boston have sounded for generations of irish immigrants. it s a tight-knit community that s always protected its own, a place james whitey bulger called home. he learned to fight and survive on the mean streets of south boston, known as southy to locals like john shay who, decades later, would work for bulger. the guy was legendary. he made tough guys shake. he made them shake. reporter: bulger s life of crime started early, arrested in his teens, he was robbing banks by age 20. his shock of blonde hair earning him the name whitey, a name he is said to despite. with his rugged good looks and reckless flamboyance, he imagined himself as boston s version of jimmy kagny. but instead of red carpets he was headed to alcatraz. a string of bank robberies landing him ten years in federal prison at age 25. did he his time and upon release vowed he would never, ever go back. they had no hard proof. reporter: boston globe reporters dick layered and jared o neill ultimate
the church bells of st. monica near the harbor in south boston have sounded for generations of irish immigrants. it s a tight-knit community that s always protected its own, a place james whitey bulger called home. he learned to fight and survive on the mean streets of south boston, known as southy to locals like john shay who, decades later, would work for bulger. the guy was legendary. he made tough guys shake. he made them shake. reporter: bulger s life of crime started early, arrested in his teens, he was robbing banks by age 20. his shock of blonde hair earning him the name whitey, a name he is said to despite. with his rugged good looks and reckless flamboyance, he imagined himself as boston s version of jimmy kagny. but instead of red carpets he was headed to alcatraz. a string of bank robberies landing him ten years in federal prison at age 25. did he his time and upon release vowed he would never, ever go back. they had no hard proof. reporter: boston
the fbi could not catch. deborah feyerick takes you inside one of the biggest manhunts in fbi history. [ bagpipes ] reporter: the church bells of saint monica near the harbor in south boston have sounded for generations of irish immigrants. [ bell ringing ] reporter: it is a tight-knit community that s always protected its own, a place james whitey bulger, one of boston s most notorious gangsters calleded home. bulger learned to fight and survive on the mean streets of south boston, known as southy to locals like john shay who would work for bulger. the guy was legendary. he made tough guys shake. he made them shake. reporter: bulger s life of crime started early. arrested in his teens he was robbing banks by age 20. his shock of blond hair earning him the name whitey a name he s said to despise. with his good looks and flamboyance, he imagined himself boston s version of hollywood gangster jimmy cagney. instead of red carpets, he was headed to alcatraz, a strin
hear it because it went from a category 3 to a 2. reporter: thanks a lot, man. sean. just give him the mic. he had the details. he has characterization. he had a comparison to prior disaster. i think this guy might actually have a future in the news. i ll be the mother here. get that young man a pair of safety goggles like you are wearing and maybe some all weather gear. he is out in a long sleeved t-shirt. not dressed for it but he has passion. garrett, talk us through the rest of the day. where are you headed? one of the things we ve been watching here, as i mentioned in some of the earlier live shots, is the river. this is sort of one of these places upstream, if you will, from the gulf coast, that still tends to get flooding because it is right along the river that