Boston’s Also Braced to Learn Bandit’s Identity

For now, he’s merely the “Senior Citizen Bandit” -- an elderly man believed to have held up three Orange County banks in the last week. Much more intriguing, however, is whether there’s any chance under the warm California sun that he’s James “Whitey” Bulger, a crime figure legend in Boston and on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list.

The bureau hasn’t linked him to the Orange County robberies, the latest of which was Thursday in Laguna Niguel.

Polite society always has had a perverse fascination with famous gangsters, and the mere mention of Bulger’s name reverberated Thursday in Boston, where even in absentia his mystique hasn’t diminished.

Shelley Murphy covers organized crime for the Boston Globe and had heard the Bulger rumor when I phoned her Thursday. “Bulger is a huge story here,” she says. “It’s been a huge story for a long time.”

And in pursuit of guilty pleasures, I ask her why. “He’s always been part of folklore here,” Murphy says. “The thing about him is early on in his career there was sort of this Robin Hood myth that he was this good-hearted guy. But since he fled Boston and since they uncovered the graves of some of his [alleged] victims, including women, they no longer believe he’s this kind-hearted guy who bought turkey for people in the projects on Thanksgiving.”

Although, it must be said, those acts of Bulger kindness are documented in Boston.

It’s just that his criminal resume expanded from robbing banks -- he did nine years in federal prison from 1956 to 1965 -- to alleged mobster activities. He’s on the FBI list now for alleged involvement in numerous murders and for his alleged crime-boss activities.

But, as Murphy points out, Bulger is not your garden-variety criminal. For one thing, he’s the brother of the former longtime president of the Massachusetts Senate and the University of Massachusetts. As we speak, director Martin Scorsese is in Boston filming a movie called “The Departed,” and although not a Bulger biopic, elements of the story line appear to be based on his career, Murphy says.

Oh, I’ve left out one other detail: From 1971 through 1990, according to Globe reporting from federal court proceedings, Bulger was an FBI informant. For that reason, Murphy says, part of the intrigue surrounding him is whether the FBI really wants to catch him.

For the record, FBI spokeswomen in Boston and Los Angeles say they have no reason to think Bulger is Orange County’s Senior Citizen Bandit. The two offices were in contact with each other, but both noted that it doesn’t necessarily mean anything. However, neither office absolutely rules him out, either.

“The senior citizen robber was described as being no less than about 5 feet 10, which causes us to believe it’s not Whitey,” says Gail Marcinkiewicz, the FBI spokeswoman in Boston. “He tends to be on the shorter side.” FBI records have him as 5 feet 7 to 5 feet 9.

However, as Marcinkiewicz noted, there have been past reports of alleged Bulger sightings in Orange County.

Naturally, that just sweetens “Whitey” speculation, courtesy of Bulger expert Shelley Murphy.

“He’s a guy known to have been in California in the past,” Murphy says. “He certainly loves the ocean, and it’s the kind of area where it wouldn’t be surprising for him to be hiding.”

Bulger, who turns 76 in September, doesn’t have distinctive looks, Murphy notes. “Apparently there’s this place out there called Leisure World,” she says. “People back here have said for years, what better place to hide than some little retirement community where everyone looks like him.”

Murphy has provided more than enough to enliven my summer’s day. I confess to my guilty longtime interest in holdup men. Her laugh tells me she understands.

In exchange for helping me, Murphy asks only one thing in return. “If they catch him,” she says, “be sure and let me know. I’ll be on the first plane out.”

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. He can be reached at (714) 966-7821 or at dana.parsons@latimes.com. An archive of his recent columns is at www.latimes.com/parsons.