By
the CNN Wire Staff, CNN
June 23, 2011 8:36 a.m. EDT
'Whitey' Bulger captured in California.
Los Angeles (CNN) -- Organized crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger, once one of the most powerful mobsters in the nation, has been captured after 16 years on the run.
One of the FBI's Top 10 most wanted fugitives and the inspiration for the 2006 Martin Scorsese film, "The Departed," Bulger -- once head of Boston's Winter Hill Gang -- was sought in connection with 19 slayings and a slew of other alleged crimes.
He was arrested Wednesday at a Santa Monica, California, home along with his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Elizabeth Greig, who was also wanted for harboring him.
Bulger was an FBI informant before he fled in 1995 after being tipped off by an FBI agent about an impending racketeering indictment. The agent was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his involvement.
The 81-year-old -- known to alter his appearance through disguises -- was "considered armed and extremely dangerous," according to the FBI. "He has a violent temper and is known to carry a knife at all times," the FBI said in an official description of him.
The FBI offered a $2 million reward for information leading directly to his arrest.
"He's definitely a legend back there," Jimmy LeBlanc, who now lives in California and used to live in Boston, told CNN affiliate KABC. "You've heard all the stories, things he's done, corruption and all that. A lot of people said, 'Oh he's dead,' or maybe they don't want to see him get caught. He might take down the whole FBI if he starts talking."
Bulger's brother, former president of the state Senate William M. Bulger, had little to say Thursday morning when a Boston Glober reporter approached him at his South Boston home.
"No comment," said William Bulger, who answered the door in his T-shirt, the Globe reported. Told by the reporter that his brother had been arrested, Bulger said, "Thank you."
Authorities credit a new publicity campaign for the tips that led them to the fugitives.
On Tuesday, the FBI began airing a 30-second public service announcement, buying about 350 spots in 14 U.S. cities.
The ad focused on Grieg, 60, and targeted female viewers around the same age. It described her as loving dogs and other animals and frequenting beauty salons. it said she had worked as a dental hygienist, likes to maintain her teeth, and has had multiple plastic surgeries.
Bulger was sought "for his role in numerous murders committed from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s in connection with his leadership of an organized crime group that allegedly controlled extortion, drug deals, and other illegal activities in the Boston, Massachusetts, area," his FBI description said.
An "avid reader with an interest in history," he was known to frequent libraries and historic sites, the FBI said.
Bulger has been in hiding since 1995. The FBI put him on its Most Wanted list in 1999 and had a special task force devoted to his capture.
He will make his first court appearance Thursday, the FBI said.
Bulger is charged with 19 counts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, extortion, narcotics distribution and money laundering charges, the FBI said.
Before the arrest, the last confirmed sighting of Bulger and Grieg was in London in 2002.