SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Families of the victims of mobster James “Whitey” Bulger will receive some restitution after the U.S. Marshals Service on Saturday auctioned items seized from his Santa Monica, California, apartment.
The auction in Boston — which included a rat-shaped mug and a gold and diamond claddagh ring — raised $109,295, according to the Marshals Service.
“This certainly isn’t going to make them whole,” said Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz . “Nothing that we do is going to make them whole, but we’re hoping … it helps to heal a little bit of what they had to go through.”
The division and distribution of the funds will be determined in a final order of forfeiture from a federal court judge.
The items sold both online and at a Boston convention center included a Stanley cup replica ring that sold for $9,100; the rat mug that fetched $3,600; and the fisherman-style hat Bulger wore at the time of his 2011 arrest. The white bucket hat was bought for $6,400, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
The Irish claddagh ring — yellow-gold with a heart cut diamond — sold for $23,000.
The items were seized after Bulger and girlfriend Catherine Greig were arrested in 2011. He had spent 16 years on the lam after rising through the ranks of the Winter Hill Gang, the preeminent Irish-American crime syndicate in the Boston area.
At the time of his arrest, more than $800,000 in cash, 30 guns and other personal items were recovered from the apartment, according to court documents.
U.S. District Judge Denise J. Casper ordered the U.S. Marshals Service to auction off the items. She ordered the guns to be properly disposed of, according to court documents.
“Our goal is to maximize the proceeds of the auction to compensate the victims of Bulger’s brutal crimes,” U.S. Marshal John Gibbons said in April.
Bulger was sentenced to two life terms plus five years in 2013 after a jury found him guilty on more than 30 charges, including federal racketeering.
Greig was sentenced to eight years in prison for identity fraud and helping Bulger avoid capture in 2012.
