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By Richard Valdmanis and Scott Malone
BOSTON, July 18 (Reuters) - A former extortion victim who was on the list of witnesses for the trial of James "Whitey" Bulger has been found dead in a nearby suburb, local media reported on Thursday, during the sixth week of the longtime Boston mob boss's trial on charges related to 19 murders.
Steven Rakes, who once owned a South Boston liquor store that prosecutors charge Bulger's "Winter Hill" gang took over in a shakedown, was found dead on Wednesday near a jogging path in Lincoln, Massachusetts, ABC News and the Boston Globe reported.
Lincoln Police and the Massachusetts State Police referred all calls to the Middlesex County District Attorney's office. A spokeswoman for that office did not respond to repeated calls for comment.
Rakes had attended Bulger's trial almost every day. His death came as the jury prepared to hear from one of Bulger's long-time associates, Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi, who is serving a life sentence for his role in many of the murders of which Bulger is accused.
Rakes was on the government's list of witnesses but he had not yet taken the stand.
Bulger, now 83, faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted of charges including racketeering and 19 murders that prosecutors say he committed or ordered in the 1970s and 1980s. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, though his lawyer admitted that Bulger was a drug dealer, extortionist and loan shark, essentially an "organized criminal."
His story inspired the 2006 Academy Award-winning film "The Departed," in which Jack Nicholson played a character loosely based on Bulger. (Editing by David Gregorio)
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