No, not that one.
"Whitey’s influence felt on Beacon Hill; Loomed over brother’s realm" by Frank Phillips, Globe Staff / July 4, 2011
Richard Gaines, then a rising star at the Boston Phoenix, was putting the final touches on his story about the incoming Senate president when a colleague at the paper delivered a chilling message.
It came from a television reporter with mob ties, who said he was speaking for James “Whitey’’ Bulger: “Don’t mention [Whitey] in the story if you know what’s good for you.’’
“It is one of those moments that is seared in your memory,’’ said Gaines, who was known at the time for fearless reporting that often drove the news agenda on Beacon Hill.
Seems like ancient history given the state of the mouthpiece media of AmeriKa.
The threat worked.
They usually do.
Gaines and his editors dropped the reference to the Boston mobster from the 1978 profile of William M. Bulger.
“It was a cost-benefit analysis,’’ Gaines, now a reporter with Gloucester Daily Times, recalled late last month, on the same day Whitey Bulger returned to Boston after 16 years to be arraigned.
The potential significance of that decision more than three decades ago was not fully realized until days later, when the television reporter Jack Kelly and four notorious underworld characters were wiped out in the Blackfriars nightclub massacre - gunned down while playing backgammon in the club’s basement after hours.
The next month, William Bulger was officially elected Senate president, and would dominate much of Beacon Hill politics and policy agenda for the next 17 years. The iron hand with which he ruled the Senate became legendary.
Even more intimidating was the dark shadow that loomed behind him. Whether that was real or perceived, politicians and the media looked at William and saw the specter of Whitey....
--more--"
Related: Choppy Bulger Coverage
Let's expand that to GOVERNMENT is ORGANIZED CRIME and ORGANIZED CRIME is GOVERNMENT -- and that is true beyond the Bulgers here in AmeriKa.
