Kevin Weeks | |
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Kevin Weeks (on the right) with Whitey Bulger, surveillance photo
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Born |
South Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
March 21, 1956
Occupation | Former drug trafficker/smuggler |
Criminal charge | Racketeering (indicted on 29 counts under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)) |
Criminal penalty | Sentenced to 5 years in prison |
Criminal status | Paroled/Released in 2005 |
Spouse(s) | Pamela Cavaleri (1980-present; separated) |
Children | 2; Kevin and Brian |
Parent(s) | John and Margaret Weeks |
Conviction(s) | Racketeering/narcotics trafficking |
Kevin Weeks (born March 21, 1956) is an American former mobster and a longtime friend and confidant to Whitey Bulger, the infamous boss of the Winter Hill Gang, a crime family based out of the Winter Hill neighborhood in Somerville, Massachusetts.
After his arrest and imprisonment in 1999, he became a cooperating witness. His testimony is viewed as responsible for the convictions of FBI agent John Connolly, as well as for forcing Bulger's right-hand man, Stephen Flemmi, to plead guilty as well. Since his release from prison, he has written the bestselling true crime memoir, Brutal: My Life in Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob (). This was followed by Where's Whitey?, which was also written with Phyllis Karas, a fictional novel using Bulger as a character. Promotion for the book started on the day the FBI stepped up its efforts to catch Bulger with an advertisement; Bulger was caught two days later.
Kevin Weeks was born in South Boston to a working-class family of mixed Irish and Welsh descent. He was the fifth child in a family of six and grew up in the Old Colony Housing Project at 8 Pilsudski Way, apartment 554.
His father, John Weeks Sr., originally hailed from Brooklyn, New York. He changed tires for a living and later obtained a position with the Boston Housing Authority. John Sr. was a WWII veteran and had served in the infantry; he also had fought as a professional middleweight boxer (this may be incorrect as no record of him exists in BoxRec). When he was twenty-six, he married Margaret, who was from Boston. A full-time homemaker, she suffered from severe arthritis and went about the family's tenement on crutches. Kevin had two brothers, William and John Jr., and three sisters: Maureen, Patricia and Karen. John Sr. trained his sons in boxing and earned extra money by coaching prizefighters. Kevin first started attending school at Michael J. Perkins, but then changed to John Andrew School in Andrew Square for grades 5 and 6; he finally completed elementary school at Patrick F. Gavin School. He graduated from South Boston High in 1974, ending his formal education. His two brothers would later go on to graduate from Harvard University. His brothers sought out a career in politics; John (Jack) Jr. became an advance man for Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, and William became a selectman in Acton, Massachusetts. Kevin Weeks is also related by marriage to former South Boston liquor store owner and alleged extortion victim Stephen (Stippo) R. Rakes and Boston Police Department Detective Edward (Eddie) Walsh.