Former Mob boss James Whitey Bulger is itching for his trial date to begin, according to a new book about the Boston crime thug.

“Whitey Bulger: America’s Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt That Brought Him to Justice,” is a new book co-authored by the Boston Globe’s Shelley Murphy and Kevin Cullin.

“He is calling it ‘the big show’ and he says he’s looking forward to it,” Shelley Murphy told WBZ NewsRadio 1030 Tuesday.

Bulger and his longtime girlfriend Catherine Greig were captured in Santa Monica, California in June 2011 after more than 16 years on the run.

“I think what’s really new here is we get a chance to see what Whitey thinks of himself. We talked to people he has been writing to since his capture and I think it’s quite a revelation that he’s determined to try to portray himself as this, sort of, noble patriot who gave to military veterans groups. He really wants to try to sort of change the narrative of what we all know about him.”

The 83-year-old is locked up at Plymouth County Correctional in Massachusetts. He faces 19 murder charges, as well as charges that include extortion, money-laundering and narcotics distribution.

Read More: Whitey Bulger’s racist reaction to President Barack Obama helped lead to his capture

“He writes to his friends that he’s been doing about 100 push-ups a day in his cell to try to keep fit.  He’s certainly mentally very with it, according to his lawyer, and I really hope that he does get to trial, because he says he’s determined to take the stand and tell his side of the story.  So whether people believe it or not is another question, but I think it’s really important that we hear what he has to say,” Murphy said.

Speaking to CBS Kevin Cullen said there is a lot of new information in the book about Bulger’s illustrious career.

“Up until this point, everybody’s told his story for him,” Cullen told CBS This Morning.

“But what he wants more than anything, he wants to refute two points. He says he was never an informant for the FBI and he says he never killed the two women whose murders are among the 19 he’s charged with.”

Cullen said Bolger is aware that he will remain in prison, but that he is eager for his trial to begin.

“He didn’t go out in a blaze of glory in Santa Monica, so he wants to go in a blaze of glory in the courtroom,” Cullen told CBS.

“What’s interesting to me is that as he sits in (the) Plymouth jail waiting for his trial, he apparently is writing to a lot of people and I think he is very anxious to, sort of, define himself,” Murphy told WBZ.

“I don’t think he likes what’s been written about him, what’s being said about him and he is determined to portray himself as this “good” bad guy.”