Notorious Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger died from blunt force injuries to his head when he was attacked in prison nearly six months ago, his death certificate says.
The official document was released Thursday, showing that he was pronounced dead at 8:21 a.m. on Oct. 30, 2018, just minutes after he was attacked inside his cell at U.S. Penitentiary Hazleton in West Virginia. His death was officially listed as a homicide.
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As previously reported, four inmates entered Bulger’s cell, where he was sitting in a wheelchair, and beat him with a lock inside a sock. They also reportedly attempted to gouge his eyes out with a shiv and tried to cut out his tongue. His killers also reportedly wrapped him in a blanket to try to conceal the attack.
The attack was not caught on video, as the attackers reportedly moved 89-year-old Bulger, who was the boss of South Boston’s White Hill Gang from the 1970s into the ’90s, into a corner where surveillance cameras could not reach. Prison sources told TMZ that officials believe the killing was related to mafia retaliation, as Bulger had been an informant for law enforcement, turning over key information on his past cronies.
Before Bulger was imprisoned, he lived as a fugitive for 16 years, topping the FBI’s most-wanted list before he was found living in Santa Monica in 2011. Two years later, he was convicted on a life sentence for 11 murders, extortion and racketeering schemes that authorities said earned him more than $25 million. Bulger’s longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig, is also behind bars for helping him.
He had been transferred to the high-security prison just a day before he was killed. No one has yet been charged in his death, but a potential suspect is Fotios “Freddy” Geas, a Massachusetts hitman who reportedly is known for his disdain for “rats.”
Geas, 51, has been serving a life sentence at the Hazleton penitentiary since at least 2015, according to MassLive.com. He was among those convicted of the 2003 murders of Springfield mafia boss Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno and low-level associate Gary Westerman.
Geas’ lawyer, Daniel D. Kelly, told MassLive.com that Geas has an open hatred for informants for the government.
“Freddy is a dying breed,” said Kelly, who maintains a friendship with the former hitman. “He has a great disdain for informants. I’m not saying Freddy did this just because the media says so, I’m just telling you what I know about him.”
