James “Whitey” Bulger may have been living in the United States but capture and arrest of the Boston mob boss--who was "hiding" in plain sight in Santa Monica, California--is actually owed to a female living across the globe: an Iceland woman tipped off the FBI after watching CNN.
A woman living in Iceland apparently saw the FBI’s public service announcement looking for Catherine Greig on a CNN report on Bulger and Greig and, as the gangster's luck would have it, happened to remember the pair -- from a location over 4,000 air miles away from Bulger's hide-out in Santa Monica, California. Apparently the tipster had crossed paths with "Whitey" Bulger and his girlfriend, Catherine Greig, while visiting the oceanside city.
As to how the FBI chose Iceland as one of the global spots airing the public service announcements is unclear. The FBI had just announced plans of targeting female viewers, for help in keeping an eye out for Bulger's girlfriend Catherine Greig. 30-second ads from the FBI were slated for airing Tuesday, June 21, in 14 television markets -- during programs popular with women in Greig's age group. It seems Iceland was one of those tv markets airing CNN.
The Icelandic tipster was watching CNN abroad when either recognizing the story about the FBI's public TV ad campaign or saw an actual ad on Tuesday, June 21.
The FBI seems to be confirming a tip arrival on Tuesday, June 21, to the agency's Los Angeles office -- then sent for review by James "Whitey" Bulger experts in Boston. The tip then deemed credible, FBI surveillance of "Whitey" Bulger and Catherine Greig’s apartment began the next day on Wednesday, June 22, the pair arrested later the same day.
FBI spokesman Damon Katz has announced: “The identity of the tipster and where the tipster is from is not something we [the FBI agency] are going to get into.”
Considering mob ties and the fact that "Whitey" Bulger's accused of involvement in 21 murders, including one where he allegedly cut out a man's tongue, it's understandable the agency wouldn't be too keen on releasing information that could endanger the woman who tipped the FBI as to the gangster's California whereabouts. Still, the FBI might consider a bit better public relations: After all, the agency has been asking for the public's help in the manhunt for a violent mobster that the FBI's own Boston agent -- John Connolly -- tipped off, to require that manhunt in the first place.