Ex-mob haunt on the market
Southie home tied to ‘Whitey’ Bulger
A South Boston residence steeped in mob nostalgia is up for sale, in a pricey symbol of the neighborhood’s ongoing evolution.
Assessed by the city at $57,900 in 1985, 36 Thomas Park, a deeded threefamily Victorian with roof deck overlooking the city and historic Dorchester Heights, is on the market for $1.4 million.
“The house is spectacular. It’s so special and unique,” the property’s owner, Joan Helfman, told the Herald. “I cry when I go in there. I’m going to miss it so much. Every day I struggle with whether I should sell it.”
Helfman, a 62-year-old freelance writer, said she and her husband William “Billy” Strigler, a beloved community activist who died in January at age 65, bought the property in August 2000 from former Triple O’s Lounge owner Kevin P. O’Neil, an associate of Winter Hill Gang boss James “Whitey” Bulger. Two months later, O’Neil pleaded guilty to racketeering, extortion and money laundering.
Bulger extortion victim Stephen “Stippo” Rakes lived in one of the apartments in the late 1980s, public records show, at the same time Bulger’s disgraced FBI handler John J. Connolly owned a house on Thomas Park just a few doors away.
Rakes, who the couple later befriended, was “very charming,” Helfman said. “He always said he wanted to buy the house when he made his millions.”
The Michigan native said she was “clueless” as to who any of these local legends were when she bought the home 17 years ago.
“All I saw were the views,” Helfman said. “That’s all I cared about. I heard terrible things about South Boston — the busing, the racism. Bulger — that name didn’t mean anything to me.”
Over the years, the couple’s neighbors were more than happy to fill them in on the then-FBI’s Most Wanted fugitive.
And when Helfman and Strigler added a now 10-year-old cockapoo to their family, they named the pooch “Whitey Bulger.”
Best Rate Cleanouts & Estate Sales is holding a public auction of Helfman’s belongings at the house June 9 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
One thing she’s taking with her is the change of heart she’s had about Southie.
“It’s so different now,” Helfman said. “It’s such a sense of the community. To me, South Boston is beaches, and I do love the restaurants.”