Thousands of pounds hidden by notorious American mob boss recovered from UK bank account
British investigators followed a trail that should have gone cold decades ago.
British crime fighters have recovered tens of thousands of pounds from a notorious American gangster who was once on the FBI’s ‘Ten Most Wanted’ list. James Joseph ‘Whitey’ Bulger was the leader of an Irish Mob – and portrayed in film by the actor Jonny Depp – but now money he attempted to hide in UK bank accounts has been seized by the National Crime Agency. James Joseph ‘Whitey’ Bulger headed the notorious Winter Hill Gang, a violent organised crime group based in Boston, Massachusetts.
He was convicted of multiple murders and had a raft of other convictions such as racketeering, drug dealing, firearms possession, money laundering and extortion, before he was murdered in prison in 2018 when he was 89-years-old. In 1994 Bulger fled after learning he was about to be charged by US law enforcement. The FBI placed him on its Ten Most Wanted fugitives list and offered a $1,000,000 reward for information leading directly to his capture.
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He remained at large for 16 years until he was arrested in 2011 in Santa Monica, California. In 2013 he was sentenced to two consecutive life terms plus five years.
When he was jailed, the court issued a forfeiture order of more than $25m judging that was how much he had made from racketeering. A restitution order for the families of Bulger’s victims was set at $19,510,276.
Pirates of the Caribbean star Depp played Bulger in the 2015 crime thriller Black Mass, and Jack Nicholson’s character, Frank Costello in the film The Departed is said to be loosely based on Bulger.
Working with US partners, the National Crime Agency’s Asset Denial branch investigated Bulger’s links to bank accounts in the United Kingdom.
NCA officers discovered Bulger had opened two accounts in the UK in the early 1990s, one in his own name and another in an alias. The Agency secured a freezing order last year and has now overseen the return of £53,041 to US authorities to compensate the relatives of Bulger’s victims.
Rob Burgess, Head of Investigations for Asset Denial, said: “This is a great example of the NCA and international partners working together to do everything possible to ensure full justice is served.
“Bulger brought misery and heartbreak to countless families and we are proud to have worked with our American partners to see his criminally obtained wealth returned to the US.”
