Journalist Who Exposed Whitey Bulger Talks About the Mob Boss Trying to Murder Him

"Depp captured [Bulger's] murderous insanity in several scenes," says Carr. "I saw [Bulger] almost every day in mid to late 1980s."

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Complex Original

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With a majority of the press related to Johnny Depp's recent portrayal of notorious mob boss Whitey Bulger in Black Mass centered on the source material's authors Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill, some might argue that Boston journalist Howie Carr hasn't been given the same attention. On Friday, the Brothers Bulger author decided to take matters into his own hands by engaging in a candid and fascinatingly thorough Ask Me Anything session on Reddit.

Carr kicked things off with a detailed account of, among other things, nearly being murdered due to his incessant quest to help expose the complex inner workings of the Bulger empire. "I saw him almost every day in [the] mid to late 1980s because I had to drive by the liquor store on my way between jobs," Carr said in response to an inquiry on whether he ever met Bulger. "I never went in the liquor store for obvious reasons. But Stevie Flemmi, Whitey's partner and fellow FBI informant, told me later that 'Whitey was always talking about you.' My editor in New York just told me that Johnny Martorano told him my life really was in danger back then. I did speak to Billy though."

When speaking on Depp's ability to capture Bulger's intensity, Carr mostly praised the film's narrative decisions while politely suggesting that a long-form Netflix series might have been the better format:

He's portrayed as the violent thug that he was. "Mostly intimidation," that was his job, according to Johnny Martorano. But everything was compressed. He killed a lot more people than he did in the movie. A lot more. Real quote from corrupt FBI agent John Morris: "You have no idea how dangerous he is."

Though some might assume that Carr has reason to be a bit fearful upon the recent release of Black Mass and the public's renewed interest in the life and times of one Whitey Bulger, Carr asserts that he is simply not concerned with facing retaliation, as "the gang" is no longer operating on that level:

The gang is defunct. Most of the remaining gang members have more to fear from ho-hos and twinkies than from gangland gats.

Carr, who also detailed an instance in which Bulger once threatened to "chop off a guy's penis and stuff it in his mouth," now presides over a column at the Boston Herald and a popular radio show. As for Bulger? He's apparently not a fan of Black Mass at all.

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