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BOSTON – Inmates deliberately left surveillance cameras out of sight when James (Whitey) Bulger, the notorious crime leader in Boston, was beaten to death early Tuesday in a West Virginia jail, officials said Sunday. 'law application.
Officials said, however, that the cameras captured video footage of at least two detainees pushing Mr. Bulger, 89, in a wheelchair, to a corner where the attack had taken place.
Mr. Bulger was bleeding profusely when he was found by the prison authorities at 8:20 am on Tuesday morning. They immediately took steps to save lives, they said, but he was later declared dead.
His death, a few hours after arriving at the prison after being transferred from another institution, immediately raised questions. Mr. Bulger, a long-time federal informer and prolific killer, had many enemies. How was he vulnerable to a beating so hard that his eyes moved?
"I'm not surprised that he was hit, I'm surprised they let him get hit," said Ed Davis, former police commissioner in Boston.
Mr. Bulger's eyes appeared to have been dislodged from his head, but it was not clear whether his attackers had pulled them out or they had been knocked out because he had been beaten so severely during the attack . This information was relayed by a senior law enforcement official, who oversees organized crime cases but is not involved in the investigation into Mr. Bulger's death and who said he had learned from a federal official.
"They apparently tuned it to the point that it was unrecognizable," he said, expressing himself under the guise of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak. Officials said the blows had been spent at least partly with the help of a padlock embedded in a sock.
According to three employees of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, at least two detainees were quickly held incommunicado following the discovery of Mr. Bulger, who requested anonymity because the investigation was not conducted. not public.
Officials have identified one of the suspects as being Fotios (Freddy) Geas, a 51-year-old mafia man from West Springfield, Massachusetts. He is currently serving a life sentence in Hazelton Penitentiary, West Virginia, for the murder of the Genovese Family Head in 2003 in Springfield.
Mr. Davis stated that he was bewildered by the fact that the prison had not done more to remove Mr. Bulger from a convicted, Massachusetts-based guilty of organized crime. "
The US Attorney's Office in West Virginia said Wednesday that he and the F.B.I. were investigating Mr. Bulger's death as a homicide. To protect the integrity of the investigation, the office said it would not disclose more details at the moment.
Mr. Bulger was serving two life sentences for the role he played in 11 murders committed while he controlled the Boston underworld for several decades.
Mr. Bulger had been in a wheelchair for several years, according to Henry Brennan, one of Mr. Bulger's lawyers.
"He could get up alone, but he could not walk," Brennan said in an interview on Wednesday. "He was eager to get out of solitary confinement to try to learn to walk again."
He stated that Mr. Bulger had a hip injury during his two years of incarcerated confinement in solitary confinement.
"He was continually falling off the bed and hurting his hip," Brennan said, adding that his inability to exercise had also contributed to several health problems.
In his youth, Mr. Bulger was a fitness fanatic who was obsessed with taking care of his body and staying fit.
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