A Mobster of Many Enemies, Whitey Bulger May Have Been Killed in a Hit



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Those who follow the rough ways of the mob remember 1962, and perhaps the most significant such murder to take place behind bars. It was the botched pre-emptory strike held in Atlanta by Joseph Valachi, who wielded a length of three-quarter-inch galvanized iron pipe.

With repeated blows, Mr. Valachi crushed the skull of a man he mistook for another The murdered Mr. Valachi to seek protection from the F.B.I., cooperate, and testify before Congress in 1963, becoming the first mob to admit that the Mafia existed.

Then came 1977, when Vincent C. Papa, a mob figure, was stabbed to death in the federal penitentiary in Atlanta. Mr. Papa was widely credited with masterminding the theft of nearly 400 pounds of heroin and 120 pounds of cocaine held in the offices of the New York Police Department's property clerk.

Mr. Bulger's death will be remembered, too.

A shortage of correctional officers has become chronic in the Trump administration, leaving some prison workers feeling ill-equipped and unsafe on the job, according to a recent New York Times investigation. Some prisons are so much that they regularly compel teachers, nurses, secretaries and other support staff to step in.

The Hazelton jail in particular has been plagued by violence. The prison has yet been assigned to support staff, but has recently been assessed to practice. Last year, The Times found, the prison had 275 violent episodes, including fights among inmates and major assaults on staff, an almost 15 percent increase from 2016.

Mr. Bulger appears to be at least one of the third inmates of this prison. In April, an inmate was killed in a fight; just last month, another local news media reported.

Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia at the General Attorney General Jeff Sessions on the subject of federal prisons, including Hazelton.

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