WSJ's Levitz Omits Dem Party Connection in Story on 'Whitey' Bulger Obtaining Public Defender

July 1st, 2011 4:58 PM

Yesterday mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger -- captured last month with $800,000 in his possession -- was granted the right to retain taxpayer-funded counsel by a U.S. Magistrate judge Marianne Bowler, who "appointed high-profile Boston criminal-defense lawyer J.W. Carney Jr. as Bulger's public defender," Wall Street Journal's Jennifer Levitz reported in today's paper.

Bulger, you may recall, is the older brother of former Massachusetts State Senate President William "Billy" Bulger. The younger Bulger was once one of the most powerful Democratic Party bosses in the Bay State, having served 18 years as Senate president.

Yet when it came to noting the family dynamic in the Bulger family, Levitz wrote one short paragraph and in it left out any reference to the Democratic Party:

Bulger, one of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's "Ten Most Wanted" fugitives, arrived at the courthouse by helicopter. He smiled slightly at his two brothers, John and William, who were sitting in the front row. The three brothers grew up nearby, in working-class, Irish-Catholic South Boston, but their paths diverged; William Bulger was once one of the most powerful politicians in Massachusetts.