I confess: I didn't expect the FBI to catch him.
Bulger was on the run for so long I thought he was long gone.
But after 16 years and 6 months, the FBI finally got their man. That's much longer than it took to catch the mastermind of 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden. He was killed 12 years and 9 months after being posted on the FBI's Most Wanted list, for the bombing of two US Embassies in Africa.
Beyond the lives Bulger ruined, he also wrecked the reputation of the FBI in Boston.
Somehow a vicious career criminal became an FBI informer, with predictable results.
The Boston Office was called corrupt…and the FBI knew the only way to come clean was to capture Whitey.
"Although there are those who have doubted our resolve at times over the years, it has never wavered. The result is we have captured one of the FBI's ten most wanted fugitives," Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge FBI Boston Field Division said.
So, for the FBI, this is a day of redemption. For all of us, it should be a day of hope: Government can work.
This doesn't mean all our financial and social problems will be solved quickly, but does mean there's a chance we'll find solutions.
Because, if we can catch Whitey and Osama, what can't we do?
I'm Andy Hiller, and that's my instinct
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