Black Mass

The great Johnny Depp is playing Whitey.

The notorious Boston gangster, Whitey Bulger, that is, and the people of Boston are curious. Beside Ben or Matt, I don't think there was a better choice for the elusive gangster. Depp is playing the title role in the movie adaptation of  the book "Black Mass: The True Story of the Unholy alliance between the FBI and the Irish Mob", written by Boston Globe scribes Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill. 

If you live in Boston, like I do, you would be hard pressed to find someone who does not know the story of the crimes committed by the Irish Mob for decades and the FBI men who allowed them the breathing room to commit them. It's an interesting story, and a book that I read with rapt attention.  Filming is going on now, and Johhny Depp filmed a scene yesterday In East Boston where he eerily resembled the aging, now incarcerated, legendary Boston gangster.  The scene, shot on the same street where a murder occurred just last week, was shot-quite literally-in Irish Mob fashion. According to the Boston Herald:

"in the scene shot yesterday Whitey/Depp and a couple of his henchmen walk with an unsuspecting victim near the water in Eastie. While Whitey shakes the man’s hand, he is whacked from behind by one of the aforementioned thugs. Whitey walks away and gazes out at the Tobin Bridge while the other two drag the body away."

Hollywood's take on this unbelievable story should be very interesting and the casting of Depp is brilliant. No one can take a character and make him believable, possibly even likeable, like Johnny can. (his portrayal of George Jung in "Blow" still remains one of my favorite Depp roles) Its a true crime story for the crime story lovers in all of us."Black Mass" is a best seller written by two Boston Globe writers who worked the beat and covered the Irish Mob during their horrific reign over the city which ends with the disappearance of Bulger in 1994 when he was tipped off by his FBI handler John Connley that the Feds were going to indite him on racketeering charges. He remained on the lamb for 16 years before being arrested in Santa Barbara, California in mid 2011. Bulger, at one time, was the FBI's most wanted man, right next to Osama Bin Laden.

Now he's getting the Holllywood treatment, albeit on screen only, but I wonder what old Whitey thinks of the casting of himself in his true crime story. These stories are the stuff that legends are made of. Lots of people died at the hands of these hardened criminals, and if justice is to be served, the families of the victims of the horrible crimes will share in the spoils of the movie's box office success. As for the real life cast of characters? Karma has taken care of them. And the rest is up to their maker, when they day comes for them to meet him.