Federal officials say Whitey Bulger, the famed Boston gangster who once acted as the former leader of the Winter Hill gang, has been found dead at a federal prison in West Virginia on Tuesday.
The 89-year-old Bulger was recently transferred to the high-security penitentiary USP Hazelton in West Virginia, according to the Boston Herald. The notorious gangster was convicted in 2013 of participating in at least 11 murders in locations across the country including Massachusetts, Florida and Oklahoma.
Bulger, who was ordered to serve a life sentence for 11 murders, was recently transferred to the federal prison there after a quick stopover at an Oklahoma City transfer site.
According to the Boston Globe, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday that Bulger was in failing health and that he was expected to be transferred to a medical facility in the prison. Bulger has had a heart condition for decades.
Bulger was captured in Santa Monica, California in 2011 after spending some 16-years on the FBI's Most Wanted Fugitives list. He was arrested with his girlfriend, Catherine Greig, who pleaded guilty in 2012 to identity fraud and harboring a fugitive. Greig is currently serving her sentenced at a federal women's prison in Minnesota.
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