The Deacon's Bench
An East Village priest who IRA gun runners called “the underground general” may give the Boston funeral Mass for mobster James “Whitey” Bulger, the New York Post reported.
A funeral director who provides burial services for poor Irish-Americans asked Father Patrick Maloney if he would conduct the funeral mass for the murderous Boston gangster who was slain in federal prison Tuesday, the newspaper reported.
The death of 89-year-old Bulger, who was convicted of 11 murders and several counts of racketeering, is being investigated as a homicide, federal prosecutors said. He was killed less than a day after he was transferred from a facility in Florida to a West Virginia penitentiary, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
“I don’t know the particular position of the church on a known criminal. But then the Lord is plentiful with redemption,” Maloney told the tabloid. “In his own heart and soul, [Bulger] may have changed . . . As far as I’m concerned, he’d be entitled to a Catholic burial. I’d have no hesitation.”
Moloney himself has a colorful history and spent more than four years in prison. Read about his release . The New York Times had more in 1998.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In