(BRUCETON MILLS, W. Va.) — Notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger has died in federal custody nearly five years after being sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison.
Officials with the Federal Bureau of Prisons say he died Tuesday in West Virginia. He was 89.
Bulger led a largely Irish mob that ran loan-sharking, gambling and drug rackets in the Boston area. He also served as an FBI informant who ratted on his gang’s main rival.
He became one of the nation’s most-wanted fugitives after fleeing Boston in late 1994. After more than 16 years on the run, Bulger was captured at age 81 in Santa Monica, California, where he had been living with his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig.
In 2013, Bulger was convicted of participating in 11 murders in the 1970s and 1980s and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.
