BOSTON (AP) - Law enforcement officials, acting on a tip from an associate of a reputed mobster, dug up a city beach Wednesday and found human bones, according to published reports.
The discovery was made as officials in an organized crime investigation searched for the remains of one or more murder victims at Tenean Beach, in the city's Dorchester neighborhood.
State Police Major Thomas Foley also indicated in a Wednesday afternoon news conference the search had been, at least partly, successful.
"We have evidence that we were seeking," he said. He didn't elaborate further.
Officials would not say whose bodies they were seeking or who might be accused of killing them. They had no comment when asked if the bodies being sought were those of victims of the alleged criminal empire of reputed mobster James "Whitey" Bulger.
Thursday editions of the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald, citing unnamed sources familiar with the investigation, said officials were tipped off by an associate of Bulger.
Foley described the beach site as "similar" to another site in Boston where three alleged victims of Bulger's organization were dug up earlier this year.
Police began digging up a portion of Tenean Beach at about 7 a.m. Wednesday. The site was about 50 feet from the Southeast Expressway and about 20 feet from the water's edge.
The area was cordoned off with police tape. Reporters were kept at a distance and a tent was erected, shielding from view the police activity. By late afternoon, lights were being brought in to illuminate the site.
Foley said the search on the beach would continue for at least another day.
U.S. Attorney Donald Stern issued a statement, saying, "We have received information concerning the unrecovered remains of one or more murder victims. ... If and when we are in a position to provide any further information, we will do so."
Federal prosecutors who were at the beach site have been handling cases against members of the organization that was allegedly once headed by Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi.
Flemmi is also a suspect in the 1981 disappearance of his live-in girlfriend Debra Davis, who is presumed dead. On Wednesday, Davis' brother and a friend of hers showed up at the beach, trying to find out if her body might found there.
"I was hoping it wouldn't come to this for her," the friend told television reporters.
In January, Kevin Weeks, a former top lieutenant in the gang, led investigators to the buried bodies of three murder victims. The site was also in the Dorchester neighborhood. He admitted involvement in those murders and two others in a plea agreement in July. In exchange for cooperating with authorities, he is expected to seek a reduced sentence.
The murders were all allegedly committed by the Bulger gang. Bulger remains a fugitive, while Flemmi has been in prison since 1995, awaiting trial.