Whitey Bulger Tracked Down Through His Galpal Catherine Greig
Catherine Greig had been on the lam with mobster for 16 years.
June 23, 2011 -- "Have you seen this woman?" asked the public service announcement, offering a reward of $100,000, that aired in 14 cities on shows such as "The View" and "Ellen" earlier this week.
The ads focusing on blue-eyed, bleached-blonde Catherine Greig, 60, longtime galpal of Boston mobster Whitey Bulger, paid off in a tip Tuesday night that led to the couple's arrest Wednesday in Santa Monica, Calif., Richard DesLauriers, special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office, said at a news conference today.
Greig -- who has been known as Helen Marshall and Carol Shapeton, among other aliases -- was using the name Carol Gasko, he said.
She was arrested in the couple's apartment and now faces charges of harboring a fugitive, which carry a maximum sentence of five years, according to Carmen Ortiz, U.S. attorney for Massachusetts.
"Whether or not there are any other offenses or charges we can press will be part of the ongoing investigation," she said.
The FBI had honed in on Greig for more than a year in its relentless pursuit of Bulger, focusing on her fondness for getting work done and having her teeth cleaned.
The bureau ran ads last May asking "Have you treated this woman?" with full-page photos of her in Plastic Surgery News, mentioning Greig's numerous procedures in the hopes of finding someone who remembered her from a medical office. She'd had breast implants, a nose job and a facelift, the ads said.
Ads also ran in the American Dental Association's newsletter because Greig, a dental hygienist, is known to have her teeth cleaned at least once a month.
Greig also loves dogs; she and Bulger were pictured with their black miniature poodles, Niki and Gigi, before they went on the lam in 1995. She and Bulger then lived in a house in Quincy, Mass., and she also co-owned a house in South Boston with her twin sister, Margaret McCusker.
A South Boston native, Greig married a firefighter, Bobby McGonagle, when she was 20. His family was also involved in the "Irish Mafia," and both of his brothers were killed by Bulger, alleges Howie Carr, author of "Hitman," a book about one of Bulger's enforcers.
"She was living for 16 years with a guy who killed both her brothers-in-law," Carr told ABC-TV.
She had met Bulger in a barroom and was his mistress for years while he lived with his common-law wife, Teresa Stanley.
The criminal complaint against Greig reveals Stanley's rage when she found out about Greig. It says that in 1994, Stanley learned for the first time that throughout her relationship with Bulger, he had been involved with Greig too.
"This news caused a strain in Stanley's relationship with Bulger," the complaint says.
See the full complaint by clicking here.
Stanley originally left town with Bulger in 1995 but then returned her to Boston and went on the run with Greig, according to the complaint. Stanley began to cooperate with the feds the following year.
McCusker, who in 1999 admitted lying to a grand jury about contact with her sister and was sentenced to six months' home confinement, expressed joy that she will see her sister at last.
"I am very emotional about all this but I have to say I am happy my sister is going to coming home," she told ABC. "I talked to her the first couple of years but I haven't talked to her since. It's been a very long time. We are twins, we are close. This is extremely emotional. I didn't know if she was alive or dead, and suddenly it is within my grasp."
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