Boston Bodies May Be Mob Victims

B O S T O N, Sept. 23 -- Across the Boston area, investigators have beendigging up bodies along with the long-buried secrets of fugitivemob boss James “Whitey” Bulger and his associates.

The dead — five of them so far — are believed to be victims ofBulger’s gang from as far back as the 1970s.

Their discovery comes after more than five years of work byinvestigators and federal court hearings that revealed a cozyrelationship between Bulger and the FBI.

On The Lam Since 1995

The reputed boss of Boston’s Irish mob has been on the lam since1995 after an FBI agent allegedly tipped him off about anindictment. He is now on the agency’s Ten Most Wanted list.

“If Bulger is going to be apprehended, it will be because ofthese bodies,” said Jack Levin, a professor of sociology andcriminology at Northeastern University. “Now there’s hard evidenceof mass murder.

“And mass murder of not only crime figures, but of ordinarypeople who may have had contact with crime figures but were notthemselves involved in the underworld.”

The first three bodies were found early this year, near aninterstate in Boston’s Dorchester section. One of them, DeborahHussey, was said to have had an affair with Bulger associateStephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, and was threatening to expose therelationship to her mother — Flemmi’s common-law wife. Husseydisappeared in 1984.

Last week, investigators in Dorchester found skeletal remainsbelieved to be those of Paul McGonagle, a rival of Bulger’s whodisappeared in 1974.

Latest Body Unearthed Thursday

The latest body was unearthed Thursday in Quincy, just outsideBoston and several hundred yards from where Bulger once lived. Thevictim is believed to be Tommy King, who disappeared in 1975 aftera bar fight with Bulger.

According to published reports, authorities were led to thebodies by Kevin Weeks, a Bulger crony who pleaded guilty to federalracketeering charges.