BOSTON (Reuters) ? Former mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger appeared in federal court in Boston on Tuesday after the Justice Department sought to drop racketeering charges from a 1994 indictment to focus on the most serious accusations, including murder.
The government, which took the move hours before Bulger was due in court, said focusing on the 19 murder charges could expedite justice for the victims' families, since a conviction on just one count could send Bulger to prison for life.
"The 19 families of murder victims have been denied justice for many years because the defendant has successfully eluded law enforcement apprehension," Attorney Carmen Ortiz wrote in the filing.
Bulger's provisional attorney complained the move amounted to "forum shopping" by authorities, since the 1994 case was to be heard in front of Judge Mark Wolf while the murder charges would be heard by Judge Richard Stearns.
Peter Krupp, representing Bulger until a permanent counsel is selected, was granted until the end of the day on Wednesday to review the move and address the proposed dismissal.
But the hearing before Judge Wolf did not resolve the issue of permanent counsel for Bulger, who wants a public defender.
Bulger, who had been on the FBI's Most Wanted List, and his longtime companion Catherine Greig, 60, were arrested at their rent-controlled apartment in Santa Monica, California, blocks from the ocean, on June 22 after being on the run together since 1995.
The pair had more than $820,000 in the hideout, much of it in $100 bills bundled together and stashed inside a wall.
Although Bulger requested counsel be appointed, prosecutors have been adamant that the former crime boss should not get legal representation at public expense.
WEARING PRISON JUMPSUIT
Prosecutors have demanded that Bulger's family, including William "Billy" Bulger, a former president of the Massachusetts State Senate, provide sworn affidavits about his financial position. Bulger said he does not want help from his family to pay for his defense.
Bulger, 81, was led into court wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, a contrast to his casual white sweater and T-shirt in initial court appearances in Boston and Los Angeles last week.
Also in the courtroom were Kevin Reddington, the attorney hired to represent Greig, and two prominent Boston attorneys, Howard Cooper and Max Stern.
Both parties were tentatively scheduled back in court on Thursday. Until then, the question of permanent counsel for Bulger remains unresolved, and Wolf's involvement in the case moving forward is also uncertain.
According to a report on the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly website, Cooper and Stern will represent Bulger. Neither could be reached for comment through their offices, and they did not speak to reporters when leaving the courthouse.
Wolf also ordered the government to provide an affidavit on investigation into any possible information leaks by law enforcement to media and what was being done to stop it.
Prosecutors said in a filing on Monday that Bulger, who is being held at the Plymouth County jail, south of Boston, told FBI agents some details of his years running from the law after his arrest.
"Bulger admitted traveling (in disguise) to Boston on several occasions while 'armed to the teeth' because he 'had to take care of some unfinished business,'" the filing said.
That comment begged the question of who among Bulger's circle -- family, friends and associates -- might have known about or helped facilitate those trips.
In the 1990s it emerged that Bulger had long been an FBI informant, tipping off a small band of corrupt federal agents about the activities of other Boston-area criminals.
In turn, those agents looked the other way at Bulger's organized crime enterprise, the violent Winter Hill Gang.
(Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington; editing by Ros Krasny and Cynthia Johnston)
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