By Amanda Walker, US Correspondent
Bulger was born in 1929 in Boston's 'Southie' neighbourhood - an area he went on to dominate.
He was first arrested at the age of 14 when a life of crime and violence was born.
Over the years local folklore portrayed him as a Robin Hood-style figure - dedicated to protecting the area's streets and their residents.
In court a very different picture was painted - the prosecution called Bulger "one of the most vicious, violent and calculating criminals ever to walk the streets of Boston".
They said he made millions of dollars from drug trafficking and extortion of drug dealers, bookmakers and local businesses - committing multiple murders along the way.
Patricia Donahue, along with her three sons, has attended every day of the seven-week trial. She believes Bulger murdered her husband, a family man with no criminal record, because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
In 1982 Michael Donahue was leaving the Pier 4 restaurant in the then-notorious waterfront area with his friend and former gang member, Edward Halleran, who had asked him for a lift home. The prosecution claimed Bulger opened fire on their car, killing them both. Halleran was his target but Donahue lost his life
Patricia said: "How can anybody do the things that he's done?
"The people that he's hurt ... The people that he's killed ... I don't understand that. My children come from a family where there was no violence so now all of a sudden I have to tell them that not only was he killed but he was shot to death."
Bulger lived his later years in Santa Monica Fueling the anger of Patricia and other families, Bulger chose not to testify during the trial but his defence team said he vigorously denied two things; being an informant, or "rat", and killing two women.
People close to the trial said for Bulger it was all about legacy and making sure he was remembered as a "good" bad guy.
He opted to live out his days quietly, hiding from law enforcement in laid back Santa Monica.
But the modest apartment he shared with his wife soon gave up the dark secrets of his past.
Guns, fake IDs and over $800,000 in cash were found hidden in the walls of his small apartment. The jury raised a question over what should be done with that money.
Steve Davis is the brother of Debra Davis, one of the women Bulger was accused of killing.
"He goes away (but) we're still scarred with this," he said.
"You know, these people gonna forget his name three months from now. 'Whitey who? What trial?' But the victims' families, we're scarred. We got to serve a life sentence on this."
Boston author Kevin Cullen has written extensively on the case. He says the FBI giving Bulger immunity is what allowed him to commit his crimes over such a long period.
"What separates him from a John Dillinger or an Al Capone or a John Gotti is that he had the nation's premier law enforcement agency, the FBI, actively assisting him," he said.
"So in some respects, he tops all those guys. He was able to get the FBI to help him kill people.
"The FBI didn't just look the other way because he was their informant. They actively assisted in targeting people. They told him who might be talking about him, who might turn him in to other authorities. And he went out and killed these people."
A 1953 mugshot shows a square-jawed Bulger in the vigour of defiant youth, with lawless decades stretched out ahead of him.
His last photograph in custody, taken two years ago, shows a white-haired bearded old man, with countless vicious crimes behind him, still challenging the camera.
Hollywood stars are clamouring to turn the years that span the two into a movie. But for his victims and their families, this is a reality that has haunted them for decades.
Now they are ready for some peace.
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