Boston mob boss ‘Whitey’ Bulger dies in West Virginia prison at 89
Notorious Boston mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger was murdered Tuesday inside a West Virginia federal prison, with a Mafia-linked inmate reportedly suspected in the slaying.
The Boston Globe reported the alleged mob hit on Bulger and the detail on the suspect as federal officials confirmed the death of the onetime organized crime kingpin. The 89-year-old Irish-American gangster was only transferred one day earlier to the high-security prison in Hazelton, W.Va.
“At approximately 8:20 a.m., inmate James Bulger was found unresponsive,” read a brief statement from the Federal Bureau of Prisons. “Life-saving measures were initiated immediately by responding staff. Mr. Bulger was subsequently pronounced dead by the Preston County Medical Examiner. The Federal Bureau of Investigation was notified and an investigation has been initiated.”
No other details were provided surrounding his sudden, violent demise. Bulger, previously held in Florida, was convicted of 11 murders himself during his bloody reign as crime boss in his hometown of Boston.
Hazelton is home to about 1,300 inmates.
The lingering animosity between Bulger and New England’s Italian organized crime operations stems from his former positions as both head of Boston’s powerful Irish mob, the Winter Hill Gang, and his simultaneous work as informant for a local FBI agent. Most of his tips steered investigators toward the Italians, clearing the way for Bulger’s group to grab hold of the city’s illegal operations from gambling to drugs.
The corrupt relationship between the fed and the felon became the movie “Black Mass,” with Johnny Depp playing Bulger. The feds, in return for Bulger’s inside information, turned a blind eye to the brutal boss’s criminal activities.
He bolted Boston in 1995 after a warning from Agent John Connolly, who wound up behind bars over his crooked relationship with the gangster.
Bulger spent 16 years on the FBI’s Most Wanted list after going on the lam, fleeing his hometown as the feds closed in. He was busted in 2011 in California and convicted two years later for an assortment of crimes including the homicides.