James Whitey Bulger was killed by three men, one of whom was Paul J. Decologero, a member of the Massachusetts North Shore Gang. The person was already 89 years old when he was killed in a prison.
After a 16-year search for him, Whitey was caught in 2011. He was charged with 11 murders and sentenced to life in prison for each of them. He was also called “Snitch” because he helped the FBI. The Federal Bureau of Prisons was sued by his family over his death, but the judge dismissed the case in January of this year.
Who is Paul J. Decologero, the man arrested for the murder of James “Whitey” Bulger?
James “Whitey” Bulger was a well-known Boston crime lord. On October 30, 2018, he was killed by three other inmates at the West Virginia Penitentiary. Paul J. Decologero, 48, Fotios “Freddy” Geas, 55, and Sean McKinnon, 36, were all charged.
They repeatedly hit the 89-year-old gangster on the head until he died in his cell. They were all at Bruceton Mills in Hazleton US Penitentiary.
Bulger was known to be working with the FBI as a top Echelon informant to help them. But that was kept secret until a report by The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team 13 years later, Yahoo News reported.
Also, Whitey was on the run from 1994 to 2011 when Santa Monica police finally arrested him after 16 years. He was then found guilty of many crimes and sentenced to several life sentences. The wheelchair-bound gangster was transferred from one federal prison to another until he arrived at USP Hazelton.
But he was found guilty just hours after arriving in jail. When the guard found his body in the cell, it was bleeding. A senior police official said he could not be found. The New York Times also said that the eyes were either knocked out of the head or gouged out.
Where is Paul J. Decologero now? Is he still in prison?
The Justice Department says Paul J. Decologero is being held in a federal prison. But after the murder, he was transferred from Hazelton Penitentiary. So now only Geas is left. Two of the three suspects were the main culprits.
More often than not, Whitey was directly beaten by Decologero and Fotios after he was taken to prison and put in his cell. Also, the two are the prime suspects for punching Bulger in the head multiple times. They are accused of assisting in the first degree killing and assault of Bulger.
Sean McKinnon was separately charged with telling lies to a federal agent. Paul didn’t get a second conviction, but Freddy did. Instead, a federal prisoner found him guilty of murder with a life sentence.
Why was Paul J. Decologero in prison before Whitey’s murder? His statements
Decologero was about to be released from prison after serving 25 years on racketeering charges. He was also involved in the 1996 conspiracy that led to the death of a 19-year-old girl. Paul J. also worked for the “DeCologero Crew,” a crime gang on the North Shore of Massachusetts led by his uncle.
He was also found guilty of purchasing the heroin that the same teenager used to kill himself. But the drug didn’t kill her, so another member of the gang broke her neck and buried her body parts in the woods.
Paul’s uncle told her to kill because he feared she would betray her and collude with the police. But after being found guilty of killing Whitey, he will face jail on other charges.
Whitey Bulger Bio
Enoch Lewis “Nucky” Johnson was the leader of Atlantic City’s political machine during the Prohibition era. He benefited both personally and professionally from Prohibition, which was almost a code of law in Atlantic City. Johnson was a tall man, more than two meters tall. He was known for putting a red carnation in the buttonhole of each of his perfect suits.
Johnson was the model for the character Nucky Thompson on the HBO show Boardwalk Empire. His father was the Atlantic County Sheriff, who alone was a powerful politician in the area. Johnson was elected sheriff of Atlantic County in 1908, like his father. After a year, Johnson was appointed executive secretary of the county’s Republican Party.
In 1911, future president and reformer Woodrow Wilson was governor of New Jersey. He led efforts to clean up corruption and rackets in Atlantic City, leading to the arrests of more than 100 people, including Johnson and then-boss Louis “The Commodore” Kuehnle. Johnson was not found guilty of voter fraud, but Kuehnle was. Despite having to resign as county sheriff, he took almost complete control of the Republican Party in Atlantic City and Atlantic County. Johnson is said to have been deducted from all gambling and prostitution earnings in Atlantic City. He soon extended his political power to the state level and helped elect a friendly New Jersey governor in 1916.
Murder of Whitey Bulger
When Prohibition became law in 1920, Johnson’s profits and political power continued to grow. Most people in the seaside resort community didn’t care about Prohibition. In 1929, Johnson met with Charlie “Lucky” Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Al Capone and Bugs Moran who were involved in the Chicago Beer Wars.
In the 1930s, newspapers and people who wanted to change the way law enforcement worked began to pay close attention to Atlantic City and Johnson. Johnson was known for not apologizing when selling illegal goods to paying customers. He said: “We have whisky, wine, women, music and slot machines.” “I won’t say it’s not true and I won’t say I’m sorry. If most people didn’t want them, they wouldn’t be making any money and they wouldn’t be around.
Johnson’s public image got the wrong attention from the government. He was accused of tax evasion and went to court. In a study mentioned by Thomas Reppetto in his 2004 book American Mafia: A History of Its Rise to Power, financial agents counted the number of towels in local brothels to find out how many customers went there and how much money thereby went to Johnson .
After three trials, federal prosecutors finally brought Johnson to a conviction, and he began his 10-year sentence in 1941. He got out of prison in 1945 and worked as a salesman for an oil company in Atlantic City, where he lived a simpler, quieter life. But he still had a lot of power in local and state politics.
On the TV show Boardwalk Empire, his character was shot, but Johnson grew old. He died in a New Jersey nursing home at the age of 85. That wasn’t the only difference between him and Nucky Thompson, the character he played in his stories. Johnson reportedly never killed anyone himself or told anyone else to kill anyone. He ruled with money and power rather than force: “Johnson ruled with a velvet gavel.” In 2014, The New York Times wrote, “He was so powerful that he never had to use force to get what he wanted.”
Whitey Bulger Personal Data
Born: December 24, 1899, Boston
Died: August 31, 1989, Las Vegas
nicknames: Moe, Mister Las Vegas
associations: Meyer Lansky, Purple Gang, Mayfield Road Mob, The Outfit, Stardust Hotel, Desert Inn Hotel, Las Vegas Country Club, Sunrise Hospital, Teamsters Union