Whitey Bulger’s attorney says he’s going to sue the government over the notorious mobster’s prison killing.
Lawyer Hank Brennan wants to know why authorities transferred the frail, 89-year-old gangster to a federal jail in West Virginia and put him with the general population.
“It’s important for the family and the public to know why the prisons decided to wheel an 89-year-old man with a history of heart attacks into one of the most dangerous prisons in the country,” Brennan told The Wall Street Journal.
Brennan told the paper he plans on filing a wrongful death and negligence suit on behalf of Bulger’s estate, as well as a number of other unspecified lawsuits over the next month.
A Bureau of Prisons spokesperson told the paper Bulger was moved from the Florida penitentiary where he was serving a life sentence for 11 murders and other crimes because of a threat he made against a staff member.
Less than 24 hours after the Oct. 30 transfer, the Winter Hill gang boss was bludgeoned to death with a padlock stuffed in a sock.
Authorities have said two Massachusetts mobsters are suspected in the killing, but no charges have been filed.
Prison records show that Bulger’s medical classification was downgraded when he was transferred to West Virginia, showing he needed less medical care.
But Brennan, who has represented the mobster since 2011, said Bulger’s health was actually deteriorating. In letters to a friend, Bulger also complained about his failing health and dreaded visits to the hospital.
The last time Brennan saw his client in June, a wheelchair-bound Bulger complained of heart problems and abruptly ended the meeting, Brennan said.
“He said, ‘That’s all I got today, I could use some rest,’” Brennan recalled. “He had never ended a meeting like that.”