Billy Johnson

Trooper Billy Johnson

This is Massachusetts State Trooper Billy Johnson, holding a copy of the incident report that ended his career, because it concerned Whitey Bulger. In 1987, Whitey was already planning for his flight, taking money out of the country and stashing it in safe-deposit boxes. He was flying to Montreal with his girlfriend Theresa Stanley….
Theresa Stanley
… but there was a small problem. At the international terminal at Logan Airport, a bag screener noticed the blocks of currency and called over a security guard. Whitey grabbed the bag and yelled “Kevin!” to a man standing nearby and then threw him the bag. Kevin escaped, and a state cop was called – Billy Johnson, a decorated Vietnam vet. He and Whitey quickly got into it, especially after the trooper found just over $9,000 cash in one of Theresa Stanley’s bags – just under the federal limit. After enduring several expletive-filled rants from Whitey, Johnson decided to let him go. But he wrote a report, which came to the attention of the coatholder of Gov. Mike Dukakis who ran the airport.
Dave Davis appeared at the barracks and demanded the report. Johnson refused to hand it over without a receipt, which Davis allegedly refused to give him. Davis left quickly, without the report, and Johnson was soon transferred to a much less desirable job. He became depressed, quit the job and eventually killed himself. Davis went on to a job in New Jersey, and when Billy Bulger testified before Congress in 2003, Davis provided a letter saying it wasn’t Whitey’s brother who had ordered him to go over and take possession of the report that would have embarrassed Whitey. Davis, however, did not say who told him to pick it up.