MARBLEHEAD — Only Monday, Marblehead author Phyllis Karas and former gangster Kevin Weeks officially published their novel, "Where's Whitey?"
Already, they've got an answer.
The capture of accused killer James "Whitey" Bulger by FBI agents in Santa Monica, Calif., on Wednesday might be a lucky or an unlucky break for the Karas/Weeks literary efforts. She's hoping for the best.
Meanwhile, retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Tanya DeGenova of Marblehead transferred to the Boston FBI office in 1996 after Bulger fled the area, but before the extent of the agency's shady ties to their sometime informant became known publicly in 1998.
That revelation left a stain on the FBI, DeGenova recalled, something every agent felt especially in the Boston office.
"I am very proud," she said yesterday. "Very happy. Now that the FBI has captured him, the agency can move forward."
Karas got the news from a Hollywood filmmaker just after midnight and remained awake, fielding phone calls from publishers and news agencies and conferring with Weeks throughout the night and into the day.
"Where's Whitey?" imagines a fictional hunt for an elusive Bulger. If the impact of his capture on sales remains ambiguous, nabbing the now-elderly fugitive has sparked huge interest in the pair's previous collaboration, an as-told-to, nonfiction book called "Brutal: The Untold Story of My Life Inside Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob."
In hours of conversation, Weeks unburdened himself to Karas, giving all the bloody details of his days as one of the South Boston crime lord's loyal lieutenants. Yesterday, she recalled one of their last interactions, with Bulger already on the lam, meeting Weeks in New York City. At one point, Whitey lost his way and didn't hesitate to ask a cop for directions.
News organizations from National Public Radio to CBS and ABC have been on the phone to Karas, hoping for access to her co-author. "Everybody and his brother wants to talk to Kevin," she says. But Kevin wasn't talking yesterday. A press conference is likely in the offing.
Finding Whitey has sparked increased interest in the novel, Karas said. She does not think the new reality will undercut the fiction.
Karas and Weeks imagined a Whitey Bulger who made trips to exotic locations like Rio and Venice. The Associated Press quotes the manager of Bulger's apartment complex, however, as saying he's lived there for 15 years. Even so, Karas says, "I have a feeling if Whitey talks about all the places he's been to, that's going to follow a lot of what we've written."
The book, she notes, enlists Weeks' intimate knowledge of Bulger and has him drawn to temperate climates and living in San Diego.
Finally, Karas has already got her heart set on a new book — if she can make the connection — with Bulger's mistress and fellow fugitive Catherine Greig. "I always thought she was the most fascinating character."
In the end, according to the FBI, it was Bulger's link to Greig that put him in handcuffs, with a tipster apparently spotting the latter, who led them to the former.
Regardless of the impact on book sales, Karas believes that Bulger's capture is all good, bringing justice and closure for his victims.
It also brings a kind of redemption for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. John Connolly, the agent who "ran" Bulger as an informant, was also accused of becoming a part of his operation and tipping him off, allowing him to escape just as an indictment was issued in 1995. In 2009, Connolly was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his involvement in one of Bulger's murders.
Thus, there were suspicions regarding what Bulger might say and doubts early on that the agents in the Boston office really wanted to capture him.
The ties to Bulger, DeGenova said, were like "a big family secret ... with a lot of tension in the office" when she arrived. Nor was she privy to the secret. But with revelations about Connolly beginning in 1998, she credits the Boston media with keeping the pressure on to find Bulger.
Gradually, a concerted effort was made by the FBI to restaff the Boston office through attrition, DeGenova said.
Now a private detective, she happily spread the word about Bulger and the FBI's $2 million reward to her many contacts in Europe. They speculated that Bulger might be in Corsica or the Antibes, a notorious areas for mob figures from Ireland.
Yet, she said, "After all these years, quite frankly, I was beginning to lose confidence that the FBI would find him. Not that they weren't trying."
The FBI's move in recent days to publicly target Greig, DeGenova said, "was a brilliant idea" aimed "at the older women in the beauty parlors." And the former agent soon emailed that story "to friends worldwide" just in case they came across Greig.
It was more proof, DeGenova added, "That since they put Whitey on the Most Wanted list (in 1999), they have been working very hard to get him."
