Crime & Safety

Melrose Bank Robbery: One of James 'Whitey' Bulger's Earliest Crimes

Bulger was arrested in 1956 on federal charges of robbing banks in Melrose, Providence and Indiana.

A Melrose bank robbery was one of the earliest crimes committed by James "Whitey" Bulger, the renowned South Boston mobster who was captured Wednesday in California after 16 years on the lam.

Bulger, now 81, was then 26-years-old, hiding out with his hair dyed black, when he was hauled out of a Revere nightclub on charges of robbing banks in Melrose, Providence, and Indiana, according to a 1995 Boston Globe article. Bulger was convicted and served nine years in federal penitentiaries, including Alcatraz, before returning to Boston in 1965.

Federal agents said Thursday morning that their often-criticized 16-year manhunt for the notorious Boston crime boss came to an end after agents used a ruse to lure Bulger from his Santa Monica home Wednesday.

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