전설적 미국 암흑가 보스 '화이티 벌저', 감옥에서 숨진 채 발견 VIDEO: 'Whitey' Bulger: Boston mob kingpin found dead in prison aged 89

'Whitey' Bulger: Boston mob kingpin found dead in prison aged 89

Bulger was serving life sentence for litany of crimes

FBI investigating as officials say no other inmates were hurt

Erin Durkin in New York and agencies

Tue 30 Oct 2018 19.35 GMT First published on Tue 30 Oct 2018 17.30 GMT

James “Whitey” Bulger, the notorious Boston gangster who became one of America’s most wanted fugitives, has died in prison.

Whitey Bulger in his booking photo in 2011. Photograph: Reuters

전설적 미국  암흑가 보스 '화이티 벌저', 감옥에서 숨진 채 발견 89세  FBI '일급수배자 10인 '명단 포함 악명 동료 재소자들에 의해 살해된 듯 조니 뎁 주연  '블랙 매스'  영화로 만들어지기도    1970~80년대 미국 보스턴의 암흑가를 주름잡았던 갱단 두목 제임스 '화이티' 벌저(89)가 감옥에서 숨진 채 발견됐다고 미국 언론들이 30일(현지시간) 보도했다. 우리나라에는 생소하지만, 미국에서는 9·11테러를 기획한 오사마 빈 라덴과 함께 연방수사국(FBI)의 '일급수배자 10인' 명단에 오를 정도로 악명을 떨친 인물이다. 백금색 머리카락 때문에 화이티(whitey·백인을 경멸하는 표현)라는 별칭을 얻었다. 벌저는 이날 오전 8시 20분께 웨스트버지니아 주 브루스톤밀스의 교도소 내에서 사망했다고 미 교정당국은 밝혔다. James (Whitey) Bulger is dead at age 89. (FBI Handout)/CBC.ca edited by kcontents 발견 당시 아무런 반응이 없는 상태였고, 곧바로 카운티 검시관이 사망 선고를 내렸다. 교도관 감시가 소홀한 시간대에 동료 재소자들에 의해 살해된 것으로 보인다고 지역 매체들은 전했다. 뉴욕타임스(NYT)도 익명의 교정당국자를 인용해 "최소한 2명의 재소자에 의해 숨졌다"고 전했다. 1929년 보스턴에서 태어난 벌저는 아일랜드계 '윈터 힐' 갱단의 두목으로 활동하면서 살인을 비롯한 수많은 강력범죄를 저지른 것으로 알려졌다. 당국에 기소될 위기에 처하자 1994년 보스턴을 떠나 무려 16년 이상을 숨어 지내다 2011년 미국 캘리포니아주 산타 모니카에서 체포돼 종신형을 선고받았다. 당시 연방배심원단은 살인뿐만 아니라 공갈, 자금세탁, 마약밀매, 무기소지를 비롯해 31건의 혐의를 인정했다. 라이벌 갱단 '뉴 잉글랜드 마피아'의 정보를 FBI에 제공하는 정보원으로도 오랫동안 활동했다는 혐의를 받았다. 이 때문에 폭력조직과 FBI의 유착 관계를 보여주는 소재로도 거론됐다. 벌저의 범죄행각은 마틴 스코세이지 감독의 영화 '디파티드'(2006년), 스콧 쿠퍼 감독의 영화 '블랙매스'(2015년)의 모델이 되기도 했다. 디파티드에서는 잭 니컬슨이, 블랙매스에서는 조니 뎁이 각각 벌저 역할을 맡았다. 그의 친동생 윌리엄은 매사추세츠주 상원의장을 지낸 유력 지역정치인이기도 했다. 이들 친형제의 엇갈린 삶도 언론의 주목을 받았다. FBI의 벌저 체포 모습/유튜브 edited by kcontents 벌저는 2015년엔 학교 리포트 제출을 위해 자신에게 편지를 보낸 여고생 3명에게 "범죄로 돈을 벌려면 로스쿨에 가라"고 조언해 화제가 되기도 했다. 당시 플로리다 연방교도소에 수감돼 있던 벌저는 4개 문단의 편지에서 "나는 인생을 허비했고, 바보스럽게 보냈다"고 후회하면서 "부모와 형제들에게 수치와 고통을 안겨줬다. (내 삶은) 이제 곧 끝날 것"이라고 썼다. 그러면서 "조언은 부질없는 것이다"라며 "어떤 사람들은 나에게 범죄에 관한 조언을 구하는데 내가 확실히 말할 수 있는 것은 범죄로 돈을 벌려면 로스쿨에 가라는 것"이라고 말했다. (뉴욕=연합뉴스) 이준서 특파원 jun@yna.co.kr

edited by kcontents

The 89-year-old Bulger was found dead on Tuesday morning at the Hazelton penitentiary in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said. Staff attempted “life-saving measures”, but Bulger was subsequently pronounced dead by the Preston county medical examiner.

The FBI is investigating Bulger’s death.

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The Boston Globe reported that Bulger was killed and a fellow inmate with mafia ties is being investigated.

Bulger was found dead only a day after he arrived at the West Virginia prison. The penitentiary is a high-security facility with 1,270 male prisoners. “No staff or other inmates were injured, and at no time was the public in danger,” the Bureau of Prisons said.

Bulger, who lived a double life as a mobster and as a secret FBI informant, and then became one of the country’s most-wanted fugitives, was serving a life sentence after being convicted in 2013 of a litany of crimes, including participating in 11 murders.

He was also convicted of racketeering, extortion and other crimes for his role in running a wide-ranging criminal enterprise centered in the city’s South Boston neighborhood.

Bulger’s Winter Hill gang terrorized and cultivated friends in the mostly American Irish neighborhood, running gambling rings and extortion and loan sharking schemes and enforcing their dominance through violence and murder.

The gang operated with secret help from inside the FBI, as Bulger helped to rat out the Italian mafia in Boston, his own gang’s main rival and a prized target for federal authorities.

Bulger was played by Johnny Depp in the 2015 film Black Mass. But many elements of his dangerous lifestyle and fellow “Southie” denizens were also closely paralleled in Martin Scorsese’s multi-oscar-winning 2006 film The Departed, starring Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon.

Bulger evaded authorities for 16 years until his 2011 arrest in Santa Monica, California. He went on the lam in 1994 after FBI agent John Connolly Jr, who had for years tipped him off about investigations, warned him he was about to be indicted.

USP Hazelton/BOP

edited by kcontents

During his years on the run, authorities placed a $2m reward on his head and placed him on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list just below Osama bin Laden.

Bulger’s life as a fugitive finally came to an end when a tip from a former Miss Iceland led authorities to find him in Santa Monica, where he had been living with a longtime girlfriend. The former beauty queen, Anna Bjornsdottir, was a neighbor who recognized Bulger from a television report and notified the FBI. She earned the $2m reward.

A cache of weapons and more than $800,000 in cash was found hidden in Bulger’s apartment. He initially denied his identity, but then told authorities: “You know who I am. I’m Whitey Bulger.”

His girlfriend, Catherine Greig, was also arrested and charged with helping him evade authorities.

At a 2013 trial, prosecutors painted the picture of a brutal criminal who strangled two women with his hands and tortured a man for hours before shooting him in the head with a machine gun.

Bulger was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison, plus five years. He had recently been moved from a prison in Florida to a transfer facility in Oklahoma and then moved again to the prison in West Virginia.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/30/whitey-bulger-dead-prison-boston-mob-kingpin-death

 

 kcontents