FBI catch ‘Whitey’ Bulger, America’s most wanted

Boston gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger, the inspiration for Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning gangster movie The Departed, has been captured by the FBI, meaning his reign as the most wanted man in America must be one of the shortest on record.

Bulger had played second fiddle to Osama bin Laden on the FBI's famed Ten Most Wanted list ever since the two men were first listed in 1999. But he took over at number one when the al-Qaeda leader was killed by US special forces in May. Less than two months on, Bulger has been captured in southern California after 16 years on the run.

There was a $2m bounty on Bulger's head - the largest reward ever offered for a domestic fugitive.

Bulger, 81, has been indicted for 19 murders committed between the early 1970s and the mid-1980s during gang wars in Boston when he was a member of the Winter Hill Gang, which eventually took control of the Boston underworld. The FBI said he was also wanted "in connection with his leadership of an organised crime group" and said that he "allegedly controlled extortion, drug deals, and other illegal activities in the Boston, Massachusetts, area".

Just like Jack Nicholson's Irish-American hardman Frank Costello in The Departed, Bulger had been an FBI informer. He disappeared in 1995 when he was tipped off that he faced arrest. Prior to his capture the last known sighting had been in London in 2002.

The FBI made a renewed effort to track him down this month, soon after their number one target, Bin Laden, was killed by US Navy Seals in Pakistan.

TV commercials were aired this week and on Wednesday he was captured in Santa Monica with his 60-year-old girlfriend Catherine Greig. They were taken into custody "without incident".

Who's next? America's most wanted man is now Victor Manuel Gerena, sought in connection with a $7m armed robbery in 1983. The  FBI is offering a $1m reward for information on his whereabouts. ·