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Convicted Springfield Mafia hitman, 2 others charged for killing James “Whitey” Bulger

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Convicted Springfield Mafia hitman Freddy Geas has been formally charged with killing notorious Boston crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger.

The Department of Justice announced the charges Thursday against Geas and two other men. They come nearly four years after Bulger was killed inside a West Virginia prison. He was beaten to death just hours after he was transferred there from a Florida prison.

Geas was identified as a suspect shortly after Bulger’s death but was not formally charged until Thursday. Geas is serving life in prison for ordering the killing of Springfield mob boss Al Bruno in 2003. Another mobster had order Bruno’s killing because Bruno had talked to the FBI.

Two other people were also charged in the killing of Bulger, Paul J. DeCologero and Sean McKinnon. All three men are facing charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Geas and DeCologero are also facing charges of aiding and abetting first-degree murder, along with assault resulting in serious bodily injury. Geas will be charged separately with making a false statement to a federal agent.

Bulger’s family sued the Federal Bureau of Prisons and 30 unnamed employees over his death, claiming Bulger was “deliberately sent to his death” at the penitentiary nicknamed “Misery Mountain.” Bulger was the third inmate killed in the prison in a six month span. The lawsuit was later dismissed by a federal judge.

Bulger is known as running the Irish mob in Boston in the 1970s and 80s as well as serving as an FBI informant ratting on his gang’s main rival. He later became the country’s most-wanted fugitive but after 16 years on the run, he was captured at the age of 81 in Santa Monica, California.