MARTINSBURG – The family of one of America’s most infamous gangsters has filed a lawsuit blaming his 2018 death at a federal prison in West Virginia on Bureau of Prisons employees.
William M. Bulger, administrator of the estate of James “Whitey” Bulger Jr., filed the federal lawsuit October 30 against 30 John and Jane Doe defendants who are employees of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
William is James’ brother. Some of the unnamed defendants are given titles, including director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, assistant director, regional directors, wardens, case managers, unit managers, correctional counselors and employees at the BOP central office in Washington.
Brennan
The estate filed what is commonly called a Bivens claim, which is a civil rights lawsuit for monetary damages against federal employees.
The complaint says the estate also has filed an administrative claim or “Form 95,” which is the prerequisite to filing a Federal Torts Claim Act action. Once the Form 95 is denied, which is expected, the civil complaint can be amended to include the federal government directly.
“The estate of James J. Bulger Jr. is heavily encumbered, reportedly by well over $100,000,000.00 in restitution orders and civil judgements,” Hank Brennan, Bulger’s longtime attorney from Boston, said in a statement provided to The West Virginia Record. “Money damage recovered and owed to the estate, if any, are expected to be applied to the restitution amount and civil judgements by operation of law.
“Mr. Bulger was suffering from a number of advanced medical issues throughout his incarceration and his health rapidly declined near the time of his final transfer from FCI Coleman II to FCI Hazelton,” Brennan said. “Within days before Mr. Bulger’s final transfer, Bureau of Prison employees reportedly downgraded Mr. Bulger’s medical level paving the way for him to be cast into FCI Hazelton. Mr. Bulger was killed within hours of his arrival.”
Brennan said the estate has not received any information about any investigation into Bulger’s death and no explanation has ever been given for Bulger’s medical downgrade and transfer.
“The family of Mr. Bulger have pursued this action in an attempt to learn what happened to their loved one, demand transparency and accountability of persons employed by the Department of Justice and Bureau of Prisons who may be responsible for Mr. Bulger’s death, and the hope that this action may provide some meaningful reform in the federal penal system and assist other families and residents of federal prisons who have unfairly suffered inappropriate conditions of incarceration,” Brennan said.
The 24-page complaint provides details Whitey Bulger’s colorful life of crime, his years in hiding, allegations of him being an FBI information, his arrest and his time as a federal prisoner up until his death October 30, 2018, at United States Penitentiary Hazelton in Preston County.
Bulger died within hours of his arrival at Hazelton at the hands of another inmate. Bulger was 89 and confined to a wheelchair. Anonymous sources have told members of the media Bulger was beaten so badly he wasn’t recognizable.
The lawsuit claims the defendants knowingly and deliberately violated Bulger’s Eighth Amendment civil rights by subjecting him to pain, physical and mental injury and, ultimately, death.
“James Bulger Jr. was perhaps the most infamous and well-known inmate to be incarcerated in a federal penal institution since Al Capone,” the complaint claims. “James Bulger Jr.’s reputation and notoriety began well before his June 22, 2011, arrest for indictments in Boston, Massachusetts, that led to his conviction and incarceration.”
Bulger was convicted in 2013 of various counts of racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, money laundering, firearm offenses and 11 murders. His sentence was two consecutive life sentences plus five years.
The complaint says Bulger was the subject of more than a dozen books and six movies and television shows.
“James Bulger Jr. has been consistently portrayed as a violent murderous gangster, killer of not only men but also women, and allegedly responsible for at least 19 murders,” the complaint claims. “James Bulger Jr. has been consistently and incessantly falsely portrayed by newspapers, books, court proceedings in over a half-dozen civil trials, documentaries, movies and other media as an FBI informant and a fierce adversary of law enforcement who flaunted their ineffectiveness.”
The complaint addresses how Bulger was labeled an informant or “snitch” during his federal trial. It also mentions how one witnessed labeled Bulger a pedophile during the trial. A prison term for a pedophile or child molester is a “chomo.”
“It is well known by law enforcement, prosecutors and correctional officers that an inmate who is labeled either a ‘snitch’ or a ‘chomo’ is particularly at risk and such a label can be a death sentence at the hands of inmates who are duty bound in prison culture to attack either ‘snitches’ or ‘chomos’ on sight,” the complaint states. “Carrying the label of both ‘snitch’ and ‘chomo’ and having such allegations so publicized put James Bulger Jr. at extremely high risk of serious injury or death at the hands of inmates.”
Bulger served at the Plymouth County House of Correction from 2011 to 2013. He served in solitary confinement, but the complaint says correctional officers harassed him physically and verbally.
He later served at USP Tuscon in Arizona. There, another inmate accessed Bulger’s unlocked cell and stabbed him in the head while he slept. From there, he was sent to USP Coleman II in Sumterville, Florida. There, he continued to have disputes with staff regarding treatment for medical conditions.
Then, he was transferred to Hazelton, which is known as “Misery Mountain.” The complaint describes it as a “particularly violent place where inmate on inmate violence runs rampant,” where “weapons possession and assaults with weapons are so frequent they are almost routine.”
“Predictably, within hours of his placement in the general population at Hazelton, inmates believed to be from New England and who are alleged to have Mafia ties or loyalties, killed James Bulger Jr., utilizing methods that included the use of a lock in a sock-type weapon,” the complaint states. “USP Hazelton, by all accounts, was not an appropriate placement for James Bulger Jr. and was, in fact, recognized as so inappropriate, the appearance is that he was deliberately sent to his death by one or more of the defendants listed above.”
The complaint says the precise identities and titles of the people involved in the decision to transfer Bulger to Hazelton are not known to the general public, including the estate and its attorneys.
The complaint accuses the defendants of violating Bulger’s Eighth Amendment right to protection as an inmate and failing to intervene to stop his transfer and his death.
It says Bulger sustained physical and mental injuries before and during the attack that killed him.
The estate seeks compensatory, punitive and other damages as well as attorney fees and court costs.
In addition to Brennan, the estate is being represented by L. Dante diTrapano, Benjamin Adams and Alex McLaughlin of Calwell Luce diTrapano in Charleston, Jay T. McCamic of McCamic Law Firm in Wheeling and Anthony I. Werner of John & Werner Law Offices in Wheeling.
These attorneys and firms “were willing to lend their expertise and assist in representing Mr. Bulger’s estate despite the difficult nature and extraordinary cost in prosecuting these claims,” Brennan said in his statement.
The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Thomas Kleeh.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia case number 3:20-cv-00206