Face to Face with Mobster Whitey Bulger

Veteran Boston 25 News reporter and longtime Franklin resident Bob Ward has announced the forthcoming publication of his first book, Face to Face with Whitey Bulger: An FBI Agent’s Account of Capturing and Debriefing Boston’s Most Notorious Gangster, scheduled for release later in 2026. The book will be published by McFarland Books under its true-crime imprint, Exposit Books, and is co-written with retired FBI agent Rich Teahan.

Ward spent three decades covering James “Whitey” Bulger for Boston 25 News, including Bulger’s 2013 federal trial. Teahan led the FBI’s Bulger Fugitive Task Force and played a key role in developing the public service announcement that ultimately led to Bulger’s arrest in Santa Monica, California.

The book recounts Teahan’s hours-long debriefing of Bulger aboard a U.S. Department of Justice jet returning him to Boston, offering new insight into the long manhunt and Bulger’s life on the run.

Background on James “Whitey” Bulger

James “Whitey” Bulger (1929–2018) was a longtime leader of Boston’s Winter Hill Gang and one of the most notorious criminals in U.S. history. For years, Bulger operated as an FBI informant while continuing to run an extensive criminal enterprise involving murder, extortion, and racketeering. Warned of an impending indictment in 1994, he fled Boston and remained a fugitive for more than 16 years. Bulger was captured in 2011, convicted on multiple charges in 2013, and sentenced to life in prison, where he was killed under somewhat mysterious circumstances in 2018.

You can sign up for more info about Bob's book at https://tinyurl.com/mrx9azne.