The Slatest

Whitey Bulger Sentenced to Life in Prison

An FBI special agent adjusted a poster at a 2011 press conference announcing that Whitey Bulger had been arrested after decades on the run

Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

And so the trial of Whitey Bulger comes to an end, via the Associated Press:

Former Boston crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger was sentenced Thursday to life in prison for his murderous reign in the 1970s and’$2 80s, bringing to a close a case that exposed FBI corruption so deep that many people across the city thought he would never be brought to justice.

Bulger, 84, was defiant to the end, calling his trial on racketeering charges a sham and refusing to testify or provide information to probation officials preparing a sentencing report for the judge. A jury convicted Bulger in August in a broad racketeering indictment that included murder, extortion, money-laundering and weapons charges. The jury convicted Bulger in 11 of the 19 killings he was charged with participating in but acquitted him of seven and could not reach a conclusion on an eighth.

The 84-year-old mob boss was given two life sentences plus an additional five years in prison, and was also ordered to pay $19.5 million in restitution to the families of his victims, and to forfeit $25.2 million to the government.