It's been a year since the FBI caught notorious Boston mobster Whitey Bulger living a quiet retirement life in a nondescript Santa Monica building, along with his dental hygienist partner Catherine Greig--that was pretty weird, huh? So what was it actually like living in the same building (the Princess Eugenia, specifically) as a guy who fled Boston in the nineties before he could be arrested for upwards of 19 murders? For the KCRW show Unfictional, cross-the-street neighbor Gideon Brower talked to several residents of the Princess Eugenia about their notorious neighbors.
-- One neighbor says "I often used to think to myself they were the most regular, normal, nice, decent couple I know in LA."
-- The building manager says they never complained about apartment problems and always used to pay the rent early. Catherine would pay a week before it was due in new hundred dollar bills.
-- Bulger was apparently very generous. Here are some things he gave to the neighbors: a half bottle of Grand Marnier, a cowboy hat, free weights, a stomach crunch machine, candles, stationary, white shirts, a beard trimmer, a thermos, and shoelaces.
-- Neighbors all agree that Whitey always wore a hat, and one says he had a nice smile and kind face.
-- "He liked to talk about anything really," says one neighbor who often talked music with Bulger.
-- Neighbors thought was "a middle class business person" or had retired from a good job, but here's our favorite guess: "I always assumed that he was, not a high-powered agent, but a producer maybe who was putting something together."
-- Bulger's apartment was always dark, didn't have a phone, and had a sign on the door saying "Do not knock at any time ever."
-- Bulger kept a boxing dummy by the front window. Decoy?
-- One friend of Catherine's says she was never offered a chair or a drink in the apartment, and Catherine never sat either.
-- One thing the couple loved was animals--one neighbor says they knew anyone with a pet and Catherine would feed a stray cat outside.
-- One neighbor who lived down the hall from Bulger for 15 years says her life has been turned upside down: "I have a healthy fear of being?eliminated."
· The Couple in 303 [KCRW]
· Boston Mob Boss Whitey Bulger Living Oldster Life in Santa Monica [Curbed LA]
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