1. Kevin Weeks was born on March 21,1956 and is an American former mobster and longtime friend and mob lieutenant to Whitey Bulger, the infamous boss of the Winter Hill Gang, a crime family based in the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts.
Kevin Weeks's testimony is viewed as responsible for the convictions of FBI agent John Connolly, as well as forcing Bulger's right-hand man, Stephen Flemmi, to plead guilty as well.
Kevin Weeks was born in South Boston, Massachusetts, on March 21,1956, to a working-class family of Irish and Welsh descent.
Kevin Weeks was the fifth child in a family of six and grew up in the Old Colony Housing Project at 8 Pilsudski Way, apartment 554.
Kevin Weeks changed tires for a living and later obtained a position with the Boston Housing Authority.
Kevin Weeks graduated from South Boston High in 1974, ending his formal education.
Meanwhile, Kevin Weeks turned to running a loansharking business on the side.
In 1982, four years after beginning to work as part of the Winter Hill Gang, Kevin Weeks left his legitimate job and became a full-time mobster in the gang.
Kevin Weeks then disposed of the guns used in the killings by throwing them into Marine Bay on the instructions of Bulger.
Kevin Weeks described the murders of Halloran and Donahue as the event which cemented his association with Bulger, saying: "I was involved in a double homicide, so I knew there was no getting out".
Kevin Weeks became a protege to Bulger, who groomed him as his successor and treated him like a son.
Kevin Weeks collected payments from loan sharks and bookmakers, insulating Bulger from the transactions, and helped extort local criminals and businessmen who were behind on their debts to the gang.
Kevin Weeks insists that Bulger strictly forbade PCP and selling to children, and that those dealers who refused to play by his rules were violently driven out of the neighborhood.
Bulger became a fugitive after he was indicted on racketeering charges in January 1995, and Kevin Weeks subsequently acted as "operational chief" of the Winter Hill Gang, taking orders from Bulger via frequent telephone calls.
Kevin Weeks funded Bulger by funnelling thousands of dollars into his bank account.
Kevin Weeks had several clandestine meetings in New York City and Chicago.
In 1997, shortly after The Boston Globe disclosed that Bulger and Flemmi had been informants, Kevin Weeks met with retired agent John Connolly, who showed him a photocopy of Bulger's FBI informant file.
At first refusing to cooperate, Kevin Weeks was transferred to a Federal penitentiary in Rhode Island.
Kevin Weeks stated that he was approached by one of his fellow prisoners, a "made man" in the New England crime family, who made a surprising suggestion: he should testify against Bulger and Flemmi.
Kevin Weeks was unnerved when two lawyers told him his chances at trial were dismal.
Kevin Weeks negotiated a plea deal with federal prosecutors in 1999.
Kevin Weeks confessed to being an accessory to five murders.
In 2000, Kevin Weeks led authorities to six different bodies buried by the Winter Hill Gang, including the triple grave of Hussey, McIntyre and Barrett, as well as a cache of weapons in Flemmi's home in South Boston.
Kevin Weeks implicated Bulger in the murder of Brian Halloran, helped solve the 1981 contract killing of businessman Roger Wheeler, and agreed to testify against Flemmi and Bulger.
Kevin Weeks revealed that Whitey's younger brothers, Senate President Billy Bulger and juvenile magistrate clerk Jackie Bulger, had talked with Whitey while he was on the lam.
On March 22,2004, Kevin Weeks was sentenced to six years in federal prison, including time served.
Kevin Weeks collaborated with journalist Phyllis Karas to write Brutal: The Untold Story of my Life inside Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob, Weeks's account of his life with Bulger and Flemmi, which was published in March 2006.
Kevin Weeks was a star witness at Connolly's 2008 trial on state charges of murdering former World Jai Alai president Roger Wheeler, as well as at Bulger's 2013 trial on racketeering charges two years after Bulger was finally captured.
At the latter trial, Bulger lost his composure when Kevin Weeks called him a rat and the two former colleagues came to blows.