Mobster's Girlfriend Was Kind and Gentle, Defense Says in Sentencing Recommendation

Catherine Greig's attorney said she lived a quiet and sedentary life for 15 years in the Santa Monica apartment she shared with reputed South Boston mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger.

"She was by all accounts a sweet, kind, gentle person who helped people, was friendly and very active in helping disabled or homeless animals," attorney Kevin Reddington wrote in a sentencing recommendation filed Monday in federal court.

Reddington is recommending a sentence of 27 months for Greig, the woman who lived a secret life on the lam with Bulger, a former FBI Top Ten Fugitive accused of committing 19 murders. 

Greig, 60, accepted a deal with prosecutors in March and pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to harbor a fugitive, identity fraud and conspiracy to commit identity fraud.

She is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday morning.

Prosecutors have recommended 10 years. They say, according to the Associated Press, that Bulger told law enforcement authorities that he and Greig had both been aware of the public service announcements that the FBI had released in June 2011 that had focused on Greig.

From the AP:

During the time Bulger and Greig spent in Santa Monica—from at least 1996 to the time of their arrests—Greig “handled money for Bulger, dealt with his medical providers, lied on multiple occasions about her own identity when she herself was seeking medical care, and was the key actor in the conspiracy to protect Bulger from being discovered,” the prosecutor said in a filing recommending the sentence.

The couple lived less than a mile from in a one-bedroom apartment in the Princess Eugenie complex at 1012 3rd St., just south of Washington Avenue, for 15 years.

In his recommendation, Reddington contends that Greig did not mastermind or "in a sinister fashion" prevent law enforcement from finding Bulger. He contends she was unaware of the money—reportedly totaling $800,000—and weapons found by investigators in their apartment.

"She was in love with him and believed him a man totally incapable of the things that were being said about him," Reddington wrote.

In an interview with the AP, Tom Donahue, whose father, Michael, was allegedly murdered by Bulger in 1982, called the defense’s 27-month sentence recommendation "absurd."

“She was helping elude the police for 16 plus years,’’ he told the AP. “She knew exactly who he was, and why he was wanted. His face was next to [Osama] bin Laden’s as America’s Most Wanted.”

Stay connected with Santa Monica Patch throughout the day on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to our free daily newsletter for email updates.