Kevin Weeks
Encyclopedia
Kevin Weeks is a former mobster of Irish-American descent and a longtime friend and confidant to James J. Bulger
, the infamous boss of the Winter Hill Gang
, a crime family
based out of the Winter Hill neighborhood in Somerville, Massachusetts
.
After his arrest and imprisonment in 1999, he became a cooperating witness. His testimony is viewed as responsible for the convictions of FBI agent John Connolly
and mobster Stephen Flemmi
. Since his release from prison, he has written the bestselling true crime
memoir, Brutal: My Life in Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob (ISBN 978-0-06-112269-9). This was followed by Where's Whitey?, which was also written with Phyllis Karas, a fictional novel using Bulger as a character. Promotion for the book started on the day the FBI stepped up its efforts to catch Bulger with an advertisement; Bulger was caught two days later.
to a working class family of mixed Irish and Welsh descent. He was the fifth child in a family of six and grew up in the Old Colony Housing Project
at 8 Pilsduski Way, apartment 554.
His father, John Weeks Sr., originally hailed from Brooklyn, New York. He changed tires for a living and later obtained a position with the Boston Housing Authority. John Sr. was a WWII veteran and had served in the infantry; he also had fought as a professional middleweight boxer. When he was twenty-six, he married Margaret, who was from Boston. A full-time homemaker, she suffered from severe arthritis
and went about the family's tenement on crutches. Kevin had two brothers, William and John Jr. (named after their father John Sr.), and three sisters: Maureen, Patricia and Karen. John Sr. trained his sons in boxing
and earned extra money by coaching prizefighters. Kevin first started attending school at Michael J. Perkins, but then changed to John Andrew School in Andrew Square for grades 5 and 6; he finally completed elementary school at Patrick F. Gavin School. He graduated from South Boston High in 1974, ending his formal education. His two brothers would later go on to graduate from Harvard University
. His brothers sought out a career in politics; John (Jack) Jr. became an advance man for Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis
, and William became a selectman in Acton, Massachusetts
. Kevin Weeks is also related by marriage to former South Boston liquor store owner and alleged extortion victim Stephen (Stippo) R. Rakes and Boston Police Department
Detective Edward (Eddie) Walsh.
Kevin's brother, William, has described the atmosphere of their childhood as follows.
Throughout high school, Kevin Weeks was involved in extra-curricular activities. When he wasn't boxing, he was on a team traveling to swim meets all over New England. His memoirs vividly describe how the busing controversy transformed the previously comparatively peaceful South Boston high schools into hot beds of gang warfare.
which was then headed by James J. Bulger. It was here that Weeks first met Bulger, as well as Bulger's Italian-American partner Stephen Flemmi
. Beginning in 1978, Weeks began working for Bulger part-time as muscle and a personal driver. Impressed by Weeks' knack for making money and genuinely liking him, Bulger decided to bring him in closer than any other associate. Meanwhile, Weeks turned to running a loansharking
business on the side.
In 1982, just four years after beginning to work as part of the Winter Hill Gang, Weeks left his legitimate job and became a full-time mobster in the gang, during which time he attempted to extort Iron Mike Tyson.
Eventually, however, the massive profits of drugs proved irresistible. According to Kevin Weeks,
In South Boston, most of the neighborhood's drug trade was managed by a handpicked crew of prize fighters led by John Shea
. Edward MacKenzie Jr., a former member of Shea's crew, has stated that this was done because Shea viewed athletes as less likely to abuse the drugs they were selling.
According to Weeks, Bulger enforced strict rules over the dealers who were paying him protection.
and selling to children. and that those dealers who refused to play by his rules were violently driven out of the neighborhood.
In 1990, "Red" Shea and his associates were arrested as part of a joint investigation involving the Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA), the Boston Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police. All refused to testify against Bulger, Flemmi, and Weeks. According to Weeks,
and Chicago
.
In 1997, shortly after the Boston Globe disclosed that Bulger and Flemmi had been informants, Weeks met with retired Agent John Connolly
(later sentenced to 40 years in prison), who showed him a photocopy of Bulger's FBI informant file. In order to explain Bulger and Flemmi's status as informants, Connolly said, "The Mafia
was going against Jimmy and Stevie, so Jimmy and Stevie went against them." According to Weeks,
and the Massachusetts State Police
. The next afternoon, he was presented with a 29-count indictment under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
(RICO). At first refusing to cooperate, Weeks was transferred to a Federal penitentiary in Rhode Island
.
, it took about two weeks for Weeks to decide to co-operate with authorities, leading some in South Boston to dub him "Kevin Squeaks" or "Two Weeks". He has stated that he was approached by one of his fellow prisoners, a Made man
in the Patriarca crime family
, who asked him, "Kid what are you doing? Are you going to take it up the ass for these guys? Remember you can't rat on a rat. Those guys have been giving up everyone for thirty years." In addition, Weeks was also deeply impressed by the cooperation of John Martorano, a legendary enforcer for the Winter Hill Gang.
He led authorities to six different bodies buried by the Winter Hill Gang, including the triple grave of Hussey, McIntyre and Barrett. He implicated Bulger in the murder of Brian Halloran (nicknamed "Ballonhead" by Bulger) as well as agreeing to testify against Stephen Flemmi, Special Agent Connolly, and Whitey Bulger. He was then sentenced to five years in federal prison.
, and Brian Weeks. The couple later separated.
magazine). Weeks' account of his life with Bulger and Flemmi was published in March 2006.
At a book signing in April 2006, Kevin Weeks told the crowd at a Boston Barnes & Noble
that he once intended to return to being a gangster once he was released from prison. "Now I can't," he quipped, "Everybody knows my face."
James J. Bulger
James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger, Jr. is a former organized crime figure from Boston, Massachusetts.Local folklore depicted Bulger as a Robin Hood-style social bandit dedicated to protecting the neighborhood and its residents. Bulger allegedly masterminded a protection racket targeting drug kingpins...
, the infamous boss of the Winter Hill Gang
Winter Hill Gang
The Winter Hill Gang is a structured confederation of Boston, Massachusetts-area organized crime figures, predominantly Irish-American with a small Italian-American faction. It derives its name from the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts north of Boston. Its members have...
, a crime family
Crime family
A crime family is a term used to describe a unit of an organized crime syndicate, often operating within a specific geographic territory. The term is used almost exclusively to refer to units of the Mafia, both in Sicily and in the United States, although it is occasionally used to refer to other...
based out of the Winter Hill neighborhood in Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located just north of Boston. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 75,754 and was the most densely populated municipality in New England. It is also the 17th most densely populated incorporated place in...
.
After his arrest and imprisonment in 1999, he became a cooperating witness. His testimony is viewed as responsible for the convictions of FBI agent John Connolly
John Connolly (FBI)
John J. Connolly, Jr. is a former FBI agent, who was convicted of racketeering and obstruction of justice convictions stemming from his relationship with James J. "Whitey" Bulger, Steve Flemmi, and the Winter Hill Gang...
and mobster Stephen Flemmi
Stephen Flemmi
Stephen Joseph "The Rifleman" Flemmi is an Italian-American mobster and close associate of Winter Hill Gang boss James J. Bulger. Beginning in 1965, Flemmi was a top echelon informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation...
. Since his release from prison, he has written the bestselling true crime
True crime
True crime is a non-fiction literary and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people.The crimes most commonly include murder, but true crime works have also touched on other legal cases. Depending on the writer, true crime can adhere strictly to...
memoir, Brutal: My Life in Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob (ISBN 978-0-06-112269-9). This was followed by Where's Whitey?, which was also written with Phyllis Karas, a fictional novel using Bulger as a character. Promotion for the book started on the day the FBI stepped up its efforts to catch Bulger with an advertisement; Bulger was caught two days later.
Background
Kevin Weeks was born in South Boston, MassachusettsSouth Boston, Massachusetts
South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. One of America's oldest and most historic neighborhoods, South Boston was formerly known as Dorchester Neck, and today is called "Southie" by...
to a working class family of mixed Irish and Welsh descent. He was the fifth child in a family of six and grew up in the Old Colony Housing Project
Old Colony Housing Project
The Old Colony Housing Project is a housing project located in South Boston, Massachusetts on East Ninth Street. Built in 1941, it is one of Boston Housing Authority's oldest developments....
at 8 Pilsduski Way, apartment 554.
His father, John Weeks Sr., originally hailed from Brooklyn, New York. He changed tires for a living and later obtained a position with the Boston Housing Authority. John Sr. was a WWII veteran and had served in the infantry; he also had fought as a professional middleweight boxer. When he was twenty-six, he married Margaret, who was from Boston. A full-time homemaker, she suffered from severe arthritis
Arthritis
Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....
and went about the family's tenement on crutches. Kevin had two brothers, William and John Jr. (named after their father John Sr.), and three sisters: Maureen, Patricia and Karen. John Sr. trained his sons in boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
and earned extra money by coaching prizefighters. Kevin first started attending school at Michael J. Perkins, but then changed to John Andrew School in Andrew Square for grades 5 and 6; he finally completed elementary school at Patrick F. Gavin School. He graduated from South Boston High in 1974, ending his formal education. His two brothers would later go on to graduate from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. His brothers sought out a career in politics; John (Jack) Jr. became an advance man for Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis
Michael Dukakis
Michael Stanley Dukakis served as the 65th and 67th Governor of Massachusetts from 1975–1979 and from 1983–1991, and was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1988. He was born to Greek immigrants in Brookline, Massachusetts, also the birthplace of John F. Kennedy, and was the longest serving...
, and William became a selectman in Acton, Massachusetts
Acton, Massachusetts
Acton is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States about twenty-one miles west-northwest of Boston along Route 2 west of Concord and about ten miles southwest of Lowell. The population was 21,924 at the 2010 census...
. Kevin Weeks is also related by marriage to former South Boston liquor store owner and alleged extortion victim Stephen (Stippo) R. Rakes and Boston Police Department
Boston Police Department
The Boston Police Department , created in 1838, holds the primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the oldest police departments in the United States...
Detective Edward (Eddie) Walsh.
Kevin's brother, William, has described the atmosphere of their childhood as follows.
"Smart was good, but having the ability to beat someone senseless! Now that was real power. Education was often talked about in the apartment, but always with the implied threat that if your marks weren't acceptable, be ready to give up your soul to God because your ass belonged to our father ... [A]nd As weren't acceptable."
Throughout high school, Kevin Weeks was involved in extra-curricular activities. When he wasn't boxing, he was on a team traveling to swim meets all over New England. His memoirs vividly describe how the busing controversy transformed the previously comparatively peaceful South Boston high schools into hot beds of gang warfare.
Criminal career
In 1976, after he gave up on college, Weeks became a bouncer at a popular neighborhood bar, "Triple O's". This was a frequent hangout of the Winter Hill Gang, an Irish-American crime familyCrime family
A crime family is a term used to describe a unit of an organized crime syndicate, often operating within a specific geographic territory. The term is used almost exclusively to refer to units of the Mafia, both in Sicily and in the United States, although it is occasionally used to refer to other...
which was then headed by James J. Bulger. It was here that Weeks first met Bulger, as well as Bulger's Italian-American partner Stephen Flemmi
Stephen Flemmi
Stephen Joseph "The Rifleman" Flemmi is an Italian-American mobster and close associate of Winter Hill Gang boss James J. Bulger. Beginning in 1965, Flemmi was a top echelon informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation...
. Beginning in 1978, Weeks began working for Bulger part-time as muscle and a personal driver. Impressed by Weeks' knack for making money and genuinely liking him, Bulger decided to bring him in closer than any other associate. Meanwhile, Weeks turned to running a loansharking
Loan shark
A loan shark is a person or body that offers unsecured loans at illegally high interest rates to individuals, often enforcing repayment by blackmail or threats of violence....
business on the side.
In 1982, just four years after beginning to work as part of the Winter Hill Gang, Weeks left his legitimate job and became a full-time mobster in the gang, during which time he attempted to extort Iron Mike Tyson.
The Halloran murder
On the night of May 11, 1982, Bulger was told the whereabouts of a former associate turned Federal informant, Edward Brian Halloran, known on the streets as "Balloonhead". After arriving at the scene, Weeks staked out Anthony's Pier 4 Restaurant, where Halloran and construction worker Michael Donahue were dining together. As Donahue and Halloran drove out of the parking lot Weeks signaled Bulger by stating, "The balloon is in the air", over a hand held radio. Bulger drove up with a masked man armed with a silenced Mac 10; Bulger himself carried a .30 caliber carbine. Bulger and the other shooter opened fire and sprayed Halloran and Donahue's car with bullets. Donahue was shot in the head and killed instantly. Halloran lived long enough to identify his attacker as James Flynn, a Winter Hill associate, who was later tried and acquitted. Flynn remained the prime suspect until 1999, when Weeks agreed to cooperate with investigators.Narcotics
Bulger, Weeks, and Flemmi became heavily involved in narcotics trafficking in the early 1980s. Bulger began to summon drug dealers from in and around Boston to his headquarters. Flanked by Kevin Weeks and Flemmi, he would inform each dealer that he had been offered a substantial sum to assassinate them. He would then demand a large cash payment not to do so.Eventually, however, the massive profits of drugs proved irresistible. According to Kevin Weeks,
Jimmy, Stevie and I weren't in the import business and weren't bringing in the marijuana or the cocaineCocaineCocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
. We were in the shakedown business. We didn't bring drugs in; we took money off the people who did. We never dealt with the street dealers, but rather with a dozen large-scale drug distributors all over the State who were bringing in the coke and marijuana and paying hundreds of thousands to Jimmy. The dealers on the street corner sold eight-balls, ...grams, and half grams to customers for their personal use. They were supplied by the mid level drug dealer who was selling them multiple ounces. In other words, the big importers gave it to the major distributors, who sold it to the middlemen, who then sold it to the street dealers. In order to get to Jimmy, Stevie, and me, someone would have had to go through those four layers of insulation.
In South Boston, most of the neighborhood's drug trade was managed by a handpicked crew of prize fighters led by John Shea
John Shea (mobster)
John "Red" Shea was an Irish-American mobster from Boston involved in narcotics and an associate of crime kingpin Whitey Bulger and the Winter Hill Gang during the 1980s and '90s...
. Edward MacKenzie Jr., a former member of Shea's crew, has stated that this was done because Shea viewed athletes as less likely to abuse the drugs they were selling.
According to Weeks, Bulger enforced strict rules over the dealers who were paying him protection.
The only people we ever put out of business were heroin dealers. Jimmy didn't allow heroin in South Boston. It was a dirty drug that users stuck in their arms, making problems with needles, and later on, AIDSWeeks also insists that Bulger strictly forbade PCPAIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
. While people can do cocaineCocaineCocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
socially and still function, once they do heroin, they're zombies.
Phencyclidine
Phencyclidine , commonly initialized as PCP and known colloquially as angel dust, is a recreational dissociative drug...
and selling to children. and that those dealers who refused to play by his rules were violently driven out of the neighborhood.
In 1990, "Red" Shea and his associates were arrested as part of a joint investigation involving the Drug Enforcement Administration
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
(DEA), the Boston Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police. All refused to testify against Bulger, Flemmi, and Weeks. According to Weeks,
Of course, Jimmy lost money once the drug dealers were removed from the streets in the summer raid, but he always had other business going on. Knowing I had to build something on the side, I had concentrated on my shylocking and gambling businesses. The drug business had been good while it lasted. But our major involvement in it was over."
Mob Boss
Weeks also remained in frequent touch with Bulger, with whom he had several clandestine meetings in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
.
In 1997, shortly after the Boston Globe disclosed that Bulger and Flemmi had been informants, Weeks met with retired Agent John Connolly
John Connolly
John Connolly may refer to:*John Connolly *John P. Connolly , actor*John Connolly , Irish author whose best-known novels revolve around former policeman Charlie Parker...
(later sentenced to 40 years in prison), who showed him a photocopy of Bulger's FBI informant file. In order to explain Bulger and Flemmi's status as informants, Connolly said, "The Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
was going against Jimmy and Stevie, so Jimmy and Stevie went against them." According to Weeks,
"As I read over the files at the Top of the Hub that night, Connolly kept telling me that 90 percent of the information in the files came from Stevie. Certainly Jimmy hadn't been around the MafiaMafiaThe Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
the way Stevie had. But, Connolly told me, he had to put Jimmy's name on the files to keep his file active. As long as Jimmy was an active informant, Connolly said, he could justify meeting with Jimmy and giving him valuable information. Even after he retired, Connolly still had friends in the FBI, and he and Jimmy kept meeting to let each other know what was going on. I listened to all that, but now I understood that even though he was retired, Connolly was still getting information, as well as money, from Jimmy. As I continued to read, I could see that a lot of the reports were not just against the Italians. There were more and more names of Polish and Irish guys, of people we had done business with, of friends of mine. Whenever I came across the name of someone I knew, I would read exactly what it said about that person. I would see, over and over again, that some of these people had been arrested for crimes that were mentioned in these reports. It didn't take long for me to realize that it had been bullshit when Connolly told me that the files hadn't been disseminated, that they had been for his own personal use. He had been an employee of the FBI. He hadn't worked for himself. If there was some investigation going on and his supervisor said, 'Let me take a look at that,' what was Connolly going to do? He had to give it up. And he obviously had. I thought about what Jimmy had always said, 'You can lie to your wife and to your girlfriends, but not to your friends. Not to anyone we're in business with.' Maybe Jimmy and Stevie hadn't lied to me. But they sure hadn't been telling me everything."
Arrest
On November 17, 1999, Weeks, Kevin O'Neill, and other Winter Hill associates were arrested in South Boston by agents of the Drug Enforcement AdministrationDrug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
and the Massachusetts State Police
Massachusetts State Police
The Massachusetts State Police is an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety and Security responsible for criminal law enforcement and traffic vehicle regulation across the state...
. The next afternoon, he was presented with a 29-count indictment under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization...
(RICO). At first refusing to cooperate, Weeks was transferred to a Federal penitentiary in Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
.
The informant
Imprisoned in Rhode IslandRhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
, it took about two weeks for Weeks to decide to co-operate with authorities, leading some in South Boston to dub him "Kevin Squeaks" or "Two Weeks". He has stated that he was approached by one of his fellow prisoners, a Made man
Made man
A made man, also known as a Mafioso , made guy, man of honor, or uomo d'onore , is someone who has been officially inducted into the Sicilian or American Mafia . They may also be referred to by some as a goodfella or wiseguy...
in the Patriarca crime family
Patriarca crime family
The Patriarca crime family, also known as the New England crime family and the Providence crime family, is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate based in New England, specifically Providence, Rhode Island and Boston, Massachusetts, and is part of the Italian-American Mafia or "La Cosa Nostra"...
, who asked him, "Kid what are you doing? Are you going to take it up the ass for these guys? Remember you can't rat on a rat. Those guys have been giving up everyone for thirty years." In addition, Weeks was also deeply impressed by the cooperation of John Martorano, a legendary enforcer for the Winter Hill Gang.
He led authorities to six different bodies buried by the Winter Hill Gang, including the triple grave of Hussey, McIntyre and Barrett. He implicated Bulger in the murder of Brian Halloran (nicknamed "Ballonhead" by Bulger) as well as agreeing to testify against Stephen Flemmi, Special Agent Connolly, and Whitey Bulger. He was then sentenced to five years in federal prison.
Family
Kevin Weeks married his longtime girlfriend, Pamela Cavaleri, on April 26, 1980 at the Gate of Heaven Roman Catholic Church in their native South Boston. They have two sons, Kevin Barry Weeks, to whom Whitey Bulger stood as godfatherGodparent
A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...
, and Brian Weeks. The couple later separated.
Current status
Weeks was released from Federal prison in early 2005. After a major bidding war over his memoirs , he chose to collaborate with journalist Phyllis Karas (of PeoplePeople (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine). Weeks' account of his life with Bulger and Flemmi was published in March 2006.
At a book signing in April 2006, Kevin Weeks told the crowd at a Boston Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
that he once intended to return to being a gangster once he was released from prison. "Now I can't," he quipped, "Everybody knows my face."
Resources
- Weeks, Kevin (with the assistance of Phyllis Karas). Brutal; The Untold Story of My Life Inside Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob.