Bobby Martini, author of the street-memoir Citizen Somerville remembers not the feared criminal mastermind, but a Winter Hill associate, James "Whitey" Bulger - Photo by George Hassett

By Andrew Firestone

With the arrest of longtime fugitive and FBI informant James “Whitey” Bulger after 16 years in hiding, Bobby Martini, author of the street-memoir Citizen Somerville remembers not the feared criminal mastermind, but a Winter Hill associate with a reputation similar to his word, black.

“Whitey came into the picture in 1972 because his own people in South Boston wanted to kill him,” said Martini. Martini relates that the South Boston gang war of the times had taken a toll on Bulger’s Killeen Gang, and Bulger was apparently scared for his life. He rushed to then Winter Hill Gang leaders Joseph McDonald and Howie Winter for protection and in the end a deal was brokered that saved Bulger’s life from the rival Mullen Gang.

“A year later, he was accused of killing [Mullen Gang leader] Paulie McGonagle. He thought that far ahead, Whitey. After Howie had a sit-down and said ‘OK, let’s have peace’ Whitey in his mind was just thinking ahead to how he was going to kill them.”

The deal brokered transferred power of the South Boston Killeen Gang over to Winter, in an effective merger.

When asked if he thought the two men were friends, Martini responded, “they were associates in the ‘70s, but that is about it.”

Bulger allegedly led the Winter Hill Gang after Winter’s arrest in 1979, but there was little in common with the original gang, now transferred to Lancaster St. in Boston.

Martini said there was little love for Bulger in Somerville, unlike his famous “Robin Hood” image in South Boston. He recalled that at times, Bulger had overstepped his bearings. Martini remembered a story about his father, who owned a garage and did some work for the Winter Hill Gang in the ‘60s.

Martini’s father, also named Bobby, had been talking with a friend about Bulger, and said that he did not trust the man, and did not like him because of it. Martini relates that an associate of Bulger overheard, approached him and said Whitey would not be happy he was saying that.

Word traveled around fast in those days, said Martini, and one day shortly thereafter, Bulger was approached by Captain Buddy White of the Somerville Police. “Whatever happens to Bobby Martini, the same thing is going to happen to you the next day,” White said.

Martini also said that the arrest of Bulger brought closure to him and his sister, Patty, who was married to Brian Halloran at the time, an informant whom Bulger allegedly murdered himself. Halloran left behind two sons, Sean and Justin, Martini’s nephews.

As for Winter, who brought Bulger into the Winter Hill Gang, Martini said he talked to him only a few days before the publishing of this article, and his opinion remains the same. “If you don’t have anything nice to say, you probably shouldn’t say it,” Martini quotes Winter saying.

Bulger now resides in a cell at the Plymouth County House of Correction, awaiting a plethora of charges including 19 murders.