The column draws a provocative parallel between Jeffrey Epstein, the financier who moved in circles of wealth and influence, and James “Whitey” Bulger, the violent Boston crime boss from a working-class Southie background. Both men, the author argues, were products of modest upbringings and possessed no formal higher education—yet wielded immense power through cunning, manipulation, and coercion. Epstein manipulated individuals and institutions with charm and financial acumen; Bulger executed his control through violence and fear—each pursuing self-serving agendas that devastated countless lives, particularly women and girls in Epstein’s case, and vulnerable community members in Bulger’s.

Cullen further explores how both men were shielded by government institutions for strategic or self-serving reasons. Bulger survived as a powerful figure in part due to the FBI's complicity, using him as an informant while overlooking his criminal violence. Epstein likewise received a lenient plea deal, serving what the author likens to “after‑school detention” instead of facing full accountability. Both ultimately died while in federal custody—Bulger murdered in prison, Epstein under suspicious circumstances—raising unsettling questions about systemic failures or complicity. The piece concludes by urging readers to confront these troubling deaths, lest society become similarly numb to such abuses.



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