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The wife of a man said to have been slain by Boston Mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger’s gang took the stand on Tuesday.
Tommy King, a former rival who later joined forces with Bulger, “was probably in Canada robbing banks” when he disappeared nearly 40 years ago. That’s what Bulger relayed to his widow based on her testimony.
Margaret King said Boston police officers came to her house on Nov. 6, 1975, looking for her husband. She said police told her that a man her husband had grown up with, Francis “Buddy” Leonard, had been found dead in her husband's car. She said she never saw her husband again.
Bulger, now 83, is charged with participating in 19 killings during the 1970s and '80s while allegedly leading the Winter Hill Gang. He was captured in Santa Monica, California in 2011, nearly 15 years after fleeing Boston.
After days of testimony, legendary performer Frank Sinatra, long thought to have Mob ties himself, made an appearance in Court Tuesday.
Another widow of one of Bulger’s alleged victims, Sandra Castucci, pointed to a photograph of Sinatra displayed in the courtroom during her testimony.
Castucci became tearful when she was asked to identify a photo of her husband. “That's my husband with Frank Sinatra,” she said. The photo shows Castucci with the singer at the wedding of Sammy Davis Jr., she said. She said her husband played golf with Davis and met Sinatra that day at Davis' wedding.
Prosecutors say Castucci, a nightclub owner, was killed by Bulger's gang after former FBI agent John Connolly told Bulger that Castucci had become an informant and had told the FBI where two members of the gang were hiding in New York.
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
