U.S.A.
Everyone Else
Health
Science
Business
Technology
Sports
Video Games
Entertainment
Future
Humour
NEWS > U.S.A. > JAMES ‘WHITEY’ BULGER CAPTURE HIGHLIGHTS DANGERS OF USING SOCIAL MEDIA
JAMES ‘WHITEY’ BULGER CAPTURE HIGHLIGHTS DANGERS OF USING SOCIAL MEDIA
June 24 2011
Washington, D.C. – There aren’t many people who will be shedding a tear upon hearing of the capture of James ‘Whitey’ Bulger. The former mobster had quite rightly earned his place on the FBI Ten Most Wanted list where he comfortably resided 
alongside such names as Warren Jeffs and Osama bin Laden. Bulger was a gangster of the highest order, wanted on charges ranging from extortion to racketeering to murder, 19 of the latter. Bulger was a bad guy.
Despite his dastardly reputation, Bulger was free for nearly two decades and did it hiding in plain sight. He wasn’t holed up in some shantytown in South America or some massive walled estate in Pakistan, but rather he was living a quiet domestic life in Santa Monica, taking walks on the pier and watching the surfers in the warm California sun. Eventually the net closed on Bulger and the FBI cleared one more spot on the list, this time doing it in a thoroughly modern way. Ultimately Bulger was caught the old fashioned way, on a tip from a snitch, but it was the FBI’s presence on social media like Facebook which brought about that information. A simple Facebook post did more to capture this arch criminal than 16 years of traditional media coverage, something which demonstrates the power of the web for law enforcement and the dangers for criminals looking to catch up with old friends.
“We are very pleased to have this criminal off the streets. James Bulger is one of the most dangerous criminals that had been at large in the United States. I can say 
definitively that the United States is just a little bit safer with Bulger in custody and that is a good thing,” said an FBI spokesperson. “It has been a long struggle to get this man behind bars, but let this show all criminals out there that no matter how long it takes, we will get you. There is no escaping the law, especially now.”
It’s believed that Bulger was caught, in part, because of a fake Facebook account he had created which was eventually tracked to his Santa Monica home.
“Social media is just one more tool for law enforcement and like any tool, if it is used correctly, it can be very powerful. The ubiquity of social media means that it is next to impossible for criminals to hide now. It’s one more prong of assault and that is going to do in a lot of bad guys,” said Scrape TV Crime analyst Willard Weston. “Of course any criminal capture is also due in large part to the criminals themselves. Bulger is a smart guy, but ultimately all criminal prosecution is dependent on the stupidity of criminals, whether that’s in them just doing dumb things or it’s related to their ego. The safety of society has always leaned heavily on the idiocy of bad guys.”
Aside from his crimes, Bulger was best known as the inspiration for the movie ‘The Departed’ in which his analogue played by Jack Nicholson was undone by his ego.
“I think this should really serve as a warning to all criminals that the use of social media is a no-no. It’s tempting of course, especially if you’ve been out of contact with people for many years, but it’s going to get you thrown in the clink. Sure there are 500 million Facebook users and that makes things hard to sift through, but it also means there are that many more eyes watching you,” continued Weston. “I’m sure that we will see a lot of criminals shutting down their Facebook and Twitter pages over the next few days. It’s just too risky for them.”
It’s not clear how many friends Bulger had on Facebook or who it was that gave the tip the that turned him over, but it is known that none of his nieces or nephews were willing to accept his request
Mike Michaels, American Correspondent
NEWS > U.S.A. > JAMES ‘WHITEY’ BULGER CAPTURE HIGHLIGHTS DANGERS OF USING SOCIAL MEDIA
LINK IT! http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/usa/pages-6/James-Whitey-Bulger-capture-highlights-dangers-of-using-social-media-Scrape-TV-The-World-on-your-side.html |
TWEET IT! http://goo.gl/en309 |
BOOKMARK IT!  
|
|---|
Scrape Store
