A Massachusetts man was sentenced to greater than 4 years in federal jail for his function within the homicide of James “Whitey” Bulger in a West Virginia jail in 2018.
Paul “Pauly” DeCologero pleaded responsible to a single cost of assault leading to severe bodily damage at a federal courtroom in Clarksburg, West Virginia, Thursday. In return, federal prosecutors dropped different prices included within the 2022 superseding indictment: conspiracy to commit first-degree homicide and first-degree homicide.
Chief District Choose Thomas S. Kleeh sentenced DeCologero to 51 months in federal jail, which is 4 years and three months. DeCologero was already serving a 25-year sentence handed down in 2006 after he was convicted of shopping for heroin used to attempt to kill a teenage woman.
DeCologero, based on the stipulations of the Thursday plea settlement, “served as a lookout” as one other inmate, Fotios “Freddy” Geas, beat Bulger to dying in his cell over a number of minutes simply after 6 a.m.. When the infirm previous Boston killer laid lifeless on the ground of cell 132, Geas and DeCologero positioned him in his bunk and coated all however the high of his head with bedding.
About an hour later, jail workers noticed “blood on Bulger’s head, and he was unresponsive,” the settlement states. “Staff attempted emergency medical treatment, but Bulger was pronounced dead at 9:04 a.m.
Bulger, who was in poor health, arrived to the prison from a different prison in Florida at about 8:30 p.m. the evening before
An autopsy revealed what was apparent on Bulger’s battered body: that significant blunt-force injuries to his head killed him. The blankets that covered his body, a crime lab found, contained DNA matching DeCologero.
DeCologero was not always described by authorities as a “lookout.” Within the authentic indictment, prosecutors alleged that each Geas and DeCologero struck Bulger within the head a number of instances whereas a 3rd man, Sean McKinnon, served as a lookout.
A federal prosecutor throughout a detention listening to for McKinnon mentioned that DeCologero had admitted to that “they collectively were the guys that killed Bulger” and that he and Geas had “used a belt with a lock attached to it” to beat Bulger to dying over a roughly seven-minute interval.
Court docket information present that every one three males had agreed to tackle plea offers. Plea change hearings for Geas and McKinnon — who’s charged with mendacity to federal authorities — have but to happen.
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