BOSTON — The longtime girlfriend of reputed Boston crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger was indicted today for allegedly helping him dodge authorities during his 16 years on the run.
Federal prosecutors charged Catherine Greig with conspiracy to harbor and conceal a fugitive. The crime carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. No date has been set for her arraignment.
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Greig, 60, has been held since she and Bulger were captured June 22 in Santa Monica, Calif.
Bulger has pleaded not guilty to charges that he participated in 19 murders during the years he was leader of the Winter Hill gang, while also acting as an FBI informant against rival mobsters.
At a bail hearing last month, Greig’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, described his client as a subservient woman, in love with Bulger, and unaware of the extent of his alleged crimes when she fled with him. Bulger was facing an extortion charge in a racketeering indictment when the couple left Boston, Reddington said.
Reddington argued she should be released on bail with electronic monitoring.
“She has nothing to do with any of those murders or acts of violence,” he said at last month’s bail hearing. “This woman is not a violent person. … Her only crime is a crime of passion — falling in love with this gentleman.”
But prosecutors countered that Greig was still a risk to flee and had actively helped Bulger evade capture.
Meanwhile, relatives of Bulger’s alleged murder victims argued against her release at the bail hearing. Tom Donahue, whose father, Michael Donahue, was allegedly killed by Bulger in 1982, said releasing Greig would be “unjust and unbearable.”
Greig agreed to be held while Reddington gathered more information to support her bail request.
Bulger fled in December 1994 after being tipped by an FBI agent that he was about to be indicted on racketeering charges. The murder allegations were added in a separate racketeering indictment four years later.
Bulger and Greig, a former dental hygienist, were caught just days after the FBI began a new publicity campaign focusing on Greig and aimed at a female audience.
The FBI said on Greig’s wanted poster that she frequented beauty salons, and had well-kept teeth and multiple plastic surgeries.
When the pair was caught, authorities found more than $800,000 in cash and more than 30 weapons in their California apartment.
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