Hunt for 'Whitey' Bulger stepped up

Detectives in Britain have launched a public appeal today for help in catching one of the FBI’s most wanted men.

They believe Irish American gangster James “Whitey” Bulger – who is wanted in the US for 19 murders, extortion, racketeering and money laundering – is hiding in the UK or Ireland.

Bulger was a ruthless Boston crime boss in the 1970s and 1980s when he killed off enemies in vicious gangland executions.

Now 73 years old, he is still considered “armed and extremely dangerous” and is on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list.

The FBI has offered a reward of one million dollars for information leading to his capture.

The worldwide hunt is now focussed on London after a sighting of Bulger in Piccadilly in September last year and two FBI agents visited the city last week.

The sighting was in the street near the Meridian Hotel on September 10 by a businessman who had also seen him at the same hotel’s gym in 1994.

The businessman only realised the man might be Bulger when he later went to see the film Hannibal, starring Anthony Hopkins.

While watching the film, he saw a scene featuring an FBI Most Wanted poster of Bulger and recognised it as the man he had seen twice in Piccadilly.

The businessman’s information allowed the FBI to create a sketch of what Bulger looks like now.

They have since established that Bulger set up a safe deposit box in 1992 with Barclays Bank in Piccadilly, which was later moved to a branch in Mayfair.

Police searched the safe deposit box and found an Irish passport in Bulger’s name, letters and cash in US, UK, Swiss, French and Irish currencies.

They also found a key which was for another safe deposit box in a bank in Ireland.

Bulger is thought to be on the run with his companion Catherine Greig. He employs a string of aliases.