3 Men Charged in 2018 Killing of Mob Boss James 'Whitey' Bulger Have Made Plea Deals: Report

Bulger was killed while serving two life sentences in federal prison in 2018

Three men charged for the fatal 2018 beating of famous mobster James "Whitey" Bulger have reportedly reached plea deals with prosecutors.

Fotios "Freddy" Geas, Paul "Pauly" J. DeCologero, and Sean McKinnon — who were charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in August 2022 — have accepted plea agreements, according to court papers filed on May 13, per outlets including the Associated Press, CNN, and NBC News.

The plea deals come almost six years after Bulger was killed on Oct. 30, 2018, at age 89 while serving two life sentences in federal prison.

Per CNN, former mafia hitman Geas and Massachusetts gangster DeCologero have been accused of beating Bulger to death while McKinnon acted as a lookout. The attack took place just hours after the Boston mob boss was transferred to the United States Penitentiary Hazelton in Bruceton Mills, W.Va.

The outlet stated the three men had agreed to plead guilty and “agree to cooperate with the United States Probation Office.”

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of West Virginia had no further comment when contacted by PEOPLE.

A federal judge must now approve the plea deals, per CNN, and prosecutors asked the court to schedule hearings for the men to change their pleas and be sentenced. The terms of the plea deals weren't included in the documents, according to NBC News.

Per the AP, an inmate witness recalled DeCologero calling Bulger a "snitch," stating he had said they planned to kill him when he returned to their unit. Prosecutors also stated that DeCologero told an inmate that he and Geas used a belt with a lock attached to it in the attack.

As previously reported by PEOPLE in August 2022, in addition to the conspiracy to commit first-degree murder charges, Geas and DeCologero had also been charged with aiding and abetting first-degree murder, along with assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of West Virginia confirmed at the time that Geas was facing a separate charge for murder by a federal inmate serving a life sentence, while McKinnon faced a separate charge of making false statements to a federal agent.

Geas and DeCologero allegedly killed Bulger by hitting him "in the head multiple times."

Bulger, who was the subject of the 2015 movie Black Mass starring Johnny Depp, was found “unresponsive” at approximately 8:20 a.m. local time on Oct. 30, 2018, PEOPLE previously confirmed.

“Life-saving measures were initiated immediately by responding staff,” the Federal Bureau of Prisons said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE at the time. “Mr. Bulger was subsequently pronounced dead by the Preston County Medical Examiner.”

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Bulger was convicted in 2013 of 31 federal criminal counts including participating in drug dealing, extortion and murder. He was also convicted of committing or ordering the murders of 11 people during the 1970s and ’80s.

Bulger, who had been an FBI informant, served as the head of Boston's Winter Hill Gang for nearly three decades before fleeing Massachusetts in 1994 after an FBI agent warned him he was about to be indicted.

Bulger spent more than 15 years on the run, but authorities caught up with him in 2011, apprehending him in Santa Monica, Calif.

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