He was played by Johnny Depp in Black Mass
Boston gangster James ‘Whitey’ Bulger has been killed in West Virginia.
The 89-year-old – who was convicted in 2013 of 11 murders – was found dead in his cell in Hazelton penitentiary, West Virginia shortly after being transferred there from a Florida jail.
Bulger was arrested with his girlfriend, Catherine Greig, in 2011 having been on the run for 16 years.
The former leader of South Boston’s Winter Hill gang was played by Johnny Depp in the film Black Mass and was also the inspiration for the Oscar-winning film The Departed.
A union official for correctional workers at the prison told CBS that the killing occurred on Tuesday morning.
“This is the third homicide in seven months at our facility,” Richard Heldreth said. “We are very understaffed, we are short about 40 officers.”
Earlier in the week, the Bureau of Prisons officials and Bulger’s attorney declined to comment on why he was being moved.
