Whitey Bulger’s Alleged Killers Knew He Was Coming

Once he was transferred to a prison in West Virginia, mobster-turned-informant Whitey Bulger apparently didn’t have a chance. The reason? Other inmates in the Hazelton facility knew he was coming in advance, even though his identity was supposed to have been kept under wraps, reports NBC News. "We’re getting ready to get another higher profile person here tonight," Hazelton inmate Sean McKinnon told his mother in a phone call the afternoon of Oct. 29. 2018. McKinnon’s mother warned her son to stay away from Bulger, according to the transcript prosecutors read from in federal court on Monday. "Ah, I can't," McKinnon replied, per the Boston Globe.

Prosecutors say the very next morning, two inmates with mob ties—Fotios "Freddy" Geas and Paul DeCologero—entered Bulger's cell shortly after 6am and bludgeoned the 89-year-old to death. McKinnon allegedly sat at a nearby table and acted as lookout. All three now face charges including conspiracy to kill Bulger. Bulger’s death has been viewed as a huge failure of the federal prison system, and the new revelation that inmates knew Bulger’s identity ahead of time only adds to that. Monday’s court proceeding filled in one more grisly detail: Prosecutors say the killers admitted using a "belt with a lock attached" for the fatal beating. (More Whitey Bulger stories.)