Police and FBI surround the apartment building in Santa Monica, Calif., where fugitive crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger and his longtime companion Catherine Greig were arrested, Wednesday evening, June... (Associated Press) 
 
 An FBI agent carries a box of materials into the apartment building in Santa Monica, Calif., where fugitive crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger and his longtime companion Catherine Greig were arrested Wednesday... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this 1995 file photo provided by the FBI, fugitive mobster James "Whitey" Bulger is shown in a photo released Saturday, April 17, 2004, and taken shortly before he disappeared in 1995. An "avid reader with an interest in history," Bulger was known to frequent libraries and historic sites, the FBI said. Steven Martinez, FBI's assistant director in charge in Los Angeles, said the arrest followed a tip that stemmed from the campaign, which asked the public, particularly women, to be on the lookout for Greig, stressing that she frequented hair salons and had a love for animals. Acting on a tip, members of the Fugitive Task Force staked out the residence Wednesday and arrested Bulger and Catherine Elizabeth Greig, 60, who was inside the home, said FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers. Bulger fled in 1995 after a retired FBI agent who had recruited him as a government informant tipped him off that he was about to be indicted. On Thursday, more than a dozen FBI agents carried out bags of evidence from the Santa Monica apartment while neighbors and even some tourists from Boston watched. FBI agents combing through the Santa Monica apartment of notorious Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger seized about $800,000 in cash and "a fairly big arsenal" of weapons, federal law enforcement officials said. In a Los Angeles federal courtroom on Thursday, NewsCenter 5's Jack Harper reported that Bulger gave a thumbs-up as he walked into the court, and appeared relaxed and jovial and was even chatting and joking with other defendants in the courtroom before his hearing. Federal prosecutors have portrayed Bulger as a violent and dangerous man whose criminal enterprise included gambling, extortion, loansharking, narcotics and the alleged murders of people who got in the way or knew too much. Bulger's arrest came on the heels of a newly launched FBI campaign focusing on Greig, 60, who is facing charges of harboring a fugitive after living life on the run with Bulger for years. The property managers, who asked their names not be used because they didn't want additional attention from the media, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the couple, who they knew as Charles and Carol Gasko, moved in around 1996. Bulger's arrest caps an international search for the storied South Boston mobster with a $2 million bounty on his head who fled the city in 1995. Bulger, was one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted fugitives, wanted in connection with at least 19 killings, racketeering and other crimes that spanned more than a decade. While his younger brother, William, was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature, later serving as the powerful Senate president for years, Whitey returned to Boston in 1965 and quickly became a top lieutenant under Somerville gangster Howie Winter, boss of the Winter Hill gang. The retired agent accused of tipping off Bulger, John Connolly Jr., was convicted of racketeering in 2002 for protecting Bulger and another mob informant in the Winter Hill Gang, Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi.
– Whitey Bulger is going home after 16 years on the lam. The 81-year-old mob fugitive appeared in court today with girlfriend Catherine Greig. Both waived their right to a hearing, meaning they will soon be transported back to Boston to face charges. Bulger, considered the model for Jack Nicholson's character in the Departed, seemed relaxed in court, reports CNN. Asked by the judge whether he had read the charges against him, Bulger said, "I got them all here. It will take me quite a while to finish these. But I know them all pretty well.” (They include multiple counts of murder; Greig is charged with harboring a fugitive.) Other developments: FBI agents found $800,000 in cash and about 30 weapons in the apartment Bulger and Greig shared quietly in Santa Monica for about 15 years, reports the Los Angeles Times. A neighbor tells the paper she thought Bulger had dementia. "They were a handsome couple, but they were kind of mysterious," another neighbor tells the AP. Boston's WCVB has a photo of a smiling Bulger.