BOSTON, Massachusetts (AFP) – Jurors on Monday convicted Boston underworld kingpin James “Whitey” Bulger on a raft of murder and other criminal charges, local media reported.
After five days of deliberations, the jury of four women and eight men found Bulger guilty of all but one of the 32 counts he faced.
At the age of 83, Bulger — a fugitive for 16 years before his arrest in California in 2011 — is likely to spend the last days of his life behind bars.
Sentencing was set for November 13.
Bulger had been charged with 19 murders as well as extortion, money laundering and arms trafficking.
His trial, which began June 4, featured chilling testimony from 63 prosecution witnesses — including tales of teeth being pulled from murder victims to prevent their posthumous identification and the strangulation of a mobster’s girlfriend because she “knew too much.”
“The Winter Hill gang and the Mafia acted as judge, jury and sometimes executioners in any dispute. They act as the law in the criminal world,” said prosecutor Fred Wyshak before the jurors began their deliberations.
