1. Name​: Nicholas Vaughn
Position​: New Journalist
Headline Ideas​: “Put Some Skin on his Mythical Bones,” “The Benevolent Gangster” “A
Monster?”
“I want you to visualize an 83 year old man in a jail cell sitting on a stainless steel chair
with a table in front of him with sheets of loose­leaf paper scattered all over the desk,” Kevin
Cullen, the co­author of the new biography ​Whitey Bulger: America’s Most Wanted Gangster
and the Manhunt that Brought Him to Justice​ painted a picture in the mind of the audience,
“Then, imagine that 83 year old man, when not writing, doing 150 pushups in his cell. This is
Whitey Bulger.” This was the opening to the discussion about the most systematic and
compartmentalized criminal in recent history.
Whitey is considered a “monster” in most media. However, “monster,” was too cheap of
a word for the authors of this biography. Kevin said they wrote the book because they wanted to
“put some skin on his mythical bones,” and they did. Bulger was illustrated as the good­bad guy,
“the benevolent gangster,” or a “wise­guy with scruples.” He was capable of securing himself
this type of reputation by using his car bought with drug money to give mothers in South Boston
a ride when they were walking home with groceries late at night. The mothers would say how
nice of a guy James “Whitey” Bulger was in the affectionately called “Southie.”
Shelley said she was surprised at how compartmentalized his life was. He was an FBI
agent, a gangster, a husband and a father. He was a morally upright father too and insisted on
strong family values, would eat sit­down dinners, kiss his wife and talk about how important

2. school was. Then, he would leave, go shake down drug dealers, murder people and go to the
house of his other girlfriend. Shelley ended the hour long discussion about their new book by
saying about Bulger, “if he wanted you to like him, he would get you to like him. If you had
something he wanted, he would get it.”
The night was not over though, there were still questions for the authors about Bulger.
Someone in the audience asked if they thought that the FBI was really searching for Bulger.
Kevin quickly retorted, “You can’t find someone you’re not looking for.” Shelley backed off of
the question and meandered toward her law­informed mind of “innocent until proven guilty.”
Shelley kept saying that the convictions against Bulger were “allegedly,” true. ​Always​ allegedly.
Another asked about the health implications of Whitey being locked up for 23 hours a
day as an 83 year old man. Kevin, again with his quick wit replied that he did think it was
ridiculous and ended with a punch­line, “What is the worst he will do, throw a bag of Depenz at
you?” The night was filled with laughter but the topic matter was not. It was about a man who
was an FBI agent turned into a top 10 most wanted fugitive by the very same corporation. The
“benevolent gangster” once said that he would “give up his life for the woman he loved.” This
was from an insider Richard Day who was locked up with him. Kevin capped off the night by
saying, “Bullshit, he was loyal to no one but himself.”