I am fascinated by the way the Whitey Bulger coverage has been. When (alleged) gangster John Gotti was arrested I recall there was almost a Robin Hood/it-is-okay quality to a lot of Gotti's lore - almost that he was a good guy who just happened to be a criminal. The Godfathering of the American dream.
The papers seemed far more interesting to yell RAT!*
I have yet to see anyone say RAT when it comes to the capture of Whitey Bulger.
It is almost the opposite. A mini-celebration that he was caught via essentially a marketing campaign. There is a general pleasantness that people are no longer celebrating him on the run - they are celebrating that an (alleged) murdered was caught.
Though part of me wonders if some of this will change when a lawyer eventually points out that Bulger was an inspiration for Jack Nicholson's character in The Departed. After all, if John Gotti gives us memories of Marlon Brando in the Godfather then certainly Bulger will get a little movie cache for some of this.
Wayne
* I HATE when news uses the term RAT when it comes to mob dealings.
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