Black And Whitey

So I'm going to see "Black Mass" tonight. I can hardly wait.

I read the book. 

I read the papers when it was happening. 

I live in the city that was terrorized.

I remember the pain it caused the families of the victims; mine included. 

Whitey Bulger is urban legend around here.

I'm fascinated by this moment in history that was captured on film and looking forward to seeing-and almost being there-while the story unfolds. Evil like that has a way of mesmerizing the psyche, which is how Whitey intimidated his victims. Make no mistake, I'm not endorsing a Hollywood glorified Whitey Bulger character, but what I am doing is immersing myself in the story of this crime lord who was enabled by a corrupt FBI agent. I am extremely mindful of the damage that this story has caused, yet I am unable to look the other way. 

Johnny Depp's performance as the cold blooded killer is being hailed as "scary good" which lends itself to the legend of this evil man. Boston Herald scribe Peter Gelzinis explained the truth of Whitey's core evil quite eloquently this morning. He was relaying a story about the murder of a bookmaker 30 years ago who had pissed Whitey off. Gelzinis and his colleague Paul Corsetti were working the story.

"In the course of asking questions, Corsetti got a call to meet a tipster in a bar near Quincy Market. Paul waited until almost one in the morning and was about to leave when a rather ordinary-looking guy approached and asked, "You're Paul Corsetti, aren't you?"

When Corsetti nodded, the stranger asked, "Do you know who I am?"

Paul shook his head, and the stranger told him: "I'm Whitey Bulger, mother (expletive)." Though Whitey announced that he killed people, what he told Corsetti was far more terrifying. He described the make, model, color and license plate of the car Paul's wife used and the name of the daycare center where she dropped their daughter off." 

That's Whitey and who he is. History can be rewritten, but evil is evil, regardless of who is telling the story. 

WTF?

I'm saddened over yesterday's news of the tragedy in Virginia. Three young people snuffed out because of hatred.

It's unfathomable that a mentally and emotionally disturbed person ONCE AGAIN kills because he/she feels he should, or could. This headline is becoming more and more common in our society. What is this world coming to? This time a young, accomplished duo of journalists and the woman they were interviewing were gunned down. Three lost their lives and the other is fighting for hers. I say three because the shooter killed himself and although it's easy to not care about his life, we must.

Were there warning signs?

Yes, the shooter was fired from jobs multiple times for "disturbing behavior" but how are we to predict he would turn his anger into a deadly tragedy? The Shooter reportedly faxed a 23 page "suicide note" to ABC News two hours after the shooting. In his missive he claimed to be upset over the recent racially charged, deadly church shootings in South Carolina. He said he admired the shooters of Columbine High School and Virginia Tech and called one "my boy right there".

The question we are left with today is how do we prevent this? Can we?

Because a journalist should be able to report from the field without fear, students should be able to learn in a safe environment and church goers should be able to worship in their sacred place without a lock on the door.

And one more deadly shooting headline is one too many.