This central tenet of the Southie community–"never trust outsiders"—becomes a rallying cry for Bulger and Connolly as they unleash their decades-long reign of terror on Boston. The irony is too much to bear.

To Connolly, Whitey Bulger represents South Boston. Scratch that: Whitey is South Boston. Given this heavy symbolic association, it's no wonder why Connolly fights so fiercely for Bulger. He sees any attack on Whitey as an attack on his community of South Boston. Wow. Freud would've had a field day with this guy.

Whitey isn't the only bigwig Bulger bossing it up in Boston—there's also brother Billy, state senator and grouch extraordinaire. Despite being more "legit" than his big bro, Billy is just as willing to throw his weight around to get what he wants. They call that Bulger style.

For residents of South Boston of Connolly and Bulger's generation, there aren't many opportunities to move up the social ladder. You could either become a cop or a criminal, and even then there's no guarantee you'd make a decent living. No wonder why Connolly and Bulger are so power-hungry.

These days, pretty much everyone wants to leave their hometown as soon as they reach twenty, so it's notable that residents of South Boston tend to stick around. This makes the community even more tightknit than it would be otherwise.

There's only one thing Southies hates more than an outsider: an outsider who wants to change Southie. The nerve. This points to a deep conservative streak that runs through South Boston, one that is perhaps best embodied by Billy Bulger himself.

Given Southie's heavy Irish-American population, it only makes sense that it's a stronghold for the Catholic Church. Southie's conservative streak once again rears its head.

Although Bulger wasn't a particularly cruel kid, he was certainly known to throw hands from time to time. Of course, as we'll see, adult Bulger seems to get a disturbing amount of joy from inflicting pain on other people.

Make no mistake—Bulger isn't some sympathetic criminal who only turns to illegal activity to save his dying wife, or [insert sob story here]. He's a criminal because he loves it. He beats people up because it's fun. No wonder he rises to the rank of mob boss in record time.

Even before he becomes an informant, Bulger is already working all the angles to his own benefit. No wonder John Connolly is no match for him—it's like Conor McGregor having a boxing match with Conan O'Brien.

Bulger is a deeply strategic thinker, so from the moment he makes a deal with the FBI he's already thinking about how he can exploit it for his own benefit. And boy does he. Thanks to the help of FBI agent John Connolly, he grows from being a run-of-the-mill hitman to legit boss.