Federal prosecutors said on Thursday that three former prisoners had been charged with killing a gangster who was also in prison.
They were accused of plotting with the two Massachusetts inmates to kill James “Whitey” Bulger, a notorious South Boston gangster who was beaten to death in his cell at a West Virginia jail in 2018.
Bulger was the third prisoner to die at Hazelton Prison in the past six months. Employees and supporters had long warned of the dangerous conditions there.
According to MassLive, Bulger’s family has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons and 30 unnamed prison employees over his death.
The victim’s family said that Whitey “deliberately sent him to his death” in the prison known as “Misery Mountain.”
Fotios “Freddy” Geas is accused of killing Whitey Bulger
Fotios “Freddy” Geas is one of three people charged with killing Winter Hill mobster Whitey Bulger. He’s a hitman for the West Springfield Mafia.
On October 30, 2018, Bulger’s body was found in his cell at Hazleton US Prison in Bruceton Mills. He was then 89 years old. He had been transferred from a Florida jail twelve hours ago.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of West Virginia said Geas, Paul J. DeCologero and Sean McKinnon were all charged with first-degree plotting to kill someone.
Police say Geas and DeCologero punched Bulger in the head many times. They were also accused of helping plan first-degree murder and an attack involving grievous bodily harm.
If another Geas murder case is brought by a federal prisoner who is already serving a life sentence, the death penalty could be imposed.
At the same time, McKinnon was arrested yesterday in Florida, where authorities say he was on federally supervised release at the time of his arraignment.
Who is Fotios “Freddy” Geas, the man who may have killed Whitey Bulger?
Fotios “Freddy” Geas is a 55-year-old thug who works for the Genovese crime family in New York.
Freddy, a former Mafia hitman who used to live in Springfield, Massachusetts, often worked with his brother Ty.
In 2018, he was jailed on charges of attempting to kill Whitey Bulger, leader of the Winter Hill Gang.
In 2009, Bronx cement union president Frank Dabado was the target of a failed attempt to kill Geas, who was accused of being the getaway driver.
Why did Fotios “Freddy” Geas go to prison?
Fotios “Freddy” Geas was in prison on charges of killing Gary D. Westerman and Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno, the Springfield crime boss.
He is accused of killing the two in Agawam, Massachusetts in 2003 by shooting them in the head, hitting them with a shovel and burying them there.
Daniel D. Kelly, who works for Geas and lives in Springfield, says Freddy was held in solitary confinement for years before making the allegations.
Kelly said, “These allegations are serious, but they are not serious enough to keep him incarcerated for more than three years.”
The attorney said he hoped the investigation would be fair and that if found guilty, it would not be pinned on the facility or its staff.
The 55-year-old is still in jail in Hazelton, and DeCologero is being held in another federal prison.
Fotios “Freddy” Geas and his wife have a daughter
Fotios “Freddy” Geas is said to have been married because he has a daughter named Taylor Geas. But his wife’s name has not yet been released to the public.
In 2016, Taylor wrote an article for MassLive and The Republican about her thoughts on her father’s fall.
Taylor recalled thinking her father had always been in the army and she never saw him. She didn’t know the truth until she was in eighth grade.
Fotio’s daughter told him that she found out the truth when she started reading news articles with his name and words like “raids,” “murder,” “enforcer,” and “criminal” in the headlines.
Taylor also said, “If we look at this situation through the eyes of the system, you could say that justice was served, but if you look at this situation through the eyes of a daughter, it was at its most unfair.”
Learn about the family of Fotios “Freddy” Geas
Fotios “Freddy” Geas comes from a Greek family. He was born on April 4, 1967 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
His brother’s name is TY Geas and he and Anthony Arillotta were in the same gang.
In 2003, Anthony became an official member of the Genovese gang. He had asked the Geas brothers to kill his brother-in-law, Gary Westerman.
Geas and his younger brother Ty had a bad reputation in western Massachusetts. In 2011, both were convicted of murder and racketeering along with Arthur Nigro, the late Genoese crime family mob boss.
Fotios ‘Freddy’ Gea’s Criminal Career
Geas was born into a Greek family, so he couldn’t be part of the Italian mafia from birth. Geas and his brother Ty were well-known and feared enforcers in their neighborhood. Anthony Arillotta, who was also in the mob, worked alongside the Geas brothers. Arillotta became an official member of the Genovese crime family in 2003. Gary Westerman was Arillotta’s brother-in-law. He had asked the Geas brothers to kill him. Acting boss Arthur Nigro also set an attempt on Adolfo Bruno, an old gangster. Both hits came out in 2003.
Geas was accused of killing Gary Westerman and Adolfo Bruno in 2009. He was also accused of being the getaway driver in the failed attempt to kill Bronx cement union boss Frank Dabado after Dabado got into an argument with Nigro over Tony Bennett’s concert tickets.
Geas was shocked when Arillotta, a person he used to work with, testified against him at his 2011 trial. Geas was known for its strict rules. He hated people who told lies and men who hurt women. Geas refused to cooperate with the police, so he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Whitey Bulger’s death
Whitey Bulger, a well-known Boston gangster, was transferred from the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City to the US prison in Hazelton, West Virginia on October 29, 2018.
[4] Bulger, 89, was found dead in jail at 8:20 a.m. on October 30. Bulger was in a wheelchair and was beaten to death by several inmates with a padlock wrapped in socks and a knife. His eyes were almost gouged out, as was his tongue. [6] [7] [8] This was the third time in 40 days that someone had died in prison. [9] Just days before the latest death in Hazelton, correctional officials had told Congress the facilities were dangerously understaffed.
Geas was the main character believed to have planned Bulger’s death.
He, Paul DeCologero and Sean McKinnon were all charged with first-degree murder in August 2022.
