Listen Live
WERE AM Mobile App 2020

LISTEN LIVE. LIKE US ON FACEBOOK. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

News Talk Cleveland Featured Video
CLOSE

The FBI shelled out $2.1 million for tips that led to the arrest of fugitive James “Whitey” Bulger and his companion, Catherine E. Greig, the agency’s Boston office announced Friday.

The reward recipients were not identified in a press release, which said the information was a direct result of an FBI public service campaign aimed at netting the pair. At least two people received money.

“To protect the anonymity and privacy of those responsible for providing information which directly led to the arrests of Mr. Bulger and Ms. Greig, the FBI will not comment further regarding this matter,” the FBI said in a statement.

Bulger has pleaded not guilty to all counts against him, including his alleged role in 19 murders. Greig has pleaded not guilty to harboring and concealing him.

Prosecutors say Bulger was the head of a South Boston Irish gang before he fled an impending racketeering indictment in 1995.

Greig, 60, allegedly assisted Bulger from January 1995 until late June, when the pair was arrested in California, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

The FBI’s public service campaign included 30-second spots on television shows that appealed to female viewers in Greig’s age group. “The FBI is targeting that audience with the belief that a friend, co-worker, neighbor, hairstylist, manicurist, doctor or dentist might recognize Greig,” according to an FBI press release in June.

As part of the media campaign, the FBI said it would place images of Greig and Bulger on digital billboards in Times Square in New York and in other cities.

The FBI offered a $2 million reward for Bulger’s arrest and $100,000 for the arrest of Greig.

According to an indictment, Greig and Bulger posed as a married couple under different false identities and claimed to be from states other than Massachusetts. She would shop and handle bills so that Bulger would “minimize his time in public,” it asserts.