Johnny Depp’s 2015 mafia movie, Black Mass, is finally streaming on Netflix. The crime drama covers the life of the notorious mob boss, James “Whitey” Bulger, who had a lengthy reign as the boss of the Winter Hill Gang in Boston before going into hiding to avoid a RICO indictment. Depp plays the character with conviction and the requisite enthusiasm. Apart from him, the movie boasts a stellar supporting cast that includes Jesse Plemons, Dakota Johnson, Joel Egerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon, and Correy Stoll.
Depp is not a stranger to gangster movies, having played drug trafficker George Jung in Blow, the Depression Era bank robber John Dillinger in Public Enemies, and undercover FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone in Donnie Brasco. He does well here too, and his work is complemented by gorgeous sets and a touching screenplay..
The movie also captures most details about the mobster’s life. After all, it is based on Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob by investigative reporters Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill. Regrettably, a few details are left out, details that might have made the story better, and pushed the picture to the zenith of its genre.
6 The Details of Bulger’s Capture
As entertaining as Black Mass is, it is significantly condensed. It leaves viewers hanging after Bulger goes into hiding, which is a shame considering that a lot happened afterward. In 2011, Bulger was captured after 16 years on the run. At this time, he was second only to Osama bin Laden on the FBI’s Most Wanted List, and, like the Al Qaeda leader, he knew how to stay under the radar. So, what ultimately gave him away? ABC News reported that Bulger was captured after the FBI traced serial numbers of his girlfriend Catherine Greig’s breast implants back to the plastic surgeon’s office.
A Sequel Would be Good
Considering the movie came out four years after Bulger was captured, there is no excuse for leaving such a crucial detail out. Perhaps director Scott Cooper was scared of having a bloated running time, but that wouldn’t have been bad. Many of the greatest gangster movies are known to push the audience members’ bladder to the elastic limit. Some stories are too good to end too quickly.
None of the events in the 16 years Bulger spent as a fugitive are covered either. So, maybe, Warner Bros. could go the sequel route. After all, the original grossed $100 million, and unlike Bulger, Depp no longer has legal problems.
5 Bulger Was Once in the Air Force
For those who know the real story, Black Mass comes off as frustrating because of how it leaves out much of Bulger’s background. For example, it’s never revealed that he served in the US Air Force. After being released from a juvenile reformatory facility, he joined the military, where he earned a high school diploma. However, he never reformed.
According to the book The Brothers Bulger by Howie Carr, he had various stints in military prison for several assaults and was even arrested by Air Force police in 1950 for going absent without being granted leave. He was eventually honorably discharged in 1952.
…And He Isn’t the Only One to go the Military-Mob Route
Through this revelation, it’s easier to understand why Bulger was such a hard-boiled and ruthless person. He was already stubborn, and the military only made him tougher. Rather than train him to be useful to his country, the Kansas Smoky Hill Air Force base made him a thorn.
Interestingly, many other mobsters were veterans. These include John Gotti’s underboss, Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano, Albert Anastasia, Henry Hill (of Goodfellas), and Charles “Lucky” Luciano. It could be argued the military is a perfect breeding ground for criminals, but this is just a small percentage. Many other veterans end up being upstanding citizens.
4 Lindsey Cyr Wasn’t the Only Woman Bugler Dated
Black Massbriefly touches on Bulger’s relationship with Lindsey Cyr. The two lived together and had a son (Douglas), who later succumbed to Reye syndrome, forcing Lindsey to remove him from life support, despite Bulger’s furious objections. Lindsey blamed herself for Douglas’ death as his condition only got worse after she gave him an extra dose of aspirin.’
The movie leaves out the two other important women in Bulger’s life. There was Theresa Stanley and Catherine Creig (whose mistake led to the gangster’s capture). Interestingly, he killed two of Catherine’s brothers-in-law, yet she stuck with him. At first, he took Theresa on the run with him, but she grew tired, so he dropped her and picked up Catherine.
The Movie’s Romance Arc Is Dull
Because organized crime is a male-dominated field, there are usually no major stories around women, but directors like Martin Scorsese and Barry Levinson have shown us that with great writing, female characters can easily be the shiny jewels in a gangster movie. Think Sharon Stone’s fiery, sparkling turn as Ginger in Casino. Lorraine Bracco is great, too, in Goodfellas, playing the pistol-packing mob wife and unrepentant provocateur who wakes her husband up with a gun to his face.
If Theresa Stanley and Catherine Creig had been included, audiences would have been treated to juicier romance arcs. While Dakota Johnson is great as Lindsey Cyr, the character is too sad and self-pitying to care for. And she doesn’t stick around for long.
3 Bulger’s Controversial Lottery Win
One of the quick scenes in the film shows a newspaper clip revealing that Bulger and an associate have won around US $14 million in the lottery. Well, there is more to the story than the Winter Hill Gang leader being a lucky gambler. He was no Arnold Rothstein for sure.
In the summer of 1991, James J. “Whitey” Bulger a South Boston man named Michael Linskey, who had purchased the lottery-winning ticket at the Bulger-owned South Boston Liquor Mart, told state lottery officials that he was partners with the gangster, so he was entitled to half of the jackpot. This wasn’t true and Salon discloses that Bulger had coerced him to do so.
Getting Money by all Means Possible
Shaking down a lottery winner seems very-Bulger-like. It wouldn’t be surprising to find out that Mr. Linskey gave away the whole amount. Mobsters are known to use all kinds of illegal routes to get money, and given how feared Bulger was in Boston, it’s not surprising that something like this happened.
It would have been better seeing it all play out in the movie, since Depp’s Bulger is arguably one of the scariest movie gangsters. Watching Linskey get terrified as he is being given an offer he can’t refuse, would have added to the overall sense of dread and made the motion picture even more iconic.
2 The Time a Businessman Recognized Bulger from a Movie Scene
A Black Mass sequel would make for a great man-on-the-run film since the gangster was good at evading the police. The Boston Globe reports that the first confirmed public sighting of James “Whitey” Bulger was in London in the year 2002. In that year, Hannibal, the follow-up to Silence of the Lambs had just been released, and while watching it, a businessman noticed Bulger and remembered he had just spotted him in a hotel’s gym.
In a scene in the film, a detective hunting for the fictional serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter examines a webpage featuring the FBI’s most wanted list on the Internet. While doing so, he quickly flips past Bulger’s image.
Stranger than Fiction
The fact that a movie about a serial killer who is hard to capture almost led to the capture of a real-world criminal who was also hard to capture, was quite fascinating. Bulger and Hannibal Lecter might not have much in common, but they sure know how to give the authorities a hard time.
The story evokes memories of another Johnny Depp gangster movie. In Public Enemies, John Dillinger (Depp) gets captured while stepping out of the theater after watching the pre-Code crime drama, Manhattan Melodrama. Cinema sure has a funny way of spoiling the party for criminals.
1 The Story of Bulger’s Younger Brother, John
Regarding relatives, Black Mass greatly focuses on Bulger’s brother, William “Billy” Bugler, who served as the Massachusetts Senate president. The politician, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, is quite intriguing, but so is another Bulger sibling that the movie completely leaves out.
The criminal had another brother, John P. Bulger, who worshiped him. In 2003, John got a six-month sentence for thwarting the police’s attempts to capture his Whitey. John pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury and two counts of obstruction of justice.
Family Loyalty
As per South Coast Today, John cited “family loyalty while justifying his actions.” Given how much emphasis organized crime places on loyalty, John is the character that would have fitted perfectly in Black Mass. He, himself might not have been a criminal but he understood that family comes first. Observing the existence of a criminal’s brother for over 2 hours might not seem like the stuff of captivating cinema, but in the capable hands of Scott Cooper and his screenwriters, John’s story would have been enchanting.
