William (Billy) Bulger
They called him “the Corrupt Midget,” and for 25 years, the 65-inch high brother of a bloodthirsty gangster was the most powerful man in Massachusetts politics. As vindictive as his older brother, he ruled the State House with an iron fist, and soon even politicians seeking the presidency were kowtowing to him, at least on St. Patrick’s Day. He lived next door to the house where his brother strangled at least one young woman who made the fatal error of getting between Whitey and his underworld partner, Stevie “the Rifleman” Flemmi. After Whitey fled, Billy never sought elective office again. Now Billy Bulger is about to turn 74, and he subsists on a state pension of more than $200,000 a year.
Sen. Ted Kennedy with Mass. Senate President Billy Bulger at a St. Patrick’s Day breakfast in South Boston, mid-1980’s. In 1962, when Ted first ran for the Senate, freshman state rep Billy Bulger was with Mass. Atty. Gen. Eddie McCormack, the nephew of U.S. House Speaker John McCormack, who had watched over Whitey during his stint in the federal prison system from 1956 until 1965. Later Billy vehemently opposed Teddy’s pro-busing stand, but Teddy occasionally showed up in Southie on St. Patrick’s Day – in election years, anyway. Usually he and Billy would join in a duo of “Sweet Adeline,” the theme song of Teddy’s grandfather, Honey Fitz, who was mayor of Boston until he was forced to retire in 1915 by Billy’s hero, James Michael Curley.
St. Patrick’s Day 1996, Billy’s last breakfast as host. Sen. John Kerry only appeared in election years, which 1996 was (against Gov. William F. Weld) and he brought with him his older gold-digging second wife, Teresa Heinz. Note the button on Kerry’s lapel: it’s for Billy Bulger Jr., who in a few weeks would lose his campaign to succeed his dad as senator from the First Suffolk District. In earlier years, Kerry had been the butt of many jokes. It was here that Billy first called him “JFK – Just for Kerry,” and said, “He’s only Irish every sixth year.” In 1991, after the end of the First Gulf War, Billy captured his waffling perfectly, saying, “It was touch and go for a while. Sen. Kerry couldn’t decide which side he was on.” In 1987, with Gov. Mike Dukakis running for president, Billy quipped, “Sen. Kerry’s very angry at Dukakis. Kerry thinks he’s running for his job.” As president, he meant.
Billy, with John F. Kennedy, Jr., mid-90’s.
UMass President Billy Bulger in Washington at the hearing of the House Government Reform Committee, June 2003. Two rows back, at left, is Howie Carr of the Boston Herald.
After the breakfast wrapped up shortly before 1 p.m. at the Bayside Club, Billy would march in the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade in Southie. The fact that his older brother was a serial killer kept the heckling to a bare minimum.
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