled apartment near the Santa Monica Pier.” They were using the fake names of Charles and Carol Gasko and had “30 high-powered weapons in the walls” and more than $800,000 in cash, ABC News reports.
Greig’s defense attorney told the court, “It is obvious that she is a kind, gentle woman who has literally done nothing bad in her life except fall in love with James Bulger and live with him for 16 years until his arrest,” ABC News reported.
Whitey Bulger Once Had a Common Law Wife
It’s a huge responsibility to be Whitey Bulger’s wife. #DakotaJohnson is Lindsey Cyr, #BlackMass | in cinemas 18 Sept http://t.co/0k98TyR4CS
Whitey Bulger did have a common law wife at one time in his life. He also was renowned for having a string of mistresses.
According to Biography.com, he was in a significant relationship with a waitress/fashion model named Lindsey Cyr in the 1960s who became his common law wife. She gave birth to Bulger’s son Douglas Glen Cyr. He died at age six “from Reye’s Syndrome, after experiencing a severe allergic reaction to aspirin. When Douglas died, Cyr claimed that Bulger was devastated,” Biography.com reported.
Actress Dakota Johnson played Lindsey Cyr in the movie Black Mass, which was about Whitey Bulger’s life.
“Reye’s (Reye) syndrome is a rare but serious condition that causes swelling in the liver and brain. Reye’s syndrome most often affects children and teenagers recovering from a viral infection, most commonly the flu or chickenpox. Signs and symptoms such as confusion, seizures and loss of consciousness require emergency treatment. Early diagnosis and treatment of Reye’s syndrome can save a child’s life,” reports the Mayo Clinic.
Douglas Cyr was Whitey Bulger’s only child. You can read more about his short life here.
According to CBS News, Lindsey Cyr was together with Whitey Bulger for 12 years. She was only 21-years-old when she met him. She considered him a good father and partner, CBS reported.
“Jimmy changed, Jimmy was devastated. We both were,” said Cyr of their child’s death. ”I think it was all too painful for him.” When Bulger was arrested, Cyr told CBS that she was glad Bulger was doing okay. She indicated she has positive memories of Bulger and added to CBS, “If he needs help, call me.”
Whitey Bulger also had a girlfriend named Teresa Stanley. In 2008, she told the Boston Globe, “I referred to him as Charlie, actually, but sometimes called him Jimmy. That was the name he gave. It was sort of a nickname.”
She testified at the murder trial of retired FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr., who was accused of warning Bulger, according to the Globe, which added that Stanley believed Bulger was cheating on her with Greig. “Well, he lived a double life with me,” she told the Globe, describing how he took her to Graceland at the beginning of his life on the run.