Is This Whitey Bulger?

In this image released by the FBI on Friday, Sept. 14, 2007 a man and a woman are shown in Taormina, Italy, in April 10, 2007. The FBI said their identities are inconclusive, but they resemble fugitive gangster and former FBI informant James 'Whitey' Bulger, now 77, and his longtime girlfriend Catherine Greig, 56. Bulger, the former leader of the notorious Winter Hill Gang, fled just before he was indicted on racketeering charges in 1995. He is charged in 19 murders and is on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list. Authorities have received hundreds of tips about possible Bulger sightings in more than a dozen countries, but many of the sightings have turned out to be Bulger lookalikes. (AP Photo/FBI)

Rumor has had it he fled to Ireland, but it appears notorious Boston gangster Whitey Bulger may have been spotted in Italy.

BOSTON - The gait is similar. So are the hand mannerisms. The sunglasses and baseball cap look right, too. But is it on-the-run gangster James "Whitey" Bulger?

The FBI released a photograph and a video Friday that show a couple bearing a strong resemblance to Bulger, one of the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" fugitives, and his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig.

The brief video, taken in Italy in April, shows a couple window-shopping in Taormina, a city on the island of Sicily.

U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan said a person observed a couple believed to be the fugitive and his girlfriend and videotaped them. But Sullivan's office and the FBI said they have not been able to positively identify them.

Gail Marcinkiewicz, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Boston office, said three different facial recognition consultants were unable to determine if the images were of Bulger and Greig.

Still, the FBI said the man in the images resembles Bulger in several ways, including the way he walks, the way he holds his hands and the neat way he's dressed — in crisp khaki pants and a sweater.

Bulger has traveled to Italy in the past, including a stop in Venice during a trip to Europe he made in 1994 — the year before he fled Boston — the FBI said.

"Those kinds of things make us say, you know, we have to take a hard look," Marcinkiewicz said.

The FBI would not identify the source of the video. The Boston Globe, citing unidentified law enforcement sources, reported an agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration took the video while vacationing in Italy.

Bulger, the former leader of the notorious Winter Hill Gang, is charged in 19 murders.

He also was an FBI informant. Authorities say he fled in 1995 after his FBI handler tipped him off that he was about to be indicted on racketeering charges. That former agent, John J. Connolly, Jr., is serving a 10-year prison sentence.

Bulger apparently planned for life on the run by leaving cash in safe deposit boxes around the world, including Florida, Ireland, England and Canada, authorities said.

FBI video here and most wanted poster here. Compare the middle photo with the one above, and it does appear to be him.

Boston Globe item here.

His brother, by the way, is a longtime prominent Democrat in Massachusetts.