Three men were charged in the 2018 murder of Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger.
Two fellow inmates in the Hazelton prison, where Bulger, 89, was slain, were charged with murder, while a third former inmate was charged with conspiring with the pair to commit the murder, according to the Boston Globe. Bulger’s attorney and family called the charges “inconsequential,” as they believe it was the government that killed him.
“Unless there’s a name or names of Justice Department officials and Bureau of Prisons officials who are responsible for his death, then it’s inconsequential,” attorney Hank Brennan said of the indictment. “It was death by proxy. The mechanism used to murder him was really irrelevant. It’s the persons who allowed it to happen that need accountability most.”
‘WHITEY’ BULGER’S SUSPECTED KILLERS TRIED TO GOUGE HIS EYES OUT, CUT HIS TONGUE OFF: REPORT
Steve Davis, brother of Debra Davis, one of Bulger’s murder victims, praised the men accused of killing Bulger.
“I’d kiss his hand like he was the godfather. I’m going to send him a $500 canteen gift,” he said of one of the men.
Bulger’s family has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Bureau of Prisons alleging the mobster “was subjected to a risk of certain death or serious bodily injury by the intentional or deliberately indifferent actions” by prison officials. Though the suit was dismissed by a federal judge in January, a federal appeals court is deciding on an appeal from the family. Bulger was the third murder victim in the course of six months in the prison, nicknamed “Misery Mountain,” according to the Associated Press.
Bulger was one of the most famous gangsters in U.S. history, using his connection with his childhood friend and FBI agent, John Connolly, to take over Boston’s lucrative drug trade. The FBI used Bulger to take out Boston’s Italian mafia but in turn propelled him to become the most powerful crime lord in Boston, resulting in the biggest informant scandal in FBI history, according to Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devil’s Deal.
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The gangster was sentenced to life in prison in 2013 for killing 11 people during his time running the Irish mob in Boston from the 1970s to the 1990s. Due to his position as a former informant and frequent health problems, Bulger was kept in protective custody for most of his tenure. However, in 2018, he was inexplicably transferred to Hazelton prison. Within 12 hours of his arrival, the wheelchair-bound inmate was beaten to death by Fotios “Freddy” Geas, 55, and Paul DeCologero, 48, with a padlock stuffed in a sock. The killers also tried to gauge his eyes out and cut his tongue off with a shiv.
