By Daniel Lovering
BOSTON (Reuters) - Former Boston mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger on Friday called his trial on murder and racketeering charges "a sham" and said he will not take the witness stand, as his defense rested its case.
"My thing is, as far as I'm concerned ... this is a sham and do what you want with me," Bulger, 83, told U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper in the Boston court house after his lawyer announced he would not testify.
Bulger, once Boston's most-feared criminal, was charged with participating in the murders of 19 people while heading Boston's Winter Hill crime gang in the 1970s and '80s. He has pleaded not guilty, though his lawyers have admitted he was involved in extortion, drug smuggling and loan sharking.
Casper asked Bulger whether his choice not to testify in his defense was voluntary.
Standing in a dark collarless shirt, and trademark jeans and white sneakers, Bulger responded: "I'm making the choice involuntarily because I feel I've been choked off of the opportunity to give an adequate defense."
Bulger was listed as an FBI informant for years while running the Winter Hill Gang, but Casper has ruled that he cannot argue that he has immunity.
He fled Boston in 1994 on a tip from a corrupt FBI agent that arrest was imminent. He was on the FBI's most wanted list for years, but was not captured until 2011.
Lawyers for both sides are scheduled to present closing arguments in the case on Monday, and the jury is expected to begin deliberations on Tuesday.
Bulger was "at peace" with his decision not to testify, his attorney J.W. Carney told reporters outside the court house.
"I met with him afterwards. He was very calm and very pleased that he made the decision that he did, because he feels it was the right one," he said.
'HANDS ON KILLER'
Government prosecutors presented seven weeks worth of testimony from former FBI agents, hit men, drug smugglers, extortion victims, and family members of the dead to paint Bulger as a "hands-on killer".
Witnesses, including former partners of Bulger's, said he strangled women, gunned down "rats" who talked too much, and threatened drug dealers and businessmen with pistols and machine guns to force them to hand over cash.
Defense lawyers sought to undermine the testimony, saying many prosecution witnesses were ex-criminals who had cut plea deals, and that FBI files came from a Boston office that was tainted by corruption and mismanagement.
Tommy Donahue, whose father was an alleged murder victim of Bulger's, told reporters he had hoped Bulger would take the stand so lawyers could question him about FBI corruption during Winter Hill's reign.
"Whitey was on trial. The prosecution did an unbelievable job of showing what type of animal and savage he was. But also the FBI was on trial here," he told reporters.
Bulger's story has captured Boston's imagination for decades, and recalled a dark period for Boston's FBI when corrupt agents wined and dined gangsters and gave them tips that helped them evade arrest and identify snitches.
His story inspired the character played by Jack Nicholson in Martin Scorsese's 2006 Academy Award-winning film "The Departed."
Bulger was finally captured in 2011 in Santa Monica, California, where he had been living with his girlfriend in an apartment with stacks of cash and weapons.
Bulger's lawyer Carney said before Friday's hearing that Bulger wanted to forfeit the $822,000 found in his Santa Monica apartment as long as it goes to victims' families who lost civil suits against the government. That sum is a fraction of the millions Bulger reportedly reaped in his criminal career.
"He would like to see that money go to the families," Carney told reporters after the hearing.
Earlier in the week, Bulger's lawyers had asked judge Casper to let them show the jury photos of the Boston mobster relaxing with pets or posing with friends, a move to show Bulger's softer side that had been widely interpreted as a precursor to Bulger taking the stand.
(Reporting by Daniel Lovering; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by David Gregorio)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boston-mob-boss-whitey-bulger-says-not-testify-150901533.html
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