There Goes The Neighborhood: Mob Scum Who Ordered Southern Hills Hit Found Living In Home Of Homeless
One neighbor, Barbara Gluck, described Ms. Greig as “a very lovely person.”
“He, on the other hand, when we talked too long, would shout, ‘Stop talking, let’s go,’ ” she said.
Janus Goodwin, 61, who lived on the same floor as Mr. Bulger and Ms. Greig, came to know the couple in 1999. She said Mr. Bulger rarely left the apartment.
“When I would be invited in, he would always be lying on the sofa, watching TV,” Ms. Goodwin said. “He was very proud of his little art pieces, which were cheap knockoffs of Monet and Van Gogh.”
Hey, there's nothing wrong with a few Van Gogh knock offs! Say, three to be exact.
Maybe this should have tipped someone off:
In recent months, she said, they had a sign on their door, “Please do not knock at any time.”
Anyway, here's Dave Kindred's story from 1981 on the Southern Hills hit.
For John V. Martorano was a busy man. His Boston bosses in the Irish Mob saw to that. They had a long list of men whose silence they desired. They had won a war with the Italian Mafia that long ruled Boston's streets. Their allies included corrupt FBI agents who protected them from arrest in exchange for information leading to career-building arrests of the Italians. One agent had been a boyhood pal of James Joseph (Whitey) Bulger, the Irish Mob's top boss, their paths diverging until ambition and circumstance joined them in common cause.
Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 08:37 PM
Reader Comments (9)
"One of my father's dreams was to have a home in Nantucket," Larry Wheeler says. "He'd grown up in the Boston area, he'd won a Sankaty Head golf tournament on Nantucket, and he wanted a home there. That's one reason he got into jai-alai."
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If you were editing this article, wouldn't you be inclined to suggest that this paragraph be removed or fleshed-out?
To Geoff's question about the sign on the door, my reaction to such a sign would be to think that one of the residents has an illness/condition that leads him to sleep often and at times that most people are awake. Paying the rent every month in cash (as was reported in other articles) is more suspicious than not wanting to be disturbed, IMO.
Although the paragraph could have been constructed differently, it is essential to the story - which was written ten years ago.
A lot of older folks feel that cash is king. They were on the lam and doubt they wanted to be recorded on camera opening a checking account, making deposits/withdrawals at a bank or obtaining a money order at the post office. Plus, that is a private transaction between the tenant and landlord as opposed to a sign on the door for all the neighbors to see.
$800k in the walls of an apartment is impressive however.
The man wanted a house in Nantucket so he bought a Jai-Alai business. IME, one is welcome to visit or live in Nantucket without any involvement in jai-alai. Was this very wealthy man just interested in owning some business on the east coast to give himself a reason to visit the area? Was he interested in a business with a large flow of cash in order to afford the expensive house that he wanted (whether through increased legal income or because of the ability to skim-off unreported cash)?
Maybe I'm not that bright or maybe the author has skipped a few of the elements that make the connection between jai-alai and desire to own a home in Nantucket.
I cannot explain the reasoning. It was a quote from the guy's son. You are correct, Kindred should have delved further.
BTW, Geoff,
The Kindred article
is actually
from 2001.
Another time,they heard about a successful million dollar bank robbery so he and his thugs kidnapped the successful robber and tortured him until he told them where the money was hidden.