Adam Reilly is reporting on the James "Whitey" Bulger trial for WGBH News. What follows are his notes from the courtroom:
One of the most anticipated witnesses in the Whitey Bulger trial, Bulger's former partner Kevin Weeks, took the stand this morning. Given his closeness with Bulger- he's often described as Bulger's "surrogate son"- Weeks' testimony should offer plenty of dramatic moments.
So far, though, any drama has been kept to a minimum. Looking nervous and breathing with difficulty, Weeks said early in his testimony that he's been working in construction, but can't currently because an accident left him incapacitated. He also spent a great deal of time, at the government's prompting, recounting moving guns from place to place on Bulger's behalf--storing them in "hides" where they would be invisible to prying eyes.
One of these hides, it's worth noting, was in the back of a home belonging to the mother of Steve Flemmi, who led the Winter Hill Gang with Bulger and Weeks--literally a stone's throw away from the home owned by William Bulger, Whitey's brother and the former president of the Massachusetts State Senate.
We also saw numerous pictures of Weeks walking with Flemmi and Bulger, and sometimes with Bulger alone, around South Boston. Their favorite spot seemed to be the "Sugar Bowl" by Castle Island, a walkway that juts out into the water and creates a lagoon in which people frequently swim. The purpose of these walks was twofold, Weeks explained: they let the Winter Hill Gang's leaders avoid surveillance, and they helped Bulger get a workout. "Jim liked to walk for the fresh air and the exercise," Weeks said.
As that comment suggests, Weeks has a knack for making criminality sound kind of boring. Here's Weeks describing what working with Bulger entailed:
"Basically, we just rode around. Sometimes, I'd beat somebody up."
There's no inclination, at least so far, to either glory in his recollection of past misdeeds or grapple with lingering guilt; whether the topic is knocking heads or moving massive amounts of illegal weaponry, Weeks' affect is flat.
Weeks, it's worth remembering, copped to a host of bad stuff in a plea deal he reached with the government. He admitted crimes ranging from extortion to money laundering to aiding and abetting five murders--and he spent only five years in prison. Weeks' ties to Bulger make him a valuable witness for the prosecution. But he'll also be an asset to the defense--which wants to show the government's case is based on the testimony of some profoundly unsavory characters.
I'll leave it at that for now, because Weeks is back on the stand.
