FBI arrests man in Ocala in connection with 2018 beating death of mobster Whitey Bulger
A man was arrested in Ocala in connection with the beating death of organized crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger in 2018 in a West Virginia federal prison, according to federal law enforcement officials.
Sean McKinnon, 36, was arrested by special agents from FBI Jacksonville, along with two other men. Paul DeCologero, 48, and Fotios "Freddy" Geas, 55, were also arrested Thursday. All three men were charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
Bulger died at the United States Penitentiary Hazelton in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia, on Oct. 30, 2018, at the age of 89.
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According to the FBI, Geas and DeCologero are accused of striking Bulger in the head several times, causing his death. Both are charged with aiding and abetting first-degree murder and assault resulting in serious bodily injury. Geas also faces a charge of murder by a federal inmate while serving a life sentence.
McKinnon also faces another charge of making false statements to a federal agent. He was on federal supervised release at the time of his arrest, according to prosecutors.
FBI Jacksonville acknowledged the U.S. Marshals, Ocala Police Department and Marion County Sheriff's Office for assisting in the arrest.
Geas is still incarcerated at Hazelton. DeCologero is not at Hazelton but is still within the federal prison system.
Geas and DeCologero were identified as suspects shortly after Bulger’s death, according to law enforcement officials at the time, but they were not charged as the investigation dragged on for years. They were placed in solitary confinement throughout the probe, family members told The Boston Globe.
Bulger’s family had previously filed a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons and 30 unnamed employees of the prison system, alleging they failed to protect him. Bulger was the third inmate killed in six months at USP Hazelton, where workers and advocates had long been warning about dangerous conditions.
Who was Whitey Bulger?
Bulger, who ran the largely Irish mob in Boston in the 1970s and ’80s, served as an FBI informant who ratted on his gang’s main rival in an era when bringing down the Mafia was a top national priority for the FBI. He later became one of the nation’s most-wanted fugitives.
A prison workers’ union official told The Associated Press in 2018 that sending Bulger to the troubled federal penitentiary that housed other New England gangsters was like giving him a “death sentence.”
A federal law enforcement official told The Associated Press after Bulger’s death that disciplinary issues prompted Bulger’s transfer to USP Hazelton. The official insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to release details. In February 2018, Bulger threatened an assistant supervisor at the prison in Florida, telling her “your day of reckoning is coming.”
Bulger fled Boston in late 1994 after his FBI handler, John Connolly Jr., warned him he was about to be indicted. With a $2 million reward on his head, Bulger became one of the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” criminals.
After more than 16 years on the run, Bulger was captured at age 81 in Santa Monica, California, where he had been living in a rent-controlled apartment near the beach with his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig.
The Associated Press assisted in this report.
This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Whitey Bulger: FBI arrests man in Florida in mobster beating death
