Whitey Bulger Fast Facts

Here's a look at the life of longtime fugitive James "Whitey" Bulger, on trial for murder and racketeering charges.

Personal:
Birth date: September 3, 1929

Birth place: Dorchester, Massachusetts

Birth name: James Joseph Bulger, Jr.

Father: James Joseph Bulger, Sr., a laborer

Mother: Jane Veronica "Jean" (McCarthy) Bulger

Children: with Lindsey Cyr: Douglas Glenn Cyr, 1967-1973

Military Service: U.S. Air Force, 1948-1952

Other Facts:
Nicknamed "Whitey" as a child because of his white-blond hair.

His son, Douglas Cyr, died at age six from Reye's Syndrome, an allergic reaction to aspirin.

Federal prosecutors say Bulger led south Boston's Winter Hill gang from the late 1970s through the mid-1990s.

Timeline:
1943 - Arrested for the first time, at age fourteen for larceny.

1956-1965 - Serves time in federal prison for armed robbery.

Early 1970s - Climbs the ranks of the Winter Hill gang, the preeminent Irish-American crime syndicate in the Boston area.

1975 - Agrees to become an FBI informant, providing information about the Italian Mafia in exchange for protection from prosecution.

1979 - Multiple Winter Hill gang members are arrested for race-fixing, including the leader Howie Winter, which allows Bulger to assume leadership.

January 1995 - Flees an impending racketeering indictment after former FBI handler John Connolly tips Bulger off to the charges, and event that helped inspire the Oscar-winning 2006 drama "The Departed."

1999 - Added to the FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted list, facing charges in 19 murders.

June 22, 2011 - After 16 years on the lam, is arrested in Santa Monica, California, along with his girlfriend Catherine Elizabeth Greig.

July 6, 2011 - Pleads not guilty to 32 counts, including 19 counts of murder. If convicted, he may face life in prison.

August 18, 2011 - Bulger's companion, Catherine Elizabeth Greig, pleads not guilty to charges of harboring and concealing Bulger.

March 14, 2012 - Catherine Greig pleads guilty to one charge of conspiracy to harbor a fugitive and two counts of identity theft.

June 12, 2012 - Greig is sentenced to eight years in federal prison for identity fraud and helping Bulger avoid capture.

March 4, 2013 - A federal judge rules that Bulger can be prosecuted for murders committed after agreeing to an immunity deal with the FBI in the 1970s. Bulger's attorneys were hoping to have the case dismissed because of the immunity agreement.

March 14, 2013 - Federal Judge Richard Stearns is removed from the Bulger case by the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. Stearns had previously worked for the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston when Bulger's ran organized crime in the city. Bulger's defense had argued that Judge Stearns would not be impartial.

March 15, 2013 - U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper is named to replace Judge Richard Stearns.

May 2, 2013 - Judge Casper rules that Bulger cannot claim that federal law enforcement officials granted him immunity from prosecution at his upcoming trial.

May 17, 2013 - An appeals court upholds Catherine Greig's eight-year prison sentence.

June 4, 2013 - Jury selection begins in Bulger's trial on murder and racketeering charges.

June 12, 2013 - Opening statements begin.