67
Throughout Bulger’s prosecution,
Pirozzolo struggled with the moral im-
plications of events, including an auction
of Bulger’s possessions intended to raise
money for the victims. He worried the
reparative intention of the auction might
be overshadowed by Bulger’s celebrity.
“This was not a person to be glorified,”
Pirozzolo says of Bulger. “It’s difficult to
understand the brutality of the crimes if
you don’t see the consequences. Obvi-
ously, there is the horror of the physical
violence, but there is also the very real
and very painful emotional harm to those
who lost loved ones at the hands of Mr.
Bulger and his crew.”
One victim’s son told Pirozzolo that all
the attention on Bulger just opened painful
wounds. “He was grateful that Mr. Bulger
finally had to answer for his crimes,” Piro-
zzolo said, “but, once the trial was over,
he wanted nothing more than to have him
fade into oblivion.”
A few months before a federal jury
found Bulger guilty of 11 murders and 31
counts of racketeering, extortion, money
laundering, and weapons possession, a pair
of backpack bombs shook the finish line
of the April 15, 2013, Boston Marathon,
killing three and injuring hundreds. The
U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston worked
with law enforcement to set up a com-
mand post and a manhunt ensued, which
eventually led to the apprehension of bro-
thers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Over the course of that week, First Assist-
ant U.S. Attorney Pirozzolo slept for a
total of 11 hours.
“I’ve never been through anything
like that week,” says Pirozzolo, who
recently returned to private practice
in Boston. “The whole world was watch-
ing. I’ve been fortunate in my career to
be involved in some publicly significant
cases, but the reality is I’ve never lived
my career to seek those out. Truthfully,
some of the most satisfying cases I’ve
been involved in have never seen the
light of day. The public might not care,
although the people involved care a lot.”
“
It’s difficult
to understand
the brutality of
the crimes if you
don’t see the
consequences.
”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Pirozzolo ’83 (center) after addressing the media at a news conference in Boston.
Photo: Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe
