The Plane Ticket

How do you buy off an FBI agent? It's easy—just buy a plane ticket for his girlfriend-on-the-side. Works like a charm.

Or at least that's the case with John Morris. Although Morris is brought into the Organized Crime Squad to be wet blanket for John Connolly, he quickly becomes a participant in Connolly's shady deal with Whitey Bulger. The only difference between them is that Morris actually feels bad about his involvement.

Though, to be fair, he doesn't feel bad enough to stop.

The next level of Morris' corruption comes when Bulger buys him a plane ticket. And not just any plane ticket—a plane ticket so his secret in-office girlfriend can join him on a business trip. That's soap opera-worthy gossip. This is a sudden, impulsive decision for Morris, but the implication is clear: Bulger and Flemmi "now had Morris in their grip, and he'd come cheap—a plane ticket for an illicit tryst" (2.9.24).

In an added layer of ouch, Morris only needs a side-girlfriend because "at home his marriage was falling apart" (2.7.6). And why is it falling apart, you ask? Because of Bulger. Rebecca Morris hates how her husband has changed since growing close to Bulger, especially given that the gangster regularly drops by for a bite to eat.

Yeesh. Chalk it up to irreconcilable differences.

So that's some pretty brutal irony: Morris probably wouldn't need the plane ticket if he hadn't gotten involved with Bulger in the first place. That's the Bulger two-for-one special.