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In part two of this two-part episode, retired agents Phil Torsney and Tommy MacDonald review how, during the unresolved fugitive investigation of James “Whitey” Bulger, they altered their investigative strategy by focusing a public media campaign, including a national 30-second Public Service Announcement, on photos they had acquired of Bulger’s female companion, Catherine Greig.
Bulger was an informant for the FBI for several years. His FBI agent handler, John Connelly, was charged and convicted for revealing to Bulger that he was about to be indicted for RICO by the Massachusetts State Police and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Federal prosecutors later filed a superseding indictment and, in addition to the initial racketeering charges, Bulger was convicted of nineteen murders.
Torsney and MacDonald gathered the evidence that finally led to the capture of Whitey Bulger and Greig by agent Scott Garriola in the LA Division.
Retired Agent Phil Torsney served in the FBI for over 29 years. Most of his career was dedicated to investigating domestic and international violent criminal activity. As coordinator of a multi-agency violent crime/fugitive task force in Cleveland, Ohio, for twenty of those years, he worked with various law enforcement agencies to apprehend violent fugitives, many of whom years had fled the United States. Torsney was also an FBI SWAT operator and twice served on FBI tactical deployments to Afghanistan.
It was during the last 2 years of his FBI career that Torsney was assigned to the Boston Field Office to coordinate the investigative efforts that resulted in the apprehension of Whitey Bulger.
Following retirement from the FBI, Torsney worked as a Special Agent for the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. He is currently working as a special investigator with the Bay Village, Ohio Police Department, using his extensive experience investigating crimes against children.
Retire Agent (Retired)
Phil Torsney
1984 – 2013
“Bulger told me on the flight back it was difficult to maintain his criminal edge after all those years and if he had been at the top of his game, he would have never come down to the basement and been arrested.”—Retired Agent Phil Torsney
Retired Agent Tommy MacDonald served as a Special Agent with the FBI for twenty-five years, 21 as a special agent and four as an investigative specialist.
Tommy first office assignment was the New York City Field Office where for eight years he was assigned to the FBI/NYPD Violent Crimes Squad in lower Manhattan, also known as the Joint Bank Robbery Task Force, investigating violent crimes in the five boroughs of New York City.
After working in Boston on the special assignment to capture fugitive Whitey Bulger, he returned to the NYO, where he was assigned to the White Plains Resident Agency as the case agent on a sixty-five defendant RICO gang case in Yonkers, NY.
He later accepted a transfer to the Portland, Maine Resident Agency out of the Boston Division of the FBI, where he was also a member of the Child Abduction and Rapid Deployment Team. He spent his final year before retiring, as the recruiter for the Boston Field Office. Tommy is currently employed in software sales as a Regional Sales Manager for uLab Systems.
Special Agent (Retired)
Tommy MacDonald
May 2000 – June 2021
The following are links to articles and videos about Whitey Bulger fugitive hunt and capture:
Boston.com – 6/21/2011: TV ads are latest tactic in hunt for Bulger
New York Times – 6/21/2011: Wanted: Hygienist (and Her Gangster Pal)
Los Angeles Times – 6/28/2011: Whitey Bulger kept cash hidden in apartment and traveled frequently
CBS 60 Minutes – 2001: “Whitey Bulger’s” Capture
CNN – 10/30/2018: 6 surprising facts about Whitey Bulger
People Magazine – 8/22/2022: 3 Men Indicted for 2018 Killing of Mob Boss James ‘Whitey’ Bulger
Tommy MacDonald was previously on FBI Retired Case File Review to review another Top Ten fugitive investigation he and Phil Torsney worked on together: 256: Tommy MacDonald – Fugitive Cop Killer Donald Eugene Webb
