Ex-Mafia hitman sentenced to 25 years in prison for murder of gangster James ‘Whitey’ Bulger

By John Raby
Associated Press

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — A former mob hitman was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison for the 2018 fatal beating of a notorious Boston gangster. James “Whitey” Bulger.

Federal inmate Fotios “Freddy” Geas was sentenced in a federal court in northern West Virginia after pleading guilty to manslaughter and assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

Prosecutors said Geas repeatedly struck the 89-year-old Bulger in the head with a lock attached to a belt, hours after he arrived at the troubled U.S. prison in Hazelton from another Florida prison in October 2018. Defense attorneys disputed that characterization, arguing that Geas struck Bulger with his fist.

Geas, 57, was already serving a life sentence for previous violent crimes. The Justice Department said last year that it would not demand the death penalty against him in the murder of Bulger.

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Bulger, who led the largely Irish gang in Boston in the 1970s and 1980s, was also an FBI informant who betrayed his gang’s chief rival, the bureau said. Bulger has vehemently denied ever being a government informant.

Bulger became one of the nation’s most wanted fugitives after he fled Boston in 1994 after a tip from his FBI handler that he was about to be indicted. He was captured at age 81 after more than 16 years on the run and convicted in 2013 in 11 murders and dozens of other gang crimes.

Another Hazelton inmate, Massachusetts gangster Paul J. DeCologero, was sentenced to more than four years in prison in August on charges of assault in connection with Bulger’s murder. Prosecutors said he acted as a lookout for Geas. A third inmate, Sean McKinnon, pleaded guilty in June to lie to FBI special agents. McKinnon was given no additional jail time and was sent back to Florida to complete his supervised release. He had been serving a sentence for stealing guns from a gun dealer.

According to court records, prisoners were discovered in advance that Bulger would arrive at the West Virginia facility. DeCologero and Geas spent approximately seven minutes in Bulger’s cell during the attack.

A prisoner testified before a grand jury that DeCologero had told him that Bulger was a “snitch” and that they planned to kill him once he joined their unit.

Geas was a close associate of the Mafia and served as its enforcer, but was not an official “made” member because he is Greek, not Italian. He and his brother were sentenced to life in prison in 2011 for their roles in several violent crimes, including the 2003 murder of Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno, a Genovese crime family boss in Springfield, Massachusetts. Another mobster ordered Bruno’s killing because he was angry that Bruno had talked to the FBI, prosecutors said.

Plea deals for Geas, DeCologero and McKinnon were announced on May 13. Geas and DeCologero were identified as suspects shortly after Bulger’s death, but they went uncharged for years as the investigation dragged on.

After the killing, experts criticized Bulger’s transfer to Hazelton, where employees have previously raised alarms about violence and understaffing, and his placement in general population rather than in protective housing.

An inspector general of the Ministry of Justice research found in 2022 that the killing was the result of multiple layers of management failure, widespread incompetence and flawed policies at the federal Bureau of Prisons. The inspector general found no evidence of “malicious intent” by agency employees, but said a series of bureaucratic blunders left Bulger at the mercy of rival gangsters.

That year, a federal judge has rejected a lawsuit filed by Bulger’s family against the agency and 30 unidentified prison system employees.

In July, the U.S. Senate passed legislation to review supervision and bring more transparency to the office following reports from The Associated Press which exposed systemic corruption in the federal prison system and led to increased congressional oversight.