Lessons from Whitey

It would be a mistake to relegate the unsavory details that will be part of the eventual trial of Whitey Bulger as historic artifacts. There are lessons that can guide us today and in the future.

■ Justice delayed can still be justice. Bulger evaded capture for 16 years. There should be a full investigation and accounting of how he was able to do so, including whether he was assisted by others. At the same time, the long delay should not make us lose sight of the importance of holding him accountable for the very serious charges pending against him. The criminal justice system can be slow and sometimes uneven, but it usually ends up in the right place.

■ Some deals are worth making. The government made several controversial deals with criminals (most notably, with John Martorano) in an effort to develop evidence against others. The public (and the jury) has every right to view such deals with healthy skepticism, even disgust. But, in some cases, such deals are the best (and maybe the only) way to build a case against those most responsible for violent criminal conduct. That certainly was the case here.

■ Informants can be big trouble. Bulger and Steve Flemmi were FBI informants at the same time they allegedly were responsible for scores of murders. That was a failure not only of a few corrupt FBI agents. It was also a failure of a supervisory system that did not provide sufficient checks and balances when it came to the handling of high-level informants. Those guidelines have since been changed for the better. But dealing with informants is treacherous territory, and oversight of that relationship is critically important. It was then and it still is.

■ Law enforcement cooperation. In the old days (which were not so long ago), the FBI took its mantra as the premier law enforcement agency to mean that it would not share information with other law enforcement agencies. Cooperation was often a one-way street. However, the deep distrust created by the rise and fall of Whitey Bulger has been overtaken by new personnel. It has also been supplanted by a more genuine level of cooperation between the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. It is not perfect, and rivalries still exist. Nevertheless, it is a long way from what it used to be.