After 16 years on the run James "Whitey" Bulger, notorious Boston gang leader, FBI informant, and inspiration to Jack Nicholson's character in The Departed, was finally brought to justice, having been charged with 19 counts of murder and forced to stand trial in federal court. This portrait reveals the revolting depths of law enforcement corruption as told through court documents and shows the grief caused to Bulger's victim's families, one a witness who is found dead during the proceedings. Joe Berlinger's documentary on the trial of the popularized longtime head of the Winter Hill Gang and fugitive contains the kind of solid first person accounting the director is known for (Paradise Lost) in addition to good background details, although the film does tend to go in circles.
*** out of ****
