Whitey Bulger - why was he so feared?

I apologize in advance if I'm asking a question that has already been asked a few thousand times before, but after all this time reading up on the activities of Whitey Bulger I struggle to understand why so many supposedly big time drug traffickers just tolerated getting fucked by Whitey Bulger during all those years.

Now don't get me wrong, I understand he was a stone cold killer and as an FBI informant he did have some leverage over others, but at the end of the day it wasn't like he was part of an absolutely huge organization. First of all, his crew was pretty small. Who do we know about? Flemmi, Martorano, Weeks and that's generally it. He did have connections with people that associated with the IRA, but those in general seemed to be distrustful of him.

It's established that the majority of the money he made was from the drug business, but it was rather because of him shaking down big shot dealers in Southie. He never seemed to have the extensive network to bring in shipments himself. And some of those dealers got their drugs from the Mob, some of them were former marines, known boxers, etc... Whitey was none of that. He wasn't renowned for having above average boxing skills...he was an average guy with a receding hairline and the things he had going for him were that he was ready to kill and he was cunning. Surely he wouldn't have been the only guy around that area with that specific set of skills?

I find it weird nobody at that time seemed to have thought about just taking out him or anyone else of his crew for that matter. Were the drug dealing crews around at that time that small and weak? If he were around at the height of his activity in this day and age, can you imagine him trying to tax the Dominicans in West Roxbury or the Cape Verdeans in Dorchester? They'd have blown his ass full of holes the second he came knocking at their door.

Unlike many Irish he didn't have childeren so he dedicated his whole life to the underworld. He did have a secret kid with a woman but he died very young.

Bulger had a gang not only Flemmi,Martorano and Weeks and using his informant status for weak the mob and control the drug trafficking in Southie,he received drugs in exchange of weapons for the IRA.
Plus the 1960s to 1980s period was different respect now. The Mob was powerful and the winter hill gang doesnt fear the mob so he was feared because was a stone cold killer,have dozen of killers and had an alliance with the mob,I think this are the reasons.

I am just speculating here, but I guess it was more profitable to kick up as a cost of doing business than go to war with him. Just pass the cost along to the customers. And maybe they wanted to be around him because of his reputation? It couldn't hurt to be known for being with someone powerful.

"Fear" goes hand-in-hand with "legend." Bulger'slegend was multiplied by his brazen ruthlessness, deffiance of the Mob, corruption of the FBI, and his being on the lam from The Law for so many years.

You gotta remember that his life of crime was exagerrated for two reasons.

He was Irish and from Boston. I didn't even know who the fuck he was when I saw him when he was on the top 10 FBI Most wanted list.

Then you had the movie which played a big role in portraying him a certain way.

The men on the streets doesnt know that was an informant but an irish gangster that dorsnt fear the mob that kill 19 people.
In the early 1990s Garcetti a journalist wrote an article about Bulger that come and say "I will kill you if you will wrote another thing on me",Garcetti asked protection to the mob that can't help him and under police protection a cop said to him "Im happy my last name is not Garcetti".

Actually it's contested that Bulger was involved in drugs-for-weapons exchanges. Quite a few have pointed out that Bulger didn't bring in any shipments himself. The money he made of the drug trade was because he taxed dealers that were doing business in South Boston.

As for the IRA connections; an IRA source claimed that most of the heavy lifting in the arms trade was done by guys like Pat Nee, who were actually off-the-boat Irish. And contrary to popular belief, Pat Nee was not part of Bulger's crew. Later on he did have dealings with Bulger, but as up-and-comers both made quite a few attempts on each other's lives and there was always a major sense of distrust between Bulger and the guys that were born in Ireland and were involved in the IRA weapons trade.

When it comes to the gang he ran...I can really only find info on Flemmi, Martorano and Weeks as being part of his crew... The so-called Winter Hill Gang seemed to be notoriously loose-knit.

The logical explanation I can find is that he indeed had lots of people in South Boston fawning over him and his reputation of being a legendary underworld figure and a killer. And he most definitely was an ice cold killer. So most probably just agreed to pay up just to avoid any hassle.
I just can't help but find it noteworthy there seemingly weren't any players around that were thinking that maybe Bulger wasn't as influential and untouchable as the legend around his persona made him out to be and decided to go against him in a major way.

Brazen, stone cold killer who got away with it again and again and again. Friends in law enforcement and the State House.

Cops would bring victims to Bulger Personally. When you know the cops are not even on your side that creates fear in itself.

Perfect example of this happening today is in Mexico.

Just my curiosity: what was the relation with the mob? They ever tried to whack Bulger? And after come out that bulger was a rat there,was tension with the winter hill gang?