Connecticut attorney Norm Pattis has a question. "How much truth about local law enforcement to the people of Boston want to know? If Whitey Bulger wages an aggressive defense he'll tear that town apart."
Pattis is not afraid to take on the criminal justice system and he says Whitey Bulger should feel the same. While he is accused in 19 murders it is Bulger, says Pattis, who holds the hammer because he was an FBI informant and agents protected him for years.
"I suspect there are a lot of agents today looking at their shredders hoping nobody's looking at them while they get rid of note and I think that Whitey's got to push the envelope in this defense and he's got to put the government on trial."
Pattis agrees Bulger is no saint... "But the people who prosecute him knew what he was doing, protected him while they were doing it, benefited by what he was doing and now its time for them to answer questions about that."
What it really comes down to is what's Whitey Bulger want to do? Keep his mouth shut and have a more comfortable lifestyle in prison or go down in flames taking some of the FBI and justice department with him? In any case Pattis says he'd love to be at that defense table.
"The courts are dirty, the government lies down with rats, the government feeds rats, the government plays rat patrol with justice. Whitey Bulger's of an age where he's got nothing left to lose. I'm hoping he pins his ears back and brings a war on."
Pattis says the old guard in the US justice department knew where Bulger was and hoped he would die without ever resurfacing. The new guard tracked Bulger down and wants to take down him and the people in law enforcement who protected him.