A former Mafia enforcer already serving a life sentence was handed an additional 25 years for the beating death of notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger in 2018, just hours after he was transferred to a federal prison in West Virginia.
Fotios “Freddy” Geas was sentenced in a federal court in northern West Virginia on Friday, after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and assault resulting in serious bodily harm.
The plea was part of a deal reached in May, in which prosecutors agreed to drop a count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence.
James “Whitey” Bulger in a 2011 booking photo.
Bulger was discovered beaten to death on Oct. 30, 2018 inside his cell at the beleaguered U.S. Penitentiary Hazelton, where workers had already been complaining of violence and understaffing.
Most inmates there were aware the mobster was going to be transferred from a lockup in Florida, prosecutors said. They allege a plan for Bulger’s murder was already in place before he arrived at the prison.
A subsequent investigation revealed Geas orchestrated the killing with two other inmates, Paul DeCologero and Sean McKinnon, who were also charged in connection with the deadly attack.
Prosecutors said McKinnon and DeCologero served as lookouts while Geas used a lock attached to a belt to bludgeon Bulger to death.
The attack took less than seven minutes in total, the Department of Justice said. Bulger was 89 years old.
Bulger served as the head of Boston’s mostly Irish mob in the 1970s and ’80s, as well as an FBI informant who shared information on his rivals. In exchange, law enforcement ignored many of his criminal antics, despite him being connected to nearly a dozen murders.
In 1994, he fled Massachusetts after his FBI handler warned him he was about to be indicted for his crimes. The mobster managed to evade authorities for more than 16 years before he was captured outside his hideout in Santa Monica, Calif. on June 22, 2011.
In 2013, Bulger was convicted in 11 killings in addition to dozens of other gangland crimes. He was handed two life sentences plus another five years.
Geas was a close associate of the Mafia and acted as an enforcer, though he was not an official member because he’s Greek, not Italian.
DeCologero was also a member of an organized crime gang in Massachusetts run by his father.
Another inmate at Hazelton testified DeCologero called Bulger a “snitch” and said he planned to kill him upon his arrival. Prosecutors said he was also overheard bragging about how Geas used a lock to bludgeon the infamous crime boss.
In early August, DeCologero was ordered to spend four more years in prison for Bugler’s killing. He’d already been serving a 25-year sentence after he was convicted of buying heroin used in an attempt to kill a teenage witness in a criminal case.
McKinnon meanwhile pleaded guilty in June to lying to FBI agents and got credit for spending 22 months in custody following his 2022 indictment. He did not receive additional prison time and was returned to Florida to finish his supervised release.