(NBC News/AP ) – Notorious gangster James “Whitey” Bulger was found deceased at a federal prison in West Virginia Tuesday, NBC News reports.
A prison union official says the death of the notorious Boston gangster is being investigated as a homicide.
Justin Tarovisky is the executive vice president of The American Federation of Government Employees Local 420. He tells The Associated Press that Bulger would be the prison’s third homicide this year.
Officials with the Federal Bureau of Prisons said Bulger was found dead Tuesday morning in his Bruceton Mills, West Virginia, prison cell. He was 89.All Posts
Authorities did not immediately release a cause of death. The FBI earlier said they were investigating.
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 was convicted in 2013 of participating in 11 murders stretching from Massachusetts to Florida to Oklahoma. He was serving a life sentence.
