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Notorious mobster James 'Whitey' Bulger found dead in prison

BRUCETON MILLS, W. Va. — Notorious Irish-American crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger was found dead in a West Virginia prison Tuesday morning, according to our Cox Media Group sister station Boston 25 News.

Bulger died just a day after being transferred to Hazelton Prison in West Virginia. He was found unresponsive by staff around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. A resuscitation attempt was made, but Bulger was later pronounced dead.

Prison officials say his death is being investigated as a homicide, according to the Associated Press.

He was 89 years old.

Boston 25 News reports that Bulger was found dead just hours after being placed in general population.

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.

Bulger was convicted in 2013 of murdering 11 people, as well as extortion, money laundering and weapons charges.

He was one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives for 16 years until his 2011 arrest in Santa Monica, California.

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The mobster's involvement in South Boston's violent Winter Hill Gang was the inspiration for several films and TV shows including Martin Scorsese film "The Departed," which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2006.

Bulger once served time in the Atlanta penitentiary.

Bulger, who was nicknamed “Whitey” for his bright platinum hair, grew up in a gritty South Boston housing project and became known as one of the most ruthless gangsters in Boston. His younger brother, William Bulger, became one of the most powerful politicians in Massachusetts, leading the state Senate for 17 years.

His criminal career began in the early 1940s and it was from 1956-1959 that he was held in the Atlanta penitentiary as part of a nine-year prison term for armed robbery (he also did time in Alcatraz and Leavenworth). Bulger claims that during his time in Atlanta, he was a subject of LSD experiments conducted by the CIA in exchange for time off his sentence.

In 1975, Bulger became a "Top Echelon" FBI informant (a claim he denies), and for the next 20 years he managed to flip the script and manipulate his handler. This allowed him to continue his criminal activities while virtually protected. In 1995, he disappeared with his girlfriend until the two were finally caught in 2011.