he dominated the boston underworld, was the inspiration for the 2006 martin scorsese film "the departed" -- >> you got something you want to ask me? >> he's been on the lam since 1994. and just days ago the bureau released a new public service announcement in his case. >> he has a violent temper and is charged with 19 murders. call the tip line at 1-800-call-fbi. >> bulger was captured tonight in, of all places, santa monica. abc news's pierre thomas covers tus. and he joins us now from washington. pierre, tell us how this went down. >> reporter: terry, what happened to whitey bulger had been one of the most perplexing questions for the fbi for nearly two decades. the alleged boston crime boss had simply disappeared. at one point the fbi even thought he might be in europe. it turns out he was right here in the u.s. tonight bulger was arrested along with his girlfriend in santa monica not far from the beach. apparently, the relationship with the girlfriend is what did bulger in. that psa the fbi launched earlier this week was in an effort to reignite interest in this long cold case. it d

. >> he was the inspiration for that martin scorsese film. bulger was captured last night in santa monica. he and his girlfriend appeared in a l.a. federal court and ordered to return to massachusetts to face charges. nbc's michelle franzen has the story. >> reporter: james whitey bulger had a full white beard and wore glasses. the 81 year old waved his right to a removal hearing and a judge ordered bulger be returned to boston to face charged for his alleged ties to mob hits and other decades-old crimes. >> he appeared to be calm, collected and he said in a very matter of fact way he was familiar with the charges against him. >> reporter: bulger had been on the run from federal authorities for 16 years until last night, when fbi agents arrested him along with his long-time girlfriend catherine grigg at this santa monica apartment complex. >> the arrest mark the end of a long and exhaustive hunt for one of america's most wanted men. >> reporter: the worldwide hunt for the notorious boston organized crime boss. >> do you know who i am. >> repo

a 2006 martin scorsese film starri starring dicaprio, jack nicholson. >> bulger has to be caught.ooner the better. >> the f.b.i. recently stepped up the efforts to find his girlfriend. kathryn. they disappeared in 1995 with a $2 million reward for information leading to his capture. the 60-year-old faces charges of harboring a fugitive. recent publicity produced a tip to lead agents to santa monica. they were arrested without incident. kathryn was known for her multiple surgeries and her hygiene. she made monthly visits to a dentist for cleanings. john hendren, abc7 news. >>> cal's baseball team will try to keep the magic going at the college world series in omaha today. the golden bears will play virginia in another elimination game today at 4:00. cal beat texas a&m to stay alive in the double elimination tournament and send aggies home. the run to omaha comes after supporters of the program raised $9 million in donations. the university had cut the baseball program, because of budget woes. >>> okay. 4:51. as you mentioned, we have already noticed the cooldown. >> it's nice to wa

. >> reporter: martin scorsese based the jack nicholson character in "the departed" on whitey bulger.obster's younger brother billy for years was the most powerful democrat in the massachusetts statehouse. president of the senate. >> whitey bulger controlled the rackets in that part of town and his brother was one of the most powerfrf politicians in massachusetts. >> reporter: the fact that the two brothers kept in contact even after whitey went on the m would l ler prove an embarrassment for billy bulger, a congressional committee put him publicly on the hot seat. >> i know my brother stands accused of many things. serious crime, brutal crimes. i do still live in the hope that the worst of the charges against him will prove groundless. >> reporter: in another twist of the plot billy bulger's first campaigngnanager john connelly ended up joining the fbi. whitey bulger was his informant. a position he used to eliminate rival italian mobsters and consolidate his own grip on power. bulger's fbi handler john connelly was eventually put in jail himself. now bulger may be in a position to i

were just deluding to the tragedy of the civil war, and after not too long ago, i watched the martin scorsesemovie gangs of new york and the horrible tragedy of the draft riots and the know nothing party went after black people in new york and lynched them in the streets and i was wondering if that happened in any other cities in the u.s.. >> nowhere was it as terrible as it was during those days in new york in the summer of 1863 but in fact, there were other aaa pursuits of that urban violence that close quarter slaughter that wasn't -- we think of these ranks of blue and gray soldiers marching against one another on the battlefield that often what is portrayed can't gettysburg the use to have this you see it progressing in neat lines of this way and that we like 1960. but in many places the civil war was like the kind of civil war that we think of today in a place like bin zazi ferc sable or baghdad recently. it place of a very personal kind of violence come and one place i talked about in my book is st. louis, missouri where before any of these noble louis and gray battles were fought ther

gangland activities and explosive temper were the inspiration for jack nicholson's character in martin scorsese's movie "the departed." >> you dump him in the marsh. >> reporter: but the film's popularity in 2006 did not help the f.b.i. find its man. public appeals and wanted posters brought no results until this week. >> have you seen this woman? >> reporter: on monday, the f.b.i. unveiled this ad focusing on bulger's long-time girlfriend, catherine grieg. a spot airing on daytime television and aimed at female viewers described grieg and her numerous plastic surgeries. within 24 hours, authorities got a very specific tip that bulger and grieg were living in this apartment building. the f.b.i. lured bulger outside and arrested him. then they entered the building, arrested grieg and confiscated nearly 30 guns and hundreds of thousands of dollars stashed in the apartment. neighbors knew the couple as charles and carol gasko. they lived in apartment 303 and, for much of the past 15 years, it seems, paid their $1,100-a- month rent in cash. but sources say bulger, armed with multiple passports, also

>> he was so notorious, he was the inspiration for "the departmented" martin scorsese film starring jackas to be caught. the sooner the better. this has gone on long enough. >> they stepped up the effort to find the girlfriend, kathryn greeg. they disappeared in 1995 with $2 million award leading to the capture. kathryn faces charges of harboring a fugitive. recent publicity produced a tip that led agents to santa monica. they were arrested without incident. the girlfriend was known for multiple visits to dentists for cleanings. john hendren, abc news. >>> coast guard helicopter is safely on the ground after an emergency landing in the east bay a short time ago. this is a live look at the scene in alameda where the coast guard chopper landed. it was on patrol before 5:00. searching over the bay waters for a possible jumper off the bay bridge. they made the eemergency landing to check out electrical problem on board. >> 6:47. google business operation getting unwanted attention from washington. former rapper vanilla ice is giving advice about the housing market. >> we want to hear what he

whitey was the inspiration for the 2006 martin scorsese film "the departed." the public will get a chance to voice on pension reform. the board rules committee will hold a hearing at city hall. they will discuss the city's plan which would save $750 million. other groups including the public defender offer different initiatives which would save even more. san francisco will spend $422 million on pension contributions next fiscal year and it will nearly double in three years. a new exhibit is opening, addressing the need to clean up our coast. as a growing amount of trash is making its way to the bay. marla tellez is live at sausalito's marine mammal center with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. yeah, certainly not a bad view from the marine mammal center. as you mentioned this weekend a new exhibit opening, it's called washed ashore, plastics, sea life and art set to open on saturday. it consists of 15 sculptures of sea life. plastic bottles, glasses, flip-flops, rope, styrofoam, they make up a big turtle created here, a seal, star fish, some of t

bulger was inspiration for the martin scorsese movie "the departed." >>> new this morning a suit filed in alameda county claims emergency workers did not do enough to try to save oscar grant's life after he was shot on a bart station platform. grant died about 5 hours after he was shot in the back january 1, 2009. the suit by an oakland fire department employee says his colleagues failed to bandage one of grant's wounds but the "chronicle" reports that the interim fire chief has investigated those claims and he is calling them, quote, preposterous. >> 6:03. today members of congress will be presented a bill that would weaken federal marijuana laws. the bill would essentially allow each state to have its own marijuana policy. the federal government's role will be limited to controlling pot crossing the u.s. border and between states with conflicting laws. oakland democrat barbara lee is one of the bill's co-sponsored. >>> a viral video and photos upsetting parents all around the country and this morning, the tsa says it's now beginning to rethink its policy. kristy seifkin is live at sf

long captivated the city of boston and has been the subject of several books as wells the 2006 martin scorsese film in which heas played by jack nicholson. >> when i was your age they would say you become cops or criminals. today what i'm saying to you is this, when you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference? >> rose: part of bulger's story was the subject of reports on cbs' "60 minutes." >> the business they were in was organized crime. and what set whitey bulger's organization apart was his penchant for violence. weeks says it was all part of the folklore of this irish working-class neighborhood known as souie. was it a tough neighborhood when you were growing up, kev? >> you had to fight. you didn'tave to win, but you had to fight. >> reporter: on these streets, whitey bulger was known as a vicious gangster who never hesitated to use violence. weeks, who had a reputation as a tenacious street fighter, caught the crime boss' eye while he was working as a bouncer at local bar. over the years, he became bulger's most trusted confidant. what did you do for him, what was your job? >> anyt

the man who inspired a martin scorsese film, whitey bulger, called "the departed."ccused murderer was on the fbi's most wanted list. he finally has been taken down. >> it might surprise you where they took him down. >> yes. >> not the first place you'd have thought. >> almost that hiding in plain sight thing again. >> exactly, right. >>> later this half hour, parents of teenagers who allow their kids to have sex, wait for it, in the family home. why some mom and dads think this is actually a good idea. >> hmm. >> i don't know about you but when i was a kid, my parents were like, nuh-uh. or they turned a blind eye to it. >> i was just going to say, there's one way to look at it, like it's just not happening so you don't address it or you look at it and -- >> deal with it. >> and deal with it, there you go. >>> following a developing story. the fbi has finally apprehended notorious gangster whitey bulger. bulger who's been on the ten most wanted list had been on the run for 16 years. >> in fact, the fbi had issued a new series of public service announcements about the

. >> reporter: bulger's life of crime was the inspiration for the 2006 martin scorsese film "the departed." but bulger hardly needed hollywood to cement his reputation as an almost mythic criminal figure. he and his girlfriend are expected to make first court appearance later today in a federal courtroom in los angeles. >> bob, talk about the fbi publicity campaign out three days and already yielding a major big-time result here. >> reporter: yeah, it's amazing. the fbi flat out says the recent appeal for information directly led to this arrest. somebody apparently saw the pictures and tipped police perhaps bulger and his girlfriend were staying in that apartment building in santa monica. neighbors have saying that the girlfriend was talkative and outgoing and friendly and could be that public interaction you willy led to bulger's capture and hope to learn out more today from the fbi. >> bob, thank you. >>> we will have more on whitey bulger arrest in the next half hour including an interview with a former fbi official who was heavily involved in this case. >>> want to turn to president o

the 2006 martin scorsese film, "the departed" was based on his story. >>> 12,000 residents of minot,afar as the rising river threatens their homes. one quarter of the city's population complied with the orders to evacuate last night. the river is expected to crest at record levels by the end of this weekend. >>> president obama is speaking to soldiers at ft. john, new york today one day after the primetime address outlining the first significant u.s. troop withdrawals from afghanistan. the president said he'll bring home the 33,000 troops by the end of next summer starting next month. >>> secretary of state hillary clinton took a public swipe at members of congress who are critical of u.s. military involvement in libya. on wednesday, she questioned the priorities of congressional critics, asking bluntly, whose side are you on? >>> other news, fashion designer john galliano told a french court yesterday he did not remember hurtling anti-semetic insultings to bar patrons because of a triple addiction to alcohol, valium, and sleeping pills. they want him to pay damages but not seeking j