The former warden of the Florida penitentiary where Boston criminal James “Whitey” Bulger was incarcerated said that the infamous gangster “wanted to die” before he was beaten to death last year, NBC News reports.
Bulger, a mob boss who operated out of South Boston for decades before going on the run for 16 years, was given two life sentences in 2013 after he was convicted of multiple murders, along with charges of drug dealing, money laundering and extortion. He spent most of that sentence in United States Penitentiary, Coleman II in Sumterville, Florida. The former warden, Charles Lockett, told NBC on Monday: "Quite frankly, I think he [Bulger] wanted to die.”
He added that "I think whatever issues he had, he had come to peace with them."
Bulger complained of chest pains during a check by a nurse, who he threatened, leading eventually to his transfer to USP Hazelton, West Virginia. Hours after he arrived, he was beaten to death in his cell.
"It’s a tragedy, but I don’t think anyone was deficient in their duty," said Lockett.
Bulger’s brother, John Bulger, told NBC that he didn’t understand why Bulger was sent to Hazelton.
“There are a lot of things that are kind of suspicious,” John Bulger said. “He was supposed to go to a medical center and all of a sudden he gets transferred to an institution in West Virginia and no one seems to know why he went there.”
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