James 'Whitey' Bulger's Girlfriend Released From Prison
BOSTON (CBSLA/AP) — The longtime girlfriend of the late gangster James "Whitey" Bulger -- the two of whom were captured in Santa Monica back in 2011 -- was released from prison Wednesday.
Catherine Greig, 67, was released from prison to serve the remainder of her sentence in a halfway house in Massachussettes, according to CBS Boston.
Bulger, the model for Jack Nicholson's ruthless crime boss in the 2006 Martin Scorsese movie, "The Departed," led a largely Irish mob that ran loan-sharking, gambling and drug rackets in the Boston area. He also was an FBI informant who ratted on the New England mob, his gang's main rival, in an era when bringing down the Mafia was a top national priority for the FBI.
Bulger fled Boston in late 1994 after his FBI handler, John Connolly Jr., warned him he was about to be indicted. With a $2 million reward on his head, Bulger became one of the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" criminals, with a place just below Osama bin Laden.
In June 2011, a then 81-year-old Bulger and a 60-year-old Greig were captured in Santa Monica where they had been living in a rent-controlled apartment near the beach at the Princess Eugenie apartment complex, located at 1012 3rd St., following a tip from the FBI's Boston bureau.
Greig had helped Bulger evade authorities for 16 years. Her sister Margaret McCusker told CBS Boston it was out of love.
"We don't choose the people we fall in love with," McCusker said. "It just happens she was faithful to him."
McCusker says Greig had hoped to reach out to Bulger again.
"That's been very upsetting to her. The fact that he's gone is upsetting to her."
Bulger was convicted in 2013 in a sweeping racketeering indictment, which included counts of participating in 11 murders. He was killed by inmates last October at the age of 89 just after being transferred to a new penitentiary in West Virginia.
In 2012, Grieg was convicted of identity theft and harboring a fugitive and sentence to eight years in prison. In April 2016, she was sentenced to another 21 months in prison after refusing to testify before a federal grand jury.
According to CBS Boston, Greig must wear a GPS monitoring device until her release from the halfway house next year.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
