James "Whitey" Bulger, a high-profile Boston gangster whose exploits inspired the 2015 biopic "Black Mass," was found dead Tuesday at a West Virginia prison.
Bulger, 89, was found unresponsive about 8:20 a.m. at USP Hazelton, a high-security federal facility in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia, according to a statement from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
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Bulger was pronounced dead by the Preston County Medical Examiner.
"The Federal Bureau of Investigation was notified and an investigation has been initiated. No staff or other inmates were injured, and at no time was the public in danger," the statement said.
Once one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, Bulger was transferred Monday to Hazelton. He had been held at a prison in Florida before a stint at an Oklahoma facility.
Bulger, the former leader of a Boston-based organized crime outfit, was serving a life sentence following his 2013 conviction for a series of crimes, including his roles in 11 different murders.