The finally got him

It's a beautiful day here today. Though I am finally off I was still up early. I had breakfast, did a little reading which put me back asleep for a late morning snooze. I honestly don't feel like doing much. I suppose I should go out and enjoy the day but I really have no place to go nor the will to make the effort. Days off have become days to recharge my batteries.

So they finally caught Whitey Bulger. I know it made the national news but it is really a big deal around here. This is quite the interesting and compelling story. I even had a brush with the former leader of the "Winter Hill Gang" before Whitey took over though I had no idea who he was at the time. Back in the '70s I was working in the neighboring city to mine for the essentially the same company as I work for now doing the same thing. I was part time and working the closing shift until midnight. A very soft spoken gentleman came to the counter at about 10 p.m. and wanted to order a party tray for right now. I gave him the company speech about requiring 24 hours notice. He smiled and said, "I'll be right back." Within two or three minutes the evening manager shot down from the front of the store like he was wearing a rocket pack and told me to give the customer anything he wanted. So I made the platter. He came back about 40 minutes later smiled and took his order. I later learned it was Howie Winter the leader of the Winter Hill Gang, who's headquarters were right across the street in a night club.  The area is called Winter Hill. A place I had been to on several occasions for a drink after work. I believe in 1979 Howie was tried and convicted and sent to prison. He was released in 2002. Whitey Bulger eventually became the leader of the gang and the headquarters were now in South Boston.

An interesting tidbit I learned was back in 1961, the leader of another gang from Charlestown (think the Battle of Bunker Hill during the revolutionary war and the home of The Constitution) made a pass at the girlfriend of one of the associates of the Winter Hill gang sparking an Irish gang war resulting in both gangs knocking off each other. The man who's girlfriend it was later left Boston for California. He started a new life, taking acting lesson from another Boston native Leonard Nimoy. He changed his name to Alex Rocco. If you've see The Godfather you might remember him as the character Moe Green, the big Jewish gangster who owned a casino in Las Vegas. He was in the memorable horse's head scene. His character was later killed by taking a bullet in the eye.

Alex Rocco

Alex Rocco has been in many movies and television shows. Getting back to Whitey. He was an informant to the F.B.I. I suppose that's one reason he was able to stay in power for so long. He was feeding them information on the Italian mobs. On of the agents was convicted in 2002 for  reasons I cannot remember at the moment but he was apparently corrupted by Bulger. All this time his brother William Bulger was a state representative then a state senator then he became president of the  senate. He later was forced to resign by the then Governor Mitt Romney because it was revealed he had communicated with his brother Whitey (James) Bulger who had dissapeared until just a few days ago. 

There are many unanswered questions and it wouldn't surprise me if Whitey has a lot of dirt on a lot of people. As I have said before I am proud of where I live. A place of many firsts including the birth of the United States but I still think our government is very corrupt. This whole trial should be quite interesting. One thing about living around here, it's not dull!

And so I shall end this entry. A special thanks to you Beth. That was very nice thing you did and I appreciate it very much! You're the best!

I'm outta here.

Just me

Nancy beat me to it but I have been thinking about posting a video of myself. There have been numerous requests...well one or two for me talk. I guess they were curious about the Boston accent. I don't think I have a strong accent though I will admit that the odd cah (car) or watah (water) sneaks in there every once in a while. Though I do talk I chose to play a little guitar. Not a teeny tiny little guitar but just a little playing. It's not a sparkling performance. There are mistakes. I don't play all the time so it takes a few days of steady practice just to get to as good as I can play. I make no great claims. I just do it for my own amusement. The last time I played in a band setting was about 1972. That's a while ago. I don't have the stamina to play like that. That takes real practice. So here it is, mistakes and all.

So that's it. Yeah I made a couple of flubs. I might have had one string a bit out of tune and maybe the tone wasn't the greatest. I did it spur of the moment.

It's early and I am off to work. I'm supposed to go to a cook out tonight but it looks like rain. I'm still going of course.

Ta ta for now.
I'm outta here.

It's Tuesday right?

There's not much going on except on Thursday I will be seeing an old friend that I haven't seen in 25 years. She's actually a friend of my sister from childhood. There a bit of a history between us. 

Apart from that there's not a whole lot going on. I did finally get to watch some of the bridge replacement that's going on around here on Saturday night. It has been a hassle yet 
It is amazing how quickly they are getting it done. They are working their way north by doing the 4 lanes north bound then working there way south. So far there have been 4 completed. They start on Friday evening at 6 and are finished by Monday morning at 6.

  I call these Cranes at Sunset.

To the left you are heading to Boston. To the right you can head to Canada.

Once again as big a pain as it is in an already congested area, it really is amazing how fast they took the old road way out and installed a new one in 2 and a half days. They hope to be done with all 14 bridges by the end of August.

Today looks to be another sparkling day. At this point, about 9 a.m. it is about 70 degrees, hitting a high of 80. I have nothing more planned except for a couple of exciting loads of laundry and much laying about.

Catch you on the flip flop.
I'm outta here.

Ooo I almost forgot. Here's a news blooper from a local newscaster that's still on the air on Channel 4. It's from the late "70s.

OK. Now I'm really outta here.