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Stephen Rakes Dead: Key 'Witness' In Bulger Trial Found Dead In Lincoln, Massachusetts

Steven Hoffer and Michael McLaughlinThe Huffington PostJul 18, 2013A key witness in the trial of alleged Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger has been found dead, authorities confirmed Thursday.The body of Stephen “Stippo” Rakes, who accused Bulger of extorting him out of his liquor store, was discovered in Lincoln, Mass."There were no obvious signs of trauma," according to a statement from the Middlesex district attorney's office. "The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is conducting an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death."As one of Bulger's alleged victims, Rakes was a fixture at the aging gangster's trial. Bulger is accused of 19 murders and an assortment of other charges.Rakes had waited decades for the opportunity to testify against Bulger. The 59-year-old said that he lost his South Boston liquor store in 1984 when Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi barged into his home, placed a gun on his kitchen table and demanded he sell them the business."One of my daughters picked up the gun and that's when I called my wife to say we were selling the store," he told The Huffington Post last month.Rakes said Bulger was an intimidating figure in Southie, the neighborhood where Rakes grew up. "People don't understand the fear that was on the streets," he recalled.

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Lets see.... Hes owed 28Mil from the lawsuit he filed against Bulger and the FBI. Whitey has an obvious motive and plenty of money to pay for a hit. I say you look at Weeks tho. Number 1 hes been back on the streets for a while now. Weeks deal is only good if he is willing to testify against Whitey based on the information he gave the government in the 90s. Rakes had claimed that Weeks was sticking to the same lies he told years ago so he wouldnt be charged with perjury. Weeks told his recanted story last week. Rakes has no such deal, which shows him to have much more credibility than a deal cutter rat like Weeks. Tuesday Rakes was taken off the witness list. Now today the find him dead wearing the same clothes he left the courtroom in on Tuesday. No wallet, no phone, car still missing. If he proved to be truthful then Weeks might have faced additional charges as well as breaking his end of the deal. Word on the street is that Weeks had been doing some prep work a few months back "just in case" such as doctor appointments and dental work, possible surgery ( hes out on a workers comp claim ) in case he had to go back in the can. I cant wait to see how this pans out.

I find it hard to believe anyone connected to Whitey would have been involved. Why bother?

I assume suicide, but we'll see I suppose.

Anyone who doesnt believe theres a connection obviously hasnt been paying attention all these years. Police are no longer calling it a suicide and theyve said they believe he was killed elsewhere and dumped in Lincoln. Here we go....

I agree that Weeks had a huge motive which was to keep Stippo from contradicting him because if he did and he proved Weeks lied his deal is revoked and he would sent back for probably a life sentence. However, Stippo had A LOT of enemies so this would also have been good timing for someone else to make it look like Weeks. Who knows but either way I'm convinced it was murder.

Exactly...Weeks wouldnt have done it himself. The Feds have been following him since his release. He has plenty of money from the shakedown and cocaine days and he has multiple vehicles he uses registered to family of his. If he wanted Rakes dead he could find a way and pay for it. No matter how you look at it somebody didnt want Rakes shooting his mouth off anymore....

theyr saying he was killed?

I haven't read this in any stories so is this just rumor around Boston? Everything I've seen has yet to assume anything.

Read the Globe article by Murphy and Cullen.....it says sources close to the investigation are calling it a suspicious death now and the y believe he "died" elsewhere and was dumped in Lincoln. Just read between the lines....who the fuck dumps a dead body on a remote walking path unless theres a cover up...what would require a cover up? A murder...just saying

he was clipped a southie friend told me he wont be missed but sure will bring the heat more than all these damn story telling from the trial has and now this

What did this guy do for money nowadays?

Wow this could get interesting then!

Who of those guys would still have the contacts to set this up?

This just seems like too much of a coincidence.... but who knows

I hope he was murdered for the sole sake of a more interesting story

He has a pension through the MBTA

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I-Team: Whitey Bulger’s Notebook Chronicles LSD Prison Testing

Share this:More Sharing ServicesShare on facebookShare on twitterShare on email16WBZ-TV’s I-Team obtained several never before seen photos of James ‘Whitey’ Bulger.BOSTON (CBS) – It induced fear in Whitey Bulger and even threatened to put him over the edge.Bulger once volunteered for a secret CIA program studying the effects of LSD on humans and now the I-Team has obtained a notebook in which Whitey wrote down his thoughts and fears about taking the mind altering drug.While in federal prison for bank robbery in the late 1950′s and early 1960′s, Bulger volunteered to take part in the covert CIA program called MK-ULTRA in exchange for time off from his sentence.WBZ-TV’s Kathy Curran reports.

In the notebook — undated, but apparently written in the years after he was released from prison — Whitey described “horrible LSD experiences followed by thoughts of suicide and deep depression.” Yet he was determined to keep it all to himself so he would not be “committed for life.”Photos: The Whitey Bulger ScrapbookAt one point, Whitey wrote that he developed a “morbid fear of LSD” and felt if he had any more of it, “it would push me over the edge.” He was afraid that “if I mentioned hearing voices” or the “seeming movement of calendar in cell, etc., that I’d be committed for life and never see the outside again.”“The CIA was looking to LSD as a potential incapacitating agent and interrogation agent,” said Dr. John Halpern, who specializes in psychiatry and drug abuse research at McLean Hospital.Whitey wrote that he felt like his “head changes shape” and the only “antidote is to look in mirror” to make sure his head was still the same.I-Team: The Whitey Bulger Letters“Could very well be that a person enrolled in a MK-ULTRA program in the late 50′s, 60′s received large doses of LSD, it’s quite possible,” Halpern said.In the notebook, Whitey compared the doctor running the LSD program back in federal prison to “a modern day Dr. Mengele” — a reference to the notorious Nazi doctor.“I was in prison for committing a crime,” he wrote, “and feel they committed a worse crime on me.”But, there’s no sympathy from the families of victims killed during Bulger’s reign of terror on Boston streets.“I think he’s been a monster since birth,” said Patricia Donahue, whose husband, Michael, was gunned down in the early 1980′s allegedly by Bulger. “He’s a sociopath and I don’t think you can blame the drugs on that.”Whitey goes on to write about “nightly nightmares” and wonders whether the LSD caused him years of “stomach problems” and “allergies.”Later, he said he read of LSD causing chromosome damage and felt if he got married his wife would “demand children,” and those children, he feared, would have “mental problems” and “no life.”He wrote of lingering effects. He said he had to “wear long sleeve shirts to bed — because bear arms make me nervous.”“Sometimes when awake and area is quiet, with eyes closed, you see shafts of light piercing the darkness,” he wrote.Dr. Halpern never examined Whitey, but he described how troubling LSD could be for a man like Bulger, a crime boss fueled by power and control.“For someone who has a tremendous need for security through control this could lead to a tremendous sense of anxiety and they could feel quite damaged,” Halpern said.In letters from prison to his brother William, Whitey wrote about how excited he was about the LSD project in the beginning and how he could earn “good time” by taking part in it.In fact, he wrote that he spent Christmas Eve in 1957 working on the LSD project and then rang in the New Year in the same place — and was extremely happy about it.But, it was evident in this notebook that things changed.When asked if the LSD project would be used as part of Whitey’s defense, his lawyer, Jay Carney, said it’s too soon to tell.Share this:More Sharing ServicesShare on facebookShare on twitterShare on email16North Shore Brewer Responds To Controversy Over “Sexist” & “Racist” LabelsMom Says Murdered Wayland Teen “Was Stolen From Us All Too Soon”We RecommendFamily Of Teen Who Fell From Airplane…Classmate: Teen Told School Nurse He…From Around the Web10 Worst Cities to Visit in the United…(EscapeHere)8 Celebrities Who Survived Suicide…(Answers.com)[what's this]©2013 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc.All rights reserved.Privacy Policy Ad Choices Terms of Use EEO Reports Deals WBZ-TV Public File WSBK-TV Public FilePowered by WordPress.com VIP HomeNewsSportsBoston BestPhotosWeatherVideoTravelDealsCircularsPlaces 

Man what a wuss Whitey is. LSD is actually an awesome psychedelic experience. It can show you beautiful things. Unfortunately for Whitey. He was such an evil despicable person and the LSD showed him what he was and it made him go bezerk.


The thing about LSD that is so beautiful is that it rips off layers of ego and if you can accept this it can show you everyhting in a light that you never could see it in. As a matter of fact if they kept on giving Whitey LSD he would eventually have lost his ego and would have became a peaceful man. But what they did was give Whitey just enough for him to see his huge ego start to get peeled off, layer by layer and with being such a egocentric man this scared the ever living piss out of him. It's really to bad that they didn't just keep on dosing him...It would have cured him if they kept feeding him acid.

Hahahaha +1000000

Thats an interesting take on it caprese

Hahahahahahahahahaha yeaaaaaa
I have taken plenty of acid and also spent time in prison. I would love to see you dosed everyday for years and sent back to sit in a cell.
Also ego loss is never permanent (relatively).
I don't mean to come off rude either I just feel as someone who has dosed a lot and done time it definitely doesn't mean he's a wuss lol.

Also all the acid he took probably accelerated or unleashed his willingness to kill.

I will definitely concur that being dosed high levels of LSD in the can is not nearly as fun as it would be while camping out in the beautiful wilderness

Haha agreed