Bulger To Spend Rest Of Life Behind Bars

08:19

November 14, 2013

A courtroom sketch depicts James "Whitey" Bulger, center, during a pretrial conference before U.S. District Judge Denise Casper, left rear, in a federal courtroom in Boston Monday, June 3, 2013. Bulger is flanked by his attorneys Henry Brennan, left, and J.W. Carney Jr., standing at right. Jury selection begins Tuesday for Bulger's trial. (AP) — A courtroom sketch depicts James "Whitey" Bulger, center, during a pretrial conference before U.S. District Judge Denise Casper, left rear, in a federal courtroom in Boston Monday, June 3, 2013. Bulger is flanked by his attorneys Henry Brennan, left, and J.W. Carney Jr., standing at right. (AP)

After running a deadly criminal enterprise in Boston for two decades, eluding arrest for another 16 years, a three-month trial and a guilty verdict, former Boston crime boss James Whitey Bulger was finally sentenced to prison today. Judge Denise Casper told Bulger that "the scope, the callousness, the depravity of your crimes are almost unfathomable." Then she sentenced him to two life sentences, plus five years. The sentence comes after a jury convicted Bulger in August of participating in 11 murders, drug trafficking, racketeering and extortion.

Guest

David Boeri, WBUR senior reporter. To download David Boeri's e-book "Bulger On Trial," click here.

This segment aired on November 14, 2013.