ticklethewire.com
The James “Whitey” Bulger story ain’t going away any time soon.
The latest: A Las Vegas man is livid. The Boston Herald reports that the man claims the FBI ignored his tip in 2008 that he spotted Bulger on the Santa Monica Pier and alerted “America’s Most Wanted.”
“The FBI should at least come out and say that they did get a call three years ago. If they had called me back, they would have struck gold. But you know how they play their games, the feds. I guess this whole hunt for Whitey Bulger was a game,’’ Keith Messina told the Herald. “Now they are saying someone in Iceland found Whitey? Who is that person? I found Whitey three years ago.”
“I didn’t make the call for the reward,” Messina insisted. “I just wanted the guy caught. But now the FBI is lying and saying the reward is going to Iceland. I saw the guy. I did the right thing and called. I left my name and number. I should be at least entitled to something.’’
The Herald reported that Messina, 45, was vacationing with his wife, Tonya, and their three children in June 2008.
Messina had seen America’s Most Wanted, which had featured Bulger.
The Herald reported that Messina was on a “bench near the Third Street Promenade when he spotted an elderly man wearing a hat and sunglasses, no shirt, dark shorts, and reading a book. Messina, a “huge” “America’s Most Wanted” fan, thought of Whitey.”
“His suspicion became stronger when the man, who had a crucifix on a gold chain, began chatting with a passer-by wearing a Boston Celtics [team stats] shirt,” the Herald reported.
“I looked at the guy and thought, ‘That looks like Bulger,’ but then I said to my wife, ‘No way.’ I kept watching him, and I really started thinking it was him but I was positive when I saw him talking to the guy from Boston and asked about Newbury Street — I knew it.”
