Infamous Boston gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger has been found dead in a US federal prison in West Virginia. The 89-year-old was discovered unresponsive at the maximum security facility shortly after being transferred there from a Florida jail. A prison union official told the Associated Press that the death was being investigated as a homicide.
Bulger, convicted in 2013 of 11 murders, was severely beaten by one or more inmates shortly after arriving at the Hazelton penitentiary, law enforcement sources told CBS. An inmate with mafia ties is under investigation for the killing, according to the Boston Globe. Bulger was killed hours after being admitted to the general population, local media reported.
Bulger's life inspired several films, including 'Black Mass' starring Johnny Depp and 'The Departed', which won the Academy Award for best picture in 2007. He was captured in California in 2011 after a 16-year manhunt. The Bureau of Prisons declined to comment on why he was moved from Florida, where he had been transferred in 2014 after a relationship with a female psychologist attracted attention.
A local union official for correctional workers said this was the third homicide in seven months at the facility, which is understaffed by about 40 officers. The Department of Corrections confirmed his death and said the FBI had launched an investigation. No staff or other inmates were injured, and the public was not in danger.
US Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew Lelling said: 'Our thoughts are with his victims and their families.' Bulger was born in 1929 in Boston, became involved with gangs as a young man, and eventually masterminded a criminal empire of loan sharking, gambling, extortion, drug dealing and murder. He was sent to Alcatraz and later went on the run in 1995 after being tipped off by an FBI agent.
