People may stash valuables in "books" and apparently mobster James "Whitey" Bulger is no exception. He used 'em for guns. There's no escaping the irony that one of the most famous mobsters in U.S. history has been using no less than hollowed-out history books to hide weapons--in a home housing pictures of cats on the walls.
The Santa Monica home was rent-controlled, only $1145.00 per month in the upscale California neighborhood. Reputed gangster Bulger and girlfriend Catherine Greig could've lived out their years in the oceanside town -- with the $800,000 stash of cash, discovered by FBI agents. Loads of cash was neatly tucked in walls, while history books held about thirty (30) guns.
Chris Rock has always recommended stashing valuables in books: As the comedian puts it best, or in a quote that's close enough, "books are like kryptonite" to thieves.
Apparently books don't quite have the same effect on FBI agents.
In one more loop of irony, one of the most famous criminals in history didn't go out in bursts of gunfire: "Whitey" Bulger actually got himself busted while responding to a made-up story that another criminal had possibly ripped him off. FBI arranged for a phone call to Bulger's third-floor apartment, with report that his storage locker may have been robbed.
Sightings of the notorious Boston gangster have had FBI and international agents crossing the globe from London to Sicily -- and back to the U.S. again, right down to Orange and San Diego counties in California. Bulger was reportedly spotted in 2006 by an off-duty police officer leaving a San Diego, California, movie theater. He'd just seen a mob flick, "The Departed". Of course that'd be Martin Scorsese's film whose character is based on mobster James "Whitey" Bulger.
When asked by a California judge if Bulger had received a copy of the criminal charges against him, the mobster replied: "I got 'em all, here. It'll take me a while to finish them all," adding, "I know them all anyway."
As it turns out, all that cash in the walls won't be helping "Whitey": The FBI confiscated the $800,000 in what may even be funds associated with the string of "Geezer Bandit" bank robberies in California that had been taking place from 2005 through May 2011. No matter how that stash o' cash was obtained, the important part to Bulger is that the money is not in his hands: The gangster's now requested a public defender be assigned to his case, after an irritated Bulger had told the judge he could afford an attorney if the courts gave him his money back.
It's quite possible Bulger could still afford an attorney but probably won't be able to access additional cash. The FBI believes in the possibility that the mobster's got some extra funds hidden in another location, or more. Some buyer at an auction for unpaid storage units may make a very happy "discovery" one day.