High cheekbones

"That fraction doesn't make any sense."

Taxpayer subsidized solar giant collapses

Evergreen CEO accepts taxpayer cash from "Coupe de Ville" Patrick, 2009

In case anybody still thought solar energy makes any economic sense, read this.

Evergreen Solar Inc., the Massachusetts clean-energy company that received millions in state subsidies from the Patrick administration for an ill-fated Bay State factory, has filed for bankruptcy, listing $485.6 million in debt.

Evergreen, which closed its taxpayer-supported Devens factory in March and cut 800 jobs, has been trying to rework its debt for months. The cash-strapped company announced today has sought a reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware and reached a deal with certain note holders to restructure its debt and auction off assets.

That 58 million dollar bag of loot was taken from Massachusetts taxpayers, of course.  Don't worry, Massachusetts' Republicans are on the case.

The Massachusetts Republican Party called the Patrick administration’s $58 million financial aid package, which supported Evergreen’s $450 million factory, a “waste” of money.

That's not waste, it's robbery.  Evergreen has been one of the biggest players in the alternative energy racket.  Whitey has nothing on these thieves.  Who's going to jail for this one?

Whitey driving Netflix rentals

The capture of Whitey Bulger has driven Martin Scorses's 2006 Oscar winner "The Departed, " based on the Bulger story, to #5 on Netflix's rental rankings.  If you haven't seen Jack Nicholson as a fictionalized Whitey, time to update your queue.  Not recommended for sensitive types, however!

Whitey to face death penalty?

 

If he lives long enough, Whitey Bulger, brother of the former president of the University of Massachusetts,  could be executed for murder in either Florida or Oklahoma.

Florida prosecutors say they intend to try captured mobster James "Whitey" Bulger on charges that he ordered the murder of a gambling executive.

Prosecutors in Miami said Thursday that the Boston Irish mob leader remains under indictment for the 1982 murder of jai alai executive John Callahan. Former FBI agent John Connolly was convicted of murder in 2008 for telling Bulger that Callahan was cooperating with investigators looking into Bulger's role in the 1981 slaying of Oklahoma businessman Roger Wheeler.

The Oregonian:  Everything you always wanted to know about Whitey Bulger.

Whitey Bulger nabbed

Longtime Boston area fugitive and FBI most wanted man James"Whitey" Bulger was arrested yesterday in Santa Monica, CA.  Wanted for 19 murders, the sheriff has been on his trail since he vanished in 1994.  Bulger was nabbed only two days after the FBI began running a series of TV spots focusing on Whitey's long time girlfriend and suspected traveling companion Catherine Greig.

Young Whitey

We first became interested in Whitey's story when we learned that while Whitey was on the lam, his brother Billy, a powerful Massachusetts politician, was serving as president of the University of Massachusetts.   As academia became the center of power in the Finger Lakes, we were fascinated with the higher ed - organized crime connection.

Whitey stayed out of prison by corrupting politicians and lawmen with cash and favors.  A lot of Boston characters must be having a rough morning.  Peter Gelzinis speculates in the Boston Herald:

Maybe now we’ll begin to learn how The White Man managed to survive out there for the last 16 years. How did he access all that cash?...

Will he walk into court armed with all kinds of salacious details about the “working arrangement” he had with the FBI? Will Whitey rat out his rat keepers?

Whitey’s return clears the way for our version of the Nuremberg Trials. The man piled up a lot of bodies, and left behind a great many people who long ago gave up on the idea of getting any justice by seeing this man answer for his alleged crimes.