Holiday Auction Closing December 7 ,2019
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/7/2019
Offered is a signature and handwritten return envelope from former organized crime figure James “Whitey” Bulger, mailed by him from the Bulger was incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary Coleman II in Sumterville, Florida. Bulger has signed his name “James Bulger 02182748” in black pen in the upper left corner of the 4 x 9½-inch white standard envelope. Bulger has inscribed his mailing address at the federal prison, “Federal Correctional Complex United States Penitentiary Column 11, P. O. Box 1034 KL/132 Coleman, FL 33521.” The envelope is postmarked “Tampa, FL 08 May 2017”. Bulger led the Winter Hill Gang in the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts.
On December 23, 1994, Bulger fled the Boston area and went into hiding after his former FBI handler, John Connolly, tipped him off about a pending RICO indictment against him. Bulger remained at large for 16 years. Bulger was finally apprehended outside an apartment complex in Santa Monica, California on June 22, 2011. By then he was 81 years old. Bulger's trial began on June 12, 2013. He was tried on 32 counts of racketeering, money laundering, extortion and weapons charges, including complicity in 19 murders. On August 12, Bulger was found guilty on 31 counts, including both racketeering charges and was found to have been involved in 11 murders. On November 14, he received two consecutive life sentences plus five years for his crimes and was incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary Coleman II in Sumterville, Florida. Bulger was transferred to several facilities in October 2018; first to the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma and then to the United States Penitentiary, Hazelton, near Bruceton Mills, West Virginia. Bulger, who was in a wheelchair, was found dead on October 30, 2018, at the age of 89. He was killed by inmates within hours of his arrival at Hazelton. This item has been encapsulated and authenticated by PSA/DNA (84128265) and is graded MINT 9.