Girlfriend of Whitey Bulger Gets 8-Year Prison Sentence BOSTON - Catherine E. Greig, the longtime girlfriend of the crime boss James (Whitey) Bulger, was sentenced on Tuesday to eight years in prison for her role in helping him elude the authorities during the 16 years the two spent in hiding. "It's not merely harboring," Judge Douglas P. Woodlock said of Ms. Greig's crimes before handing down the sentence, which also included a $150,000 fine. It was for a long duration. It involved harboring someone accused of the most serious crimes imaginable. Ms. Greig, 61, sat mostly expressionless through the day's proceedings in Federal District Court. As part of a plea agreement in March, Ms. Greig admitted that she left Boston in 1995 to join Mr. Bulger, who had gone into hiding in December 1994. Mr. Bulger, once believed to be the king of Boston's underground crime world, also acted as an F.B.I. informant and had been tipped off by an agent about a looming indictment. Ms. Greig said in her statement of guilt that she had used false identities to help Mr. Bulger remain in hiding. The two were arrested in Santa Monica, Calif., last June. Ms. Greig's sentence is a prelude to the federal case against Mr. Bulger, 82, who is charged with 19 killings and whose trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 5. His lawyer, J. W. Carney, has objected to the date, saying the evidence to be collected is far too extensive for him to be ready by then. Ms. Greig's sentence, which includes three years of supervised release in addition to the prison time and the fine, is shorter than the 10 years requested by prosecutors in a memorandum filed last Friday. They wrote that Ms. Greig's efforts to help hide "one of the most dangerous and violent criminals in the history of this district" allowed Mr. Bulger access to the extensive cache of weapons that the authorities discovered in their Santa Monica apartment and delayed justice for the families of the murder victims. Ms. Greig's lawyer, Kevin Reddington, asked in a memorandum filed Monday that she be sentenced to 27 months in prison, taking to literature to support his often repeated line that Ms. Greig's only crime was falling in love. "Why people fall in love has been debated since before Shakespeare's sonnets," Mr. Reddington wrote. Jack Pirozzolo, a government lawyer, struck back at that line of logic in court on Tuesday. "This isn't poetry," Mr. Pirozzolo said. This is a woman who, by choice, decided to help a man who has been accused of vicious crimes. Judge Woodlock allowed five family members of murder victims to give impact testimony - statements that were short but unrelenting. Ms. Greig gasped and wept as Tim Connors, whose father Mr. Bulger is accused of killing, made a reference to the suicide of Ms. Greig's brother in the 1980s. "If I had a sister like you, I would have killed myself too," Mr. Connors said. Ms. Greig regained her composure and stared straight ahead, away from the family members, as they continued. "She doesn't even have the heart to look any of us in the eye," said Steven Davis, whose sister Mr. Bulger is accused of strangling. After the hearing, Mr. Reddington and United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz both said they were unlikely to appeal the sentence. Mr. Davis said the sentence marked "the beginning" of justice for his family. "Full justice will be when Bulger's gone," he added.