After being tipped off to a pending indictment, Bulger fled the Boston area and went into hiding in December of 1994. Bulger was listed as a fugitive on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. He was wanted for racketeering (under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)), 19 counts of murder, extortion, money laundering, conspiracy and narcotics distribution.
On June 22, 2011, he was arrested at the apartment he had lived in for fifteen years in Santa Monica, California, along with his girlfriend Catherine Greig. He was 81 years old at the time of his arrest, and supposedly in poor health.
Subsequently, Bulger and Greig were extradited back to Massachusetts. They were brought under heavy guard to the waterfront federal courthouse in Boston, necessitating the closing of part of Boston Harbor. Greig was arraigned in the federal District Court of the First Circuit in Boston on charges of harboring a fugitive and is currently seeking release on bail. Bulger has not sought bail. He remains in custody at the Plymouth County House of Correction in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
