Notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger was found dead at a federal prison in West Virginia Tuesday. The 89-year old recently arrived at the high-security penitentiary USP Hazelton prison where he was serving a life sentence.
The feared former leader of the Winter Hill Gang, Bulger was convicted in 2013 of participating in 11 murders stretching from Massachusetts to Florida to Oklahoma.
He was previously relocated from a Florida prison to a facility in Oklahoma. Though Bulger is known to have medical ailments, it’s not clear why he was moved again.
He spent 16 years as as one of the nation’s most wanted fugitives before he was captured in Santa Monica, California, in 2011. Bulger was arrested with his girlfriend, Catherine Greig. She pleaded guilty in 2012 to identity fraud and harboring Bulger and the 67-year old remains locked up at a federal women’s prison in Minnesota.
