BOSTON — A cold case murder over angel dust in Southie has resulted in the arrest of a 61-year-old in a slaying tied to serial killer James “Whitey” Bulger.
Michael Lewis was arrested in South Boston by Boston Police on Friday. He will be arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court on Tuesday for first-degree murder. He is charged with shooting Brian Watson, 23, in July 1984. Lewis was 24 at the time of the murder.
“This was a true team effort to help indict and charge a homicide that hearkens back to a very different Boston. Brian Watson was a young father cut down seemingly on a whim. A remarkably cold-blooded whim,” Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden said.
Watson’s decomposed body was found almost four decades ago along Interstate 93 in Manchester, New Hampshire. He was eventually identified through dental records.
Watson was last seen alive on July 16 or 17 of 1984. His mother filed a missing person report with Boston Police on July 28, 1984.
Authorities said Friday night that Watson was shot and killed in South Boston while two suspects lured him into a car while trying to tie another man to dealing angel dust in the city. The hallucinogenic drug — also know as PCP — was popular at the time.
The DA said the murder was tied to Bulger because the mobster wanted a cut of any sale of angel dust in Southie.
Prosecutors allege that Lewis and another man, both of whom were involved in the South Boston drug trade, were driving on July 16 or 17 in South Boston in search of another drug dealer.
Their purpose was to stop that dealer from operating in South Boston, the DA said. The second man was angry at the dealer because the dealer had told Bulger and Bulger muscle Kevin Weeks that he, the second man, was dealing angel dust in South Boston. As a result, Bulger demanded $5,000 immediately from the second man, followed by $1,000 a week.
A grand jury on Friday returned a first-degree murder indictment against Lewis.
“We hope that this significant development brings Brian Watson’s loved ones one step closer to justice and closure,” said New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella. “We cannot say enough about how grateful we are to have such strong regional law enforcement partnerships, from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office and Boston Police Department, to our New Hampshire State Police and Manchester Police Department.”
Information developed through the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston provided a significant break in the case in 2009, but still not enough to secure an indictment.
Further information developed by investigators this year provided sufficient evidence to move forward with Friday’s indictment of Lewis, the DA’s office said.
A wheelchair-bound Bulger was brutally murdered — his eyes gouged out — in a West Virginia prison in October 2018. He was 89 years old and his kin, including former UMass and Senate president William “Billy” Bulger, are suing the federal prison system for $200 million.
Weeks was released from federal prison in early 2005. His exploits running with Bulger have been turned into books over the years.
