Whitey Bulger, 89-year old mobster and multiple murderer, was killed yesterday in prison. Is this frontier justice or is it evil?
Bulger made his name in the Boston area as a mobster; he had 19 killings attributed to him.
Apparently he was assigned to a new prison earlier this week and within 24 hours of arrival, was killed by some fellow inmates. (Hit by another mob?)
On the one hand, he was in prison, but was going to get out eventually. His sentence wasn’t capital punishment.
On the other hand, he was a killer himself; why should be fare better than his victims?
Was Bulger’s murder some level of grass-roots justice being done? Or was it a truly bad thing?
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I’m not sure he would’ve gotten out of prison eventually since he was 89 years old when he died. I find it kinda odd they would transfer him to a prison in WV. I read a couple of articles, but didn’t see what the reason for that was.
I’m sure the relatives of his victims feel like it was justified. He lived the life of luxury near a beach in California for 15 years after murdering several people for no reason.
What I want to know if possible is who had him killed exactly?
According to the newspaper, two prisoners beat him up with their fists before breakfast yesterday.
Imo prison justice. The prisons reply was very lackluster, understaffed…ya right. He should have been here with us in Missouri at the Fed Med prison.
I would be surprised to hear anyone express much sympathy. I can really be bothered by stories of cruelty and violence, but in this case Bulger inflicted infinitely more than he suffered.
Yesterday, David Boeri, a reporter from WBUR radio who covered Bulger for years, was asked if he had any ideas about the murder. He said he didn’t know anything for certain, but that another Massachusetts mob inmate was in the facility, and that it seemed odd they would be put in proximity.
Somebody made a name for themselves by killing a famous criminal, not unlike cowboy gunslingers trying to outdraw some famous gunfighter.
Think Robert Ford killing Jessie James.
@filmfan See? I think people that kill infamous criminals think they are making a name for themselves, but I have never heard of Robert Ford. Nor do I know the name of the guy that killed Jeffrey Dahmer. They may have 15 minutes of fame for that, but the infamous criminal is the one who will be remembered forever.
There is no such thing as “prison justice”, or “frontier justice”, or “vigilante justice”, or whatever euphemism you want to slap on it.
If you are not part of the judiciary, explicitly endowed with the privilege and task of passing and enacting justice, you are a criminal, you are scum, and you are not one iota better than your victim.
More frontier justice than evil. If you can’t do the time, or face the criminal elements that you might have wronged, don’t do the crime.
@filmfann Exactly! Ford is pretty famous in my area of the US.
What’s the point in guessing over his demise? Bulger had dozens of enemies from the Providence branch of the Mafia more than willing to arrange his death.
“Evil” sounds like some dark cloud that’s drifting around causing bad things to happen. So that wasn’t it…
At 89, i’m wondering how he was killed.
Maybe some con jumped out at him yelling “BOO!!”
The shock from this Halloween prank caused the old bugger a cardiac event from which he never recovered.
Not sure if it is evil or karmic justice. He was doing a life sentence, but was notorious for being an FBI informant. The inmates that killed him tried to gouge out his eyes which in the 1940’s mob tactics was a way of identifying he got killed for being a snitch. Beating an old man in a wheelchair is evil. But he had a long history of doing similarly evil things.
“Frontier justice” may have been acceptable in the days of the Wild West but it can’t be used to excuse murder nowadays especially when the victim is in the control of the state. Bulger was beaten to death on arrival at Hazelton Penitentiary by inmates with Mafia ties. It sounds very suspicious to me and should be investigated. Murder is always murder and it is evil. You can dress it up in fancy clothes if you like but the blood will still seep through.
The last report I heard on the radio was that an inmate with ties to the mafia had beat him to death. I think they gave the name of the inmate; but, it didn’t stick in my mind so I can’t tell you who it was. It sounds like an evil action to me as I don’t think it was that hard to beat a weak, old man who was more than likely asleep at the time he was beaten; however, I was NOT even surprised to hear it…my ONLY surprise was that it took this long to happen!!! IF indeed it was a mafia flunkie who did the deed, he will be well set UNTIL the next mafia minion decides that he deserves the same fate!!!
@ragingloli Anyone who takes the law into their own hands is a criminal? Technically you are right. I feel there are exceptions. Hurt someones kid or grandma, they should get a free pass imo.
@KNOWITALL
Listen, I hate children and the elderly, too, but that does not make killing them any less wrong.
@ragingloli I don’t believe you hate all children and the elderly.
But if you went around raping and killing them, I’d think street justice would be just fine for you. :)
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