Mobster's brother takes the Fifth

BOSTON, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- William Bulger, the president of the University of Massachusetts, invoked his Fifth Amendment rights not to testify Friday about his fugitive mobster brother.

The former state Senate president refused to answer questions from a congressional committee about his last contact with his alleged serial killer brother James "Whitey" Bulger.

James Bulger, a boss of the South Boston Winter Hill gang, has been on the lam since 1995 when he was about to be arrested on federal racketeering charges.

William Bulger was called to testify Friday before the House Committee on Government Reform, which is investigating the Boston FBI office's allegedly corrupt relationship to top organized crime informants, including his brother.

After committee chairman Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., rejected the colorful politician's requests to postpone the hearing or hold it behind closed doors, Burton posed the question:

"Have you talked to you brother James since 1995, and if so, where was he and where is he now?"

"On advice of counsel, I am unable to answer any questions today," William Bulger answered, saying he based his position on the Constitutional "right against being compelled to provide evidence that may tend to incriminate one's self."

Bulger said one of the Fifth Amendment's basic functions "is to protect innocent men who might be ensnared by ambiguous circumstances. I find myself in such circumstances, and hence stand on my Constitutional rights as advised by counsel."

Bulger had been resisting appearing before the committee since being subpoenaed earlier this week, concerned that he would be caught in what lawyers said was a "perjury trap."

It was disclosed this week that when he testified under immunity before a grand jury in April 2001, he admitted he had talked by telephone to his brother just days after the gangster fled.

That secret grand jury testimony was leaked to the Boston Globe.

As a result, Bulger wanted a transcript of his grand jury statements before testifying before Burton's committee, where he did not have immunity. A federal judge Thursday ruled that prosecutors didn't have to provide Bulger with that transcript.

He could have faced possible perjury charges if his testimony under oath Friday differed from what he told the grand jury.

Bulger's attorney, Thomas Kiley, said he had "concerns about letting my client go under oath in two different forums to answer the same questions thereby putting him unfairly in harm's way."

Kiley told the committee Friday that he planned to appeal the transcript denial.

William Bulger did admit publicly this week that he had talked briefly on the phone with his brother and gave him legal advice, and did not urge him to give himself up. He also said he felt no obligation to help authorities get his brother.

James Bulger, who headed the Winter Hill gang for decades with Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi, has been accused of nearly 20 slayings and is on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list.

Both gangsters had been long-time informants for the FBI against rival members of the Italian Mafia.

Burton's committee began two days of hearings on Thursday, questioning why the former head of the federal Organized Crime Strike Force in Boston, Jeremiah O'Sullivan, failed to bring charges against the mob bosses.

O'Sullivan said Boston FBI agents had asked him to protect Bulger and Flemmi from prosecution because they were high-echelon informants.

He said he did try to build an organized crime case against the pair in 1980 with the help of state police investigators, but was "berated" by then Boston FBI head Lawrence Sarhatt for going after the informants.

Committee member Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., asked O'Sullivan what that told him.

"It tells us the FBI, if you go against them, they'll try to get you. They'll wage war on you. They'll cause major administrative problems for you as a prosecutor," O'Sullivan said.

Burton said that because the U.S. Attorney's office failed to prosecute Bulger and Flemmi, "more murders took place, more people suffered and justice was not realized."