BOSTON (Reuters) ? Catherine Greig, charged with aiding her fugitive boyfriend, notorious mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger, was denied bail on Friday by a federal judge who ruled she was a serious flight risk.
Greig's lawyers had requested that she be released on bail to home confinement and electronic monitoring, with her own house and the home of her identical twin sister as additional collateral. But the judge denied that request.
"She walked away from both 16 years ago when she left Massachusetts with Bulger, demonstrating a willingness to leave everything and everyone behind," U.S. Magistrate Judge Jennifer Boal said in a written ruling.
Greig, 60, is scheduled to go on trial in April 2012 on federal charges that she conspired with Bulger and others to conceal and harbor the aging gangster during the 16 years the pair hid from authorities.
Bulger, 82, fled Boston in late 1994 after receiving a tip from a corrupt FBI agent that federal charges were pending. Bulger has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him, including over 19 killings from the 1970s and 1980s.
Greig, who joined Bulger in hiding, faces up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
Bulger and Greig were arrested in California in June with a stash of about 30 firearms and $822,000 in cash hidden in holes in the wall of their apartment.
The judge said she had considered Greig's skill in eluding authorities for 16 years while aiding Bulger on the run, including her use of assumed names and false identification documents.
In denying bail, the judge also said the brutal nature of the crimes that Bulger was accused of committing added weight to Greig's charges.
"While the crime of harboring a fugitive is not normally considered a crime of violence, the court cannot ignore the fact that Greig is charged with harboring a fugitive who is accused of 19 murders," Boal wrote.
Bulger for years led the Winter Hill Gang, a mostly Irish-American organized crime operation that operated in Boston.
(Reporting by Lauren Keiper and Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111104/us_nm/us_usa_greig
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