{"id":91545,"date":"2018-10-31T08:32:39","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T15:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=91545"},"modified":"2018-10-31T14:35:37","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T21:35:37","slug":"extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"Gambling Kingpin Whitey Bulger Found Dead in Prison, Homicide Suspected"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boston gangster James \u201cWhitey\u201d Bulger<\/a> has been killed in prison in West Virginia. Employees at the high-security US Penitentiary, Hazelton told The\u00a0New York Times<\/em> that the notorious criminal was beaten in his cell by fellow inmates.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Life of crime: Whitey Bulger — seen here in mug shots from his youth to his final days — died as he lived: violently. (Image: Casino.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He was found by prison staff unresponsive and wrapped in blankets at around 8am on Tuesday morning, according to an official statement from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.<\/p>\n

Life-saving measures were initiated immediately by responding staff. Mr. Bulger was subsequently pronounced dead by the Preston County Medical Examiner,” <\/span><\/strong>FBP officials said.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bulger, who was 89, had been transferred to the prison less than 24 hours earlier. His health was said to be failing and he was confined to a wheelchair.<\/p>\n

Mob Boss, FBI Informer <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Nicknamed \u201cWhitey\u201d due to the shock of platinum hair he once sported — a nickname he despised — Bulger was the leader of the largely Irish-American Winter Hill Gang. At the height of his powers in the mid-1980s, he controlled gambling,\u00a0extortion, loansharking truck hijackings, and arms trafficking rackets throughout eastern Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

\n

He was also a longtime FBI informer who grew powerful because the agency was willing to turn a blind eye to his operations as long as he was feeding them information about his enemies, such as the rival Patriarca crime family.<\/span><\/p>\n

But in 1994, a joint task force of the DEA, Massachusetts State Police, and Boston Police Department launched an investigation into Bulger\u2019s gambling operations and began building a case against him.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Bulger was tipped off by his FBI handler, John Connolly, that he was about to be indicted and he fled, quickly becoming one of America\u2019s most-wanted fugitives. The gangster spent 16 years on the run before he was captured in 2011 at 81 years old.<\/p>\n

The mobster had been living with his girlfriend in Santa Monica, California under an assumed name.<\/p>\n

Media Identifies Suspect<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In 2013, Bulger was convicted of 11 murders in the 1970s and 1980s — committed when he was in the FBI\u2019s pocket — and received two consecutive life sentences.<\/p>\n

Media speculation on Tuesday pointed to Springfield mob enforcer Freddy Geas as a possible person of interest in the killing. Geas is incarcerated at Hazelton for the 2003 murders of Massachusetts Genovese boss Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno and low-level associate Gary Westerman and is known to despise Bulger — and \u201crats\u201d in general.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But the truth is, Bulger ratted on a lot of people, and the list of those who would wish him harm is long.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone in criminal activity with him feels grossly betrayed that he was informing on them while he was supposedly their comrade and friend,\u201d former Boston federal prosecutor Michael Kendell told The<\/em>\u00a0New York Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boston gangster James \u201cWhitey\u201d Bulger has been killed in prison in West Virginia. Employees at the high-security US Penitentiary, Hazelton told The\u00a0New York Times that the notorious criminal was beaten in his cell by fellow inmates. He was found by prison staff unresponsive and wrapped in blankets at around 8am on Tuesday morning, according to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":91547,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nExtortion and Gambling Kingpin Whitey Bulgar Found Dead in Prison<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"James Bulger, aka Whitey Bulger, found dead in his cell at the US Penitentiary Hazelton on Tuesday morning. Foul play is suspected.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Extortion and Gambling Kingpin Whitey Bulgar Found Dead in Prison\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"James Bulger, aka Whitey Bulger, found dead in his cell at the US Penitentiary Hazelton on Tuesday morning. Foul play is suspected.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-31T15:32:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-10-31T21:35:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/whitey2.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison\/\",\"name\":\"Extortion and Gambling Kingpin Whitey Bulgar Found Dead in Prison\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/whitey2.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-31T15:32:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-31T21:35:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"James Bulger, aka Whitey Bulger, found dead in his cell at the US Penitentiary Hazelton on Tuesday morning. Foul play is suspected.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/whitey2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/whitey2.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675,\"caption\":\"Whitey Bulger poses for a mugshot on his arrival at Alcatraz in 1959, aged 30. The future Mob boss was serving a sentence for armed robbery and truck hijacking. (Image: Federal Bureau of Prisons)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gambling Kingpin Whitey Bulger Found Dead in Prison, Homicide Suspected\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Extortion and Gambling Kingpin Whitey Bulgar Found Dead in Prison","description":"James Bulger, aka Whitey Bulger, found dead in his cell at the US Penitentiary Hazelton on Tuesday morning. Foul play is suspected.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Extortion and Gambling Kingpin Whitey Bulgar Found Dead in Prison","og_description":"James Bulger, aka Whitey Bulger, found dead in his cell at the US Penitentiary Hazelton on Tuesday morning. Foul play is suspected.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2018-10-31T15:32:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-10-31T21:35:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/whitey2.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison\/","name":"Extortion and Gambling Kingpin Whitey Bulgar Found Dead in Prison","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/whitey2.png","datePublished":"2018-10-31T15:32:39+00:00","dateModified":"2018-10-31T21:35:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"James Bulger, aka Whitey Bulger, found dead in his cell at the US Penitentiary Hazelton on Tuesday morning. Foul play is suspected.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/whitey2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/whitey2.png","width":1200,"height":675,"caption":"Whitey Bulger poses for a mugshot on his arrival at Alcatraz in 1959, aged 30. The future Mob boss was serving a sentence for armed robbery and truck hijacking. (Image: Federal Bureau of Prisons)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/extortion-and-gambling-kingpin-whitey-bulgar-found-dead-in-prison\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gambling Kingpin Whitey Bulger Found Dead in Prison, Homicide Suspected"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91545"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}