Retired state police officer writes book on Bulger chase

BOSTON (WHDH) -- One of the men that led the worldwide search for crime boss Whitey Bulger is sharing his story in a new book.

Count retired State Police Colonel Tom Foley as one of those not surprised that it took the FBI so long to catch Whitey Bulger -- because he knows better than just about anyone how much the agency had been protecting Bulger for years.

“He was out murdering people,” Foley said.

Foley spent 20 years chasing Bulger for the State Police, and says the serial killer's reign of terror could have been cut off sooner if the FBI hadn't valued protecting their top organized crime informant while turning a blind eye to Bulger's own crimes.

Writing of his frustration in his new book “Most Wanted,” Foley blames not only Bulger's handler John Connolly -- already convicted of murder for helping Bulger -- but also Connolly’s bosses who Foley says also blocked his efforts to catch the killer.

“It took us pulling bodies out of the ground and showing the bones before people started saying, ‘Okay, I guess these guys are right,’” Foley said. “There’s a series of supervisors over the years that if they didn’t know, they should’ve known, and if they did know they should have done something about it."

Unlike other mob killers, Foley says Whitey enjoyed being a hands-on murderer, getting bloody and savoring the moments after.

"They would go out there and personally do their own dirty work and to the degree where they would enjoy it and it was something that they were getting satisfaction out of. And they were brutal deaths,” Foley said.

This may not be the last we hear of Foley’s version of the Whitey Bulger story. He says reps for Mark Wahlberg have asked about the book, and ironically, Foley writes that the actor and producer is on Whitey's short list of people he'd like to have visit him in prison.