Thug Says He Had Howie in his Gun Sights

Ralph Ranalli writes in today's Boston Globe about a chilling story to be told on 60 Minutes this Sunday.

"A former top lieutenant to South Boston crime boss James ''Whitey" Bulger said he had Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr in the sights of a high-powered rifle but didn't shoot because Carr came out of his house hand-in-hand with his young daughter.

''I was down at his house . . . about 5:30 in the morning, across the street in a cemetery with a rifle, waiting for him to come out," Bulger henchman Kevin Weeks told the television show ''60 Minutes" in an interview. ''And he come [sic] out . . . between 7:15, 7:30, and he had his daughter with him."

''I assume it was his daughter, young girl," Weeks told correspondent Ed Bradley, according to a press release issued by CBS yesterday. ''He was holding her by the hand, going to his car. So I had to pass on it. I didn't want to kill him in front of his daughter."

Carr acknowledged living across the street from a cemetery in Acton and allowed that Weeks could have been there. He told the news program, though, that he believes Weeks probably lacked the fortitude to go through with the crime.

''It doesn't seem like Kevin would have the stones to do it," he told Bradley. ''If he said Whitey was there, well, you wouldn't be interviewing me, because I'd be dead."