James ‘Whitey’ Bulger – notorious Boston gangster, FBI informant and strangler of women – ‘beaten to death’ in prison at age of 89
- Bulger found dead in his cell a day after being transferred to a US federal prison, triggering a homicide investigation
James “Whitey” Bulger, who lived a double life as one of Boston’s most notorious mobsters and as a secret FBI informant, was found killed within hours of being transferred to a federal prison in West Virginia.
Justin Tarovisky, a prison union official, said the killing was being investigated as a homicide. The Boston Globe, citing three law enforcement sources, said an inmate with mafia ties was being investigated, while The New York Times said Bulger had been beaten to death and two inmates were suspected of involvement.
Bulger’s lawyer, J.W. Carney Jnr said Tuesday that Bulger “was sentenced to life in prison, but as a result of decisions by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, that sentence has been changed to the death penalty”.
Bulger was 89 and serving a sentence of life in prison. He had been transferred to the high-security Hazelton penitentiary in West Virginia Monday and found dead in his cell on Tuesday morning.
The guy is a sociopathic killer … one of the hardest and cruellest individuals that operated in the Boston area. He’s a bad, bad, bad guy
Bulger was convicted in August 2013 of 11 murders, among other charges including racketeering, and sentenced to two consecutive life terms plus five years.