Few will mourn mobster who armed IRA and boosted its coffers
But last week, the notorious mobster died the way he lived – the apparent victim of a gruesome prison murder.
By the code of the streets, he got what he deserved.
Hundreds of relatives of the dozens of men and even some women who died at the hand of Bulger would agree.
It was for them a fitting end to an extraordinarily violent life.
For decades, the families of Bulger’s victims waited for the justice that had long eluded them.
That pain and suffering for some was now satisfied by his death, sending away their tormentor for life.
But his imprisonment was not just for his victims in the US but also for those he helped kill in the UK, too.
It was no secret that Irish-American Bulger was an IRA sympathiser but his actions went much further than simply agreeing with “the cause”.
For years he was involved in the shipment of arms, ammunition and explosives that were used to kill and maim hundreds of people during the conflict.
One, in September 1984 saw a seven-tonne arsenal comprising of 163 assault rifles, 71,000 rounds of ammunition, a ton of military explosives, and a dozen bulletproof vests.
Weeks later the IRA carried out its most famous bomb attack on the Grand Hotel in Brighton, as they attempted to assassinate then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Although missing their intended target, five people, including MP Sir Anthony Berry, were killed.
It wasn’t only weapons Bulger sent to Ireland but also millions of pounds in support through stolen masterpieces snatched in Boston then shipped to Ireland.
Their value is said to have boosted the IRA’s coffers by as much as £385 million.
Bulger never faced justice for helping the terrorist organisation.
Instead, like some 30 other killings he boasted to friends about carrying out but was never convicted of, he literally got away with murder.
Following his death, it is all too easy to dismiss why it was he was allowed to be killed inside.
To many, it is an unnecessary question as Bulger was such an evil man.
But much like the deaths in prison of Harold Shipman and Fred West, the prison systems failings are the real betrayal of justice.
These days you cannot say hello to someone on the street without surveillance cameras recording your every move, but somehow the 89-year-old sociopath was killed without it being detected.
The screams alone of him being bludgeoned with a lock in a sock, having his eyes gouged out and his tongue cut would surely have alerted guards.
Instead, his bloody body lay undiscovered for hours.
Undoubtedly the world is a better place for Bulger, West and Shipman’s passing but a life incarcerated behind bars, stripped of all freedoms while awaiting their death, is the ultimate in retribution society can give.
He was involved in the shipment of arms, ammunition and explosives used to kill and maim hundreds of people during the conflict