BOSTON (AP) – The testimony of University of Massachusetts President William M. Bulger before a Congressional committee should be public, say families of the alleged murder victims of his fugitive mobster brother, James J. “Whitey” Bulger.
After the House Government Reform Committee granted William Bulger immunity in return for his testimony on Wednesday, its chairman, Rep. Thomas M. Davis III, R-Va., said that members had not yet decided whether that testimony would be made in public.
That surprised the families of Whitey Bulger’s alleged victims. The fugitive gangster disappeared in 1995 after learning he was about to be indicted.
“What is it they can know, that they don’t feel we can be trusted to know about Billy Bulger’s relationship with his brother?” Jeffery A. Denner, who represents alleged victim John McIntyre, told The Boston Globe. Whitey Bulger and Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, both FBI informants, allegedly killed McIntyre in 1984.
Any testimony by William Bulger, the former State Senate president, “should be under oath and should be subject to public scrutiny,” Denner said. “Anything else is self-defeating, unless their intention is to continue the cover-up, which I’m sure it is not.”
A lawyer for the family of Debra Davis, who was allegedly murdered by Whitey Bulger and Flemmi in 1981, also called for a public hearing.
“Secrecy is the very worst thing that should be occurring now after all these years,” attorney Robert S. Sinsheimer said. “What my client needs more than anything is answers.”
Committee members are hoping that granting him immunity will prompt William Bulger to give them information about whether FBI agents obstructed homicide cases to protect his brother, who has been linked to 21 murders.
On Friday, Keith Ausbrook, chief counsel for the Government Reform Committee, said “However we go about this will ultimately be subject to public scrutiny,” referring to the committee’s practice of releasing reports including summaries or transcripts of testimony by witnesses interviewed privately.
William Bulger unsuccessfully sought to have the December hearing closed to the public. His attorney, Thomas Kiley, said he has made no such request for the coming hearing, expected to be held later this month.
The two Massachusetts members of the committee, Reps. Stephen F. Lynch and John Tierney, both Democrats, said they support holding the hearings in public.
In testimony before a grand jury, William Bulger said he talked with his brother by phone shortly after Whitey Bulger fled in 1995, but said he has not spoken to him since.
