James "Whitey" Bulger, the leader of Boston's Winter Hill gang, was one of the nation's most-wanted fugitives before his long-awaited trial on Tuesday.
Bulger was able to evade charges when in fled in 1994 after a former FBI Agent John Connolly Jr. tipped him off that he was about to be indicted. He remained a fugitive for more than 16 years before being captured in Santa Monica, Calif., in 2011.
Connolly was eventually convicted of racketeering after the public learned Bulger had been working as an FBI informant for years, tipping them off about rival gang activities. Multiple reports said the FBI was embarrassed of their relationship to the mob boss.
The former fugitive faces 32 charges, including 19 murder charges. Bulger is accused of extortion, money laundering, racketeering, murder, and corrupting law enforcement.
According to Fox News, "prosecutors plan to call a collection of infamous mob figures, including Bulger's former partner, Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi, who is now serving a life sentence for 10 murders and admitted pulling the teeth out of some of the gang's victims, including his own girlfriend."
Bulger's attorneys plan to attack all the witnesses called to stand.
"The government now offers these men as witnesses against James Bulger with no apparent regard for their complete lack of credibility," attorneys J.W. Carney Jr. and Hank Brennan wrote in a recent court filing, Fox News reported.
Law enforcement officials involved in the case say the trial may give them "sense of justice."
"We were frustrated because he was being protected by the FBI, but we didn't know to what extent," told retired state police Detective Lt. Bob Long, who investigated Bulger in the '70s and '80s, to Fox News.
Reports said Bulger's lawyers will argue that federal prosecutor Jeremiah O'Sullivan, deceased, granted Bulger immunity from prosecution for his crimes.
Bulger was the inspiration for the 2006 Martin Scorsese film, "The Departed."
The trial is set to begin on Tuesday with jury selections.
