Whitey Bulger, One Of Alcatraz’s Most Famous Prisoners
Public DomainWhitey Bulger’s mugshot at Alcatraz in 1959.
After Al Capone, Whitey Bulger no doubt takes the title of one of the most famous Alcatraz prisoners. He was originally incarcerated on the prison island in 1959, but Bulger had already spent several years behind bars.
Bulger led the Winter Hill Gang, an Irish Mob group in Boston. He began his criminal career as a thief when he was still a teenager, and he eventually rose through the street gang ranks. His first stint in federal prison began in 1956 after he was convicted of armed robbery and truck hijacking. He began his 20-year sentence in Atlanta, where he was reportedly a human subject in the CIA’s MK-Ultra experiment.
In 1959, Bulger was transferred to Alcatraz, where he was a model inmate. During his time there, he exercised frequently, read countless books ranging from poetry to military history, and took classes on law and bookkeeping. He was transferred out after three years, and he was granted parole in 1965, just nine years into his sentence.
After his release, Bulger returned to Boston, where he ramped up his involvement in the criminal underworld. By the late 1970s, Bulger was the head of the Winter Hill Gang. However, his life of crime eventually caught up to him. He spent nearly 20 years as a fugitive before he was arrested in 2011 on charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, extortion, narcotics distribution, and money laundering.
He was sentenced to life in prison in 2013, but he was brutally murdered by three fellow inmates five years later.
