A former Mafia hitman, Fotios “Freddy” Geas, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for the 2018 fatal prison bludgeoning of notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger. Geas pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and assault resulting in serious bodily injury in federal court in northern West Virginia.
Geas, 57, used a lock attached to a belt to repeatedly hit the 89-year-old Bulger in the head hours after Bulger arrived at the U.S. Penitentiary, Hazelton, from another lockup in Florida in October 2018. Prosecutors stated that Geas hit Bulger with the lock, while defense attorneys claimed it was with his fist.
Bulger, who led a Boston gang in the 1970s and '80s, was also an FBI informant who provided information on his gang's main rival. Despite the FBI's claims, Bulger denied ever being a government informant.
After fleeing Boston in 1994, Bulger was captured in 2011 and convicted in 2013 for 11 killings and numerous other crimes. He was killed in prison in 2018.
Geas, a close associate of the Mafia, was not an official “made” member due to his Greek heritage. He was serving a life sentence for previous violent crimes and was involved in the killing of a crime family boss in 2003.
Following Bulger's death, an investigation revealed management failures and incompetence within the federal Bureau of Prisons. The inspector general found no evidence of malicious intent but cited bureaucratic blunders that left Bulger vulnerable to rival gangsters.
In response to the systemic corruption exposed in the federal prison system, the U.S. Senate passed legislation in July to overhaul oversight and increase transparency within the bureau.
