Federal Judge Reginald C. Lindsay is sick of hearing lawsuits from victims of the Bulger gang. Yesterday, Lindsay granted a motion for summary judgment against the FBI in lawsuits filed by widows of Brian Halloran and Michael Donahue, two men killed in 1982 by James "Whitey" Bulger and accomplices. But that's not all. With at least four additional wrongful death lawsuits brought by survivors of Bulger's victims still pending, Lindsay wants the FBI to put......

BulgerMania seems to have broken out in Italy because police are seeing Whitey Bulger and his girlfriend everywhere. Even if you don't look like Whitey Bulger but happen to be an old white guy, do not go to Italy. The FBI posted an image and video of a distinguished-looking white couple strolling through Italy. And, what do you know, distinguished-looking white guys who don't even look like Bulger are getting hassled. Earlier this month, poor......

--Yesterday in Boston, a federal judge declared the government must pay $101 million to Joseph Salvati, Peter Limone, and the families of Louis Greco and Henry Tameleo for a wrongful conviction with a Goodfellas-worthy storyline. Here's the gist of the story. Someone killed Edward "Teddy" Deegan in 1965. Joseph "The Animal" Barboza said these four men did it – to protect an FBI informant, Vincent "Jimmy" Flemmi. So Barboza lied – and the FBI knew......

The Boston wing of the FBI met with leaders of local schools because they think spies might try to steal research. The Herald writes, "Boston FBI Special Agent in Charge Warren Bamford recently met with officials at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, among other schools, to train academics on what sort of research could be used by terrorists." The FBI wants academics to watch their laptops and note any overenthusiastic......

The Boston Police Department issued a press release today indicating that twenty-three people will be charged for crack and cocaine distribution in the Bromley-Heath housing development in Jamaica Plain. In season one of The Wire it was Avon Barksdale working for control of The Towers – its season four now and the lines are still tapped in hopes of shutting down Marlo Stanfield's operation. The fiction of HBO's drama is well developed and revolves around......

Our video of the day has already gone up, but we’re not quite satisfied with our sucking love. This week Bulger news was of a pension loss. John “retired clerk magistrate” Bulger lost a case argued in the SJC to save his pension for lying about his contact with Whitey. This is different, however, from the ups and downs of the William “former UMass prez” Bulger pension fight, which still leans in favor of that......

Scanning the interweb this morning, Bostonist saw that U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will testify today before a Congressional committee investigating the legality of the President's "I'm-above-the-law" theory of constitutional interpretation. While commentators have suggested that the hearings themselves are a testament to the shaky ground the President is on (since it was Republican Arlen Specter who called for the inquiry), we can't help but see the whole thing as a testament to the skill......

Bostonist hates taking off our shoes at the airport when going through security. We have a special pair of particularly smelly shoes we wear hoping that the TSA people will have to touch them as we go through the detectors. But we don’t carry knives, bombs, or secret documents. Back in 2003 Ahmed Mehalba was arrested and charged with possessing secret documents when he was searched at Logan International Airport. Mehalba a former Boston taxi......

Bostonist’s heart trembled over the Boston Herald’s cover today. According to an anonymous source, the FBI may have a solid lead on the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s stolen paintings. They seem to think the French have something to do with it. The FBI wants to get their hands on former Vivendi CEO Jean-Marie Messier, who may have acquired one of the stolen works for his personal collection. Bostonist wishes we could get Condi Rice......