Whitey Bulger died on October 30, 2018, bringing us all a spate of stories reminding us of his notoriety, five years after his conviction, just as he had begun to be forgotten -- as the passage of time had consigned him to the role of just another nameless inmate in vastness of the US prison system. Bulger's case is worth remembering, because it may remind us how regularly government is the cause or at the very least the partner of the woes from which it poses as our protector. Bulger, the brother of the influential Massachusetts politico William Bulger (who was at his own career peak President of the state Senate), became notorious as the head of the feared Winter Hill Gang in Boston through the '80s. How did he become that? Because in February 1979 federal prosecutors indicted various members of that Gang, including its boss Howie Winter, having noticed that they were fixing horse races. Bulger and his bud Stephen Flemmi were originally going to be named in the indictme...