Visions of Southie Quotes in Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devil's Deal

This is our introduction to Southie and, well, it doesn't exactly fill us with good feels. According to Black Mass, however, residents are only freaking out because the feds are forcing integration on the city. There might be some truth to that, but given Southie natives' feelings towards outsiders, that can't be the whole story.

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.

Remember how we said that residents of Southie tend to stick around? Whitey Bulger is no exception. The fact that Whitey sticks so close to his roots would almost be admirable if he wasn't, you know, a mass murderer.

The Bulger brothers become so powerful that they define South Boston. Billy protects Southie in the senate; Whitey protects Southie in the streets. Of course, this isn't entirely accurate, but it becomes a key piece of neighborhood's DNA.

Despite the widespread stories of Whitey doing good for the people of Southie, the sad truth is that he's inflicted untold damage on the city he claims to love. He's murdered its residents. He's extorted its businesses. He's flooded the streets with drugs, creating hordes of addicts overnight. So Whitey is no hero to Southie at all—he's its villain.

Whitey knows that he's inflicted damage on Southie, but he's exceptionally skilled at covering his tracks. He also makes it a point to lend help to the residents of Southie when they least expect it, thereby keeping them hooked on him like a drug—sort of like the drugs that have decimated the neighborhood, brought in by Bulger himself.

So how does Whitey's reign of terror last so long? Remember, Southie is defined by its opposition to outsiders. For a Southie, Whitey is one of them, while the FBI, DEA, and Justice Department are just another group of feds trying to change the Southie way of life.