American actor Johnny Depp plays the infamous Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger in the new film Black Mass. On the red carpet of the US premiere, Depp said of the real Bulger, “There’s a kind heart in there,” he said. “There’s a cold heart in there. There’s a man who loves. There’s a man who cries. There’s a lot to the man.”
The brother of Deborah Hussey who was strangled by Bulger in 1985 told the Boston Globe: “I wonder how Johnny Depp would feel if his sister got strangled and buried in the basement with two other corpses? There’s nothing humane about Jimmy Bulger … Shame on him. That was a very stupid, insensitive comment.” Depp also said this to the AP: “No disrespect to any victims or families of victims, but there was some element for me that was kind of glad that he got away.” He added,“For 16 years he was on the lam and he wasn’t causing any trouble. He was living his life. Good on him.” That comment didn’t sit well with the families of victims either.
