BOSTON – Former reputed crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger has pleaded not guilty to a racketeering indictment that accuses him of participating in 19 murders.
The plea in Boston federal court Wednesday by Bulger, a former FBI informant, came 16 years after he fled following a federal agent's warning on a separate, pending indictment.
Bulger escaped prosecution until he was captured last month in California.
The arraignment comes after Bulger's attorney asked a judge to appoint his law partner to help him defend the 81-year-old Bulger.
J.W. Carney Jr. was appointed last week after a magistrate judge found Bulger to be indigent. Carney is asking that attorney Janice Bassil be appointed to help him with a case he says has a "host of complex legal issues."
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