In ‘final chapter,’ Bulger’s killer sentenced for death in prison cell
Geas, serving life term, gets 25 years in plea agreement
Clarksburg, w.va. — A former mafia enforcer pleaded guilty Friday to voluntary manslaughter for killing James “whitey” Bulger in 2018 at a federal prison in west Virginia, marking the end of a decades-long saga chronicling the rise, fall, and brutal death of one of Boston’s most infamous crime figures.
Fotios “Freddy” geas, 57, of west springfield, mass., was sentenced to 25 years in prison for beating the 89-yearold Bulger to death inside his cell at Us Penitentiary hazelton, though the length of the term is largely symbolic — geas is already serving a life sentence for the 2003 murders of springfield mob boss Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno and an associate.
Under a plea agreement, the government dropped murder charges against geas and he pleaded guilty in Us district Court to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter and an assault charge, which his lawyer said was an appropriate way to resolve the case without going to trial.
Us Chief district Judge Thomas kleeh asked geas if he understood that the manslaughter plea meant he was admitting that he intentionally killed Bulger in the “heat of passion,” and it was not premeditated.
standing in handcuffs and shackles, geas repeatedly answered, “Yes, your
honor.” he declined to make a statement when invited to speak.
geas admitted he beat Bulger to death on oct. 30, 2018, after a verbal argument inside Bulger’s cell, but shed no light on what the argument was about.
The judge, adopting the penalty agreed upon by both sides, sentenced geas to 15 years for manslaughter and another 10 years for assault resulting in serious bodily injury, to be served after his current term of life.
“it’s the final chapter after decades of violence, corruption, and murder,” said Brian T. Kelly, a former federal prosecutor who was part of the team that secured Bulger’s murder and racketeering conviction in federal court in Boston in 2013.
Bulger “received a certain level of rough justice,” Kelly said. “But it’s not the way the system is supposed to work in our federal prisons.”
The plea agreements reached between geas and two other inmates who previously pleaded guilty to charges related to Bulger’s slaying resolved the case without a trial, where geas’s lawyer had indicated they would have sought to shift some of the blame for Bulger’s death onto prison officials involved in his controversial transfer to hazelton.
The former south Boston crime boss was sentenced to life in prison for killing 11 people while running a sprawling criminal enterprise from the 1970s to the 1990s. he had previously been at prisons in florida and arizona in units designated for inmates, such as informants or pedophiles, who were believed to need protection from other inmates.
he was publicly identified in the late 1990s as a longtime fbi informant who provided information against local Mafiosi, yet was sent to hazelton and placed in general population alongside geas and other organized crime figures from Massachusetts. he was killed less than 12 hours after his arrival.
in December 2022, the Justice Department inspector general issued a scathing report that concluded mismanagement, confusion, and incompetence by the Bureau of Prisons led to Bulger’s slaying.
Bulger’s family sued the government in 2020, accusing federal prison officials of causing his death by sending him to hazelton, but the case was dismissed.
in court friday, nathan chambers, one of geas’s three lawyers, said the Bureau of Prisons’ “egregious” misconduct was an important consideration during plea negotiations.
“although Bop’s [the Bureau of Prison’s] conduct was shocking, there’s nothing i can say today that is going to lead to reforms by BOP” or hold accountable prison officials “whose conduct was not only egregious, but purposeful,” chambers said.
assistant Us attorney Brandon flower said video surveillance showed geas and another inmate, Paul J. Decologero, 50, of lowell, entering Bulger’s cell at 6:06 a.m. and leaving six minutes later. What happened inside the cell wasn’t captured on video, but the government and defense agreed on certain facts: geas got into a “verbal altercation” with Bulger and repeatedly struck him in the head. geas and Decologero covered Bulger with blankets and placed him on his bed, where he was discovered unresponsive by correctional officers two hours later.
a medical examiner determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma to his head, but Bulger also suffered injuries to his back and legs.
chambers told the judge that geas vehemently disputes another inmate’s claim that he beat Bulger with a padlock stuffed in a sock.
“no weapon was used, let alone a padlock attached to a belt,” chambers said during the hearing. he said many news organizations had inaccurately reported that Bulger was beaten until he was unrecognizable and had his eyes gouged out. “not true,” he said.
in august 2022, geas, Decologero, and sean Mckinnon, 38, who was born in Waltham and raised in vermont, were indicted on charges they plotted Bulger’s murder. all three signed plea agreements with the government in april.
Decologero admitted he served as the “lookout” while geas attacked Bulger and was sentenced in august to 51 months in prison after pleading guilty to an assault charge. he was ordered to serve that sentence on top of a 25-year sentence he is serving for a racketeering conviction in Boston.
Mckinnon pleaded guilty in June to lying to the fbi when he denied knowing geas and Decologero were involved in Bulger’s slaying. he was sentenced to time served — the 22 months he spent in prison since his 2022 indictment — and was released.
in a recent interview, steve Davis, whose 26-year-old sister Debra Davis was allegedly strangled to death by Bulger in 1981, said geas “helped ease my pain” by killing Bulger, and that he was thankful. Debra Davis was listed as one of Bulger’s alleged victims in his racketeering indictment, although the jury was not able to reach a unanimous verdict on his role in her death.
“he did me justice for my sister,” Davis said, adding that he would write to geas in prison to thank him. he said he didn’t know why geas killed Bulger, but said prison officials had to know Bulger wouldn’t survive in general population.
Two members of the law enforcement team that investigated Bulger for decades and helped secure his conviction, Daniel Doherty and steve Johnson, said geas’s conviction marked the end of the saga, but leaves lingering questions about Bulger’s slaying and what really happened in his cell. The only inmate who admitted to killing Bulger is already serving life.
“There is no real penalty,” said Doherty, a retired Drug Enforcement administration agent. “freddy is now looked at favorably in the can for what happened.”
The outcome is “anticlimactic” and lets prison officials who orchestrated Bulger’s transfer to hazelton “off the hook,” added Johnson, a retired Massachusetts state Police detective lieutenant.
“he gets murdered and basically nothing happens of any consequence to anybody,” Johnson said. “a trial would have been a better way to figure out what really happened . ... it just goes away, which is what everybody in the federal government wanted to happen to begin with.”