Matt Damon Slated to Play Notorious Boston Mobster Whitey Bulger in Afleck Film
Ben Afleck has announced plans to direct a film about convicted Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger for Warner Bros studios and rumors are swirling that Matt Damon will play the lead role.
Warner Bros is working on a deal with Aaron Stockard to work on the script, according to Deadline.com.
Bulger was found guilty of murder and racketeering in August. He had been in hiding since 1994. Bulger was arrested after a sixteen year manhunt by the FBI in Santa Monica in California in 2011.
Local folklore depicted Bulger as a modern day Robin Hood dedicated to protecting his neighborhood. Prosecutors painted an entirely different picture of Bulger, referring to the one time mobster as a cold-blooded killer. A jury found that Bulger participated in the murder of 11 victims — Paul McGonagle, Edward Connors, Thomas King, Richard Castucci, Roger Wheeler, Brian Halloran, Michael Donahue, John Callahan, Arthur "Bucky" Barrett, John McIntyre, and Deborah Hussey.
In addition to the film project, Fox is in talks to develop a television series on the life of Eddie Mackenzie, whose “life as an enforcer for the notorious crime boss Whitey Bulger details how he was able to extricate himself from Whitey’s gang without getting himself killed.”
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
