YOU ARE HERE: LAT HomeCollectionsOpinion  Tim Rutten: Whitey
Bulger and the lure of those on the lam   There's something
about the fugitive experience that makes us momentarily regret
the criminal's capture.  June 25, 2011|Tim Rutten  I'm sure I'm
not the only person who entertained a momentary twinge of regret
Wednesday night when I heard that James (Whitey) Bulger, the
legendary South Boston gangster, had been apprehended after 16
years on the run. There's something about the fugitive
experience that holds our lawless imaginations in thrall, and
with a capture of this sort, a dim candle gutters out somewhere
in our private romantic firmaments.  It's a momentary experience
for the sensible and the moderately mature, because there's
absolutely nothing about Whitey Bulger even vaguely romantic or
slightly sympathetic. Murder for hire, loan sharking and
extortion were the pillars of his career. There's nothing clever
or amusing about those lines of work; they're up-close-and-
personal sorts of crimes that attrac