How James (Whitey) Bulger, the crime boss and law enforcement informant from Boston, came to be murdered just a few hours after arriving at Hazelton federal prison in West Virginia, still is a puzzle, the New York Times reports. Investigators are trying to determine which of at least four men sent to solitary confinement after the attack beat him to death and why he was placed with other inmates in the general population. Bulger was sentenced to life in prison in after 16 years on the run and 12 on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list. In September 2014, he was sent to Coleman II, a Federal prison in Central Florida that is known as a safe haven of sorts for inmates who might need extra protection, like informants and former gang members.
At Coleman, Bulger wielded enough influence to have “runners,” other inmates who would sneak him food from the chow hall and snacks from the commissary. Bulger’s time at Coleman ended when he clashed with a female medical worker, refusing some treatment. In February, Bulger told the medical worker that her day of reckoning was coming. His punishment was a month in solitary confinement. Prison employees said it was common to punish inmates by transferring them to a different facility. The workers call it “diesel therapy,” after the buses that transport inmates from prison to prison. Several prison workers speculated that medical transfer codes might have been used in the records to make it easier to move Bulger. The Bureau of Prisons said Bulger was transferred because he had made “a direct serious threat” against a staff member at Coleman, and not for a medical reason.