James “Whitey” Bulger was a notorious Irish-American crime boss who was murdered in a maximum security prison in 2018
WARNER BROS
)
Infamous Boston mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger, who lived a life of crime, met a gruesome end at the age of 89 when he was brutally murdered in a high-security prison.
The Irish-American gangster and FBI informant was beaten to death with a padlock stuffed in a sock on 30 October 2018. The attack was so brutal his eyes were nearly gouged out and his tongue was mutilated, leaving him barely recognisable.
According to The Sun, the inmates who killed Bulger cunningly moved out of CCTV’s view. Despite their efforts, the cameras still caught several of them pouncing on Bulger before shoving his wheelchair into a corner.
A source close to the murder investigation told the New York Times: “They apparently tuned him up to the point where he was unrecognisable.”
Bulger’s murder was reportedly due to his betrayal of other criminals. As the leader of Boston’s Winter Hill gang, Bulger had committed the ultimate sin in the criminal world – he had ‘ratted’ on his fellow lawbreakers, reports the Mirror US.
The attack occurred after Bulger was transferred to the US Penitentiary Hazelton in West Virginia.
Nearly half a century earlier, Bulger had become an FBI informant in 1975, striking a deal with agent John Connolly. Connolly and Bulger were neighbours in the Old Harbor Housing project in Boston when the future FBI agent was just a child.
The Bulger brothers had a significant influence on the young Connolly, leading to a lifelong relationship and the compromise of the FBI agent’s integrity. Connolly’s deal allowed Bulger free rein to commit crimes, as long as he kept Connolly informed about the criminal underworld.
Bulger, a notorious Boston criminal, managed to evade law enforcement for decades due to his connection with Connolly and his brother, politician Billy Bulger, who was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Bulger reportedly provided information about the inner workings of the Patriarca crime family to the Bureau, which ultimately led to their downfall.
FBI agent Joseph Pistone, famous for his role in Donnie Brasco, wrote in his book, The Ceremony: The Mafia Initiation Tapes: “The reign of the Patriarca Family is virtually ended. A substantial amount of the credit for the demise of that mob Family must be given to one man, Special Agent John Connolly.”
Johnny Depp played the criminal in a film (Image:
WARNER BROS
)
Some pundits have speculated Bulger may have convinced himself that his relationship with the FBI was a rational “business decision” rather than an act of betrayal. This agreement kept law enforcement at bay from his criminal activities while also providing an effective way to eliminate some of the competition.
When it was discovered that Whitey was a snitch, he was viewed as a walking contradiction and a hypocrite by those who still firmly believed in the code of silence within the criminal underworld. Bulger later went on the run in the mid-1990s where he managed to evade law enforcement for over 15 years before he was finally arrested in 2011 at 81.
In a 2011 interview with Boston’s NECN, Kevin Weeks, one of Bulger’s trusted right-hand men, expressed shock at Bulger’s decision to cooperate after his arrest.
Weeks said: “I don’t understand because he’s not the same as I remember him. I can’t believe he’s so chatty right now. So I don’t know what he’s doing.”
Bulger’s past would eventually catch up with him at the West Virginian prison where 51 year old hit-man Fotios “Freddy” Geas was also being held for his crimes. The lifer is known to “hate rats” and was later found to have played a part in the murder of the former crime boss.
At 8:20am on October 30, Bulger was found dead in his wheelchair inside the prison, a law enforcement official described Bulger as “unrecognisable”. He had been transferred from the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City just a day earlier.
On 18 August 2022, Geas was charged in relation to the brutal killing of Bulger, alongside Paul J. DeCologero and Sean McKinnon.
On 14 May 2024, the Department of Justice confirmed that plea agreements with the trio had been accepted and on 6 September, Geas was handed a 25-year prison sentence for voluntary manslaughter in connection with Bulger’s death.
Ed Davis, the ex-Boston police commissioner, commented on the murder: “I’m not surprised that he got hit, I’m surprised that they let him get hit.”