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James 'Whitey' Bulger's brother is still living on the gangster's 'death row' – the area of Boston that was ground zero for his reign of terror.

Today Billy Bulger, portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch in new Bulger biopic Black Mass, lives in the heart of South Boston - or Southie.

His family home is next door to the spot where one of Whitey's victims was last seen alive and just yards from the house where Bulger buried the bodies of at least three of his victims.

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My brother's keeper: William 'Billy' Bulger (left) and James 'Whitey' Bulger were inextricably linked. One observer said that what Whitey did with the gun, his politician brother did with the 'gavel'. Billy was seen at a memorial service for a former Massachusetts governor two years ago; his brother is seen behind bars

Bond of brothers: Benedict Cumberbatch plays Billy Bulger (left) and Johnny Depp portrays Whitey Bulger (right) in Black Mass.

Mired in the geography of his brother's violent past, Billy continues to draw an astonishing $197,000 state pension and maintains he knew nothing of his brother's career of drug trafficking, extortion and murder.

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Today East 3rd Street is a quiet residential street in the middle of an increasingly gentrified area of the city and father of nine, Billy, 81, lives a low-key life with his wife, Mary, 80.

It is a tight knit community where neighbors watch out for one another and the daily comings and goings of the street are a matter of note and comment.

Decades ago, it was the scene of unimaginable violence and for years Billy has lived within sight of the house Bulger once referred to as 'The Haunty' - and the place where Stephen Flemmi's step-daughter, Deborah Hussey, was brutally murdered.

Flemmi had been molesting Deborah, 26, – the daughter of his partner, Marion – since she was a teen and she had fallen into drug addiction and prostitution. 

Bulger, worried that she knew too much and couldn't be trusted not to talk, lured her to 799 East 3rd Street – then vacant – on the promise of setting her up there.

Too close for comfort: The South Boston home where Billy Bulger lives (right) is directly beside that where Debra Davies was last seen alive (left)

Victim next door: Debra Davies was strangled, aged, 26. Her family say that Whitey Bulger was culpable. She was last seen next door to the home of Billy Bulger, the mob lord's politician brother

Instead, in a scene played with chilling relish by Johnny Depp who stars as Bulger in the movie, he strangled Hussey in cold blood then ordered Flemmi to dispose of the body – Flemmi pulled out her teeth to hamper identification by law enforcement and buried her in the dirt basement.

Another of Flemmi's girlfriends, Debra Davis, 26, met a similar fate. She was also strangled and buried after her teeth had been removed.

She was last seen alive at Flemmi's mother's house – next door to Billy Bulger's home. Billy's front door, just steps away from his nearest neighbor, faces the front door through which Debra Davis was last seen walking.

Whitey was never convicted of Davis's murder though her family maintain he is culpable. 

Flemmi himself has claimed that the mob boss was the killer as he could not bring himself to strangle the beautiful blonde who was threatening to leave him and who, in Whitey's eyes, simply knew too much.  

Also too close for comfort: Less than a block from where Billy Bulger lives now in quiet retirement, three of his brother's victims were buried in the basement of this now respectable home which White called 'The Haunty'

Buried nearby: Deborah Hussey was one of three people whose remains were concealed in the basement of a house just a block away from Billy Bulger's home.

Victims: The two men buried in the basement close to where Billy Bulger lives still were (left) Arthur 'Bucky' Barrett, a safecracker and thief, and (right) John McIntyre, a small-time criminal Whitey thought was snitching

Southie: Now rapidly gentrifying, South Boston was home to the gangster culture which Whitey Bulger took to its ultimate conclusion with a reign of violence - and it was also home to the votes which his brother used to take himself to the top of the Democratic party in Massachusetts

Speaking to Daily Mail Online Marion Hussey, 75, mother of victim Deborah and partner of Stephen Flemmi said: 'I have not seen the movie and I won't go to see it.' 

Asked if she had been consulted in the making of the movie or had any interest in it she said simply, 'No.'

The scenes of her daughter's murder are among the most gruesome of the feature film. Bulger's other victims, buried in the dirt basement of number 799, were Arthur 'Bucky' Barrett and John McIntyre.

Barrett was a safecracker and thief who Bulger wanted to shake down for money but believed had protection from the mafia.

He was lured to South Boston home on the pretext of selling diamonds. According to enforcer Kevin Weeks who testified at Bulger's trial against him Flemmi chained Barrett to a chair and interrogated him about the whereabouts of his cash.

The pair took $47,000 from Barrett's house and another $10,000 from a bar. Afterwards Bulger made Barrett walk down the stairs to the basement – his grave – and shot him in the back of the head.

Family home: Billy Bulger lives with his wife Mary (pictured) in the home which  faces the front door through which Debra Davis was last seen walking. Whitey was never convicted of Davis's murder.

Defiant: Billy Bulger took the Fifth Amendment to avoid testifying to the Senate on what he knew of his brother and then got an immunity deal. He kept his pension, almost $200,000 a year, and lives beside his brother's most grisly scenes

Implicated: Stephen Flemmi's step-daughter, Deborah Hussey was buried in the basement. Flemmi (left) had been molesting Deborah, 26, – the daughter of his partner, Marion – since she was a teen and she had fallen into drug addiction and prostitution. Whitey feared she knew too much and strangled her in cold blood. FBI tape caught them consorting (right)

Evidence: FBI file phots showed James J 'Whitey' Bulger over the years. At the same time as he was running a gangster regime of terror, his brother was rising through the political ranks.

John McIntyre was killed the following year when Whitey heard that the small-time criminal might have been informing on drug trafficking and a thwarted attempt to smuggle guns to the IRA in Ireland. He was lured to the house on the promise of a party and strangled. 

At the time of the killings the Bulger brothers were the two most powerful men in Massachusetts.

Whitey Bulger operated outside the system, rising through the criminal ranks to become leader of the Winter Hill Mob and one of the most wanted men in America before his capture in June 2011 and subsequent imprisonment on 11 counts of murder and multiple charges of racketeering.

His younger brother William operated inside it. A star student who read Greek and Latin he was nicknamed 'the Beam' as a child for his habit of reading late into the night by his desk lamp.

He rose from lawyer to member, then President of the Massachusetts senate – a role he held for a record 18 years – and was ultimately President of the University of Massachusetts.

By the time Billy was elected to Senate in 1960, Whitey was already in Alcatraz for robbery. 

According to one political opponent 'what Whitey did with a gun, Billy did with a gavel.'

In the days when the Winter Hill Gang ruled Southie it was a poor, working class area of Irish immigrants, fiercely territorial and notoriously suspicious of outsiders.

Wanted: An FBI image of Whitey Bulger released while he was on the run. His brother testified - after he had immunity - that he would not have given him up. Federal prosecutors released this image of Whitey's arsenal

Scofflaw: Whitey Bulger reached London while wanted by the FBI, traveling with his companion Catherine Greig. She has been charged with refusing to testify about whether he was helped while on the lam

It was said that there were three paths for Southie boys to take in life – to become a cop, a criminal or a politician. Between them corrupt FBI agent and Whitey's handler, John Connolly, Whitey Bulger and Billy – all of whom grew up in Southie – fulfilled the aphorism on all counts.

Yet Billy gave up his political career, his reputation and his legacy for his refusal to give up his brother.

He refused to meet the FBI when Whitey went on the lam in 1995, tipped off about his imminent arrest by his corrupt FBI 'handler' John Connolly, and told a grand jury that he hoped he would never do anything that would lead to his brother's capture.

In 2002 he took the Fifth Amendment before a congressional committee investigating his brother's corrupt relationship with the FBI for whom Whitey was a 'top echelon informant' or rat.

After being given immunity in 2003 he testified before Congress that he did not know that his brother was involved in murder or narcotics trafficking and even claimed to have never heard of the Winter Hill Gang.

All the while he was living right next door to a house where Whitey and his gang met, hatched plots, stole an arsenal of weapons and even committed a murder.

Until recently Billy's next door neighbor was Stephen Hussey and his wife, Katherine. Hussey is the son of henchman Stephen Flemmi's partner, Marion, and brother of murder victim, Deborah, underlining just how incestuously close the neighborhood and the two Bulgers's circles remain. 

And recently Kevin Weeks, one of Whitey's enforcers, revealed that he had been 'at Billy Bulger's house over 100 times with Jimmy.'

Writing in The Daily Beast he stated: 'There's no doubt in my mind that Billy knew Jimmy was involved in the rackets, but as far as the murders, if Billy did hear something about that then I bet he'd choose not to believe it, because he's a very religious man.'

All about Southie: Kevn Weeks, the leader of the Winter Hill gang (left) said he had been in Billy Bulger's home repeatedly, while John Connolly, the FBI agent (right) who tipped off Whitey about being wanted was a child in the area

Portrayal: johnny Depp plays Whitey Bulger in Black Mass. The film is performing strongly at the box office

Whatever Billy knew or chose to believe his apparent stonewalling, and the revelation that he had spoken with Whitey during his time on the lam and failed to inform the FBI, saw him forced to resign from his position as President of the University of Massachusetts after an eight year tenure, but not before negotiating an astonishing $960,000 settlement.

That came on top of the ample state pension he was already in line to receive thanks to his $309,000 annual salary at the university.

Writing at the time, Boston Globe columnist Scot Lehigh said: 'Faced with a moral dilemma William repeatedly made the wrong choice, putting loyalty to his felonious brother over responsibility to his neighborhood, his constituents, or the larger public community whose university he led.'

As for Whitey, his own loyalty to his younger brother endures, writing recently to three high school students who wrote to him in jail he stated: 'My life was wasted and spent foolishly, brought shame and suffering on my parents and siblings and will end soon.' 

Reflecting on his brother and on the different path he chose he called Billy simply 'A Better Man than I.'

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