Notorious Boston mobster James ‘Whitey’ Bulger found dead

Notorious Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger has been found dead in a West Virginia prison this week, authorities said.

BREAKING: James "Whitey" Bulger, Boston gangster who was once one of America's most wanted fugitives, found dead in prison at 89.

— The Associated Press (@AP) October 30, 2018

Department of Justice officials confirmed the death in a letter. Authorities said Bulger was found “unresponsive” around 8:20 a.m. on Tuesday and that they were investigating.

According to NBC News, the 89-year-old was found dead at USP Hazelton, a high-security prison with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp in Bruceton Mills.

Bulger’s cause of death was not immediately known.

A prison union official said the gangster’s death was being investigated as a homicide.

He had recently arrived to the prison after being moved from a prison in Florida to a transfer facility in Oklahoma City. He had spent time at a prison in Tucson prior to that, NBC10 reported.

Bureau of Prisons officials and his attorney did not say why he was being moved, but he was known to have medical ailments.

Bulger led a largely Irish mob that ran loan-sharking, gambling and drug rackets in the Boston area. He also served as an FBI informant who ratted on his gang’s main rival.

He became one of the nation’s most-wanted fugitives after fleeing Boston in late 1994.

After more than 16 years on the run, Bulger was captured at age 81 in Santa Monica, California, where he had been living with his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig.

In 2013, Bulger was convicted of participating in 11 murders in the 1970s and 1980s and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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