Freddy Geas, a convicted killer with an open disdain for informants, is viewed as a person-of-interest in the killing of Boston mobster Whitey Bulger. Geas’ connection to the October 30 killing at the U.S. Federal Prison in Hazelton, West Virginia, was first reported by the Boston Globe.
Bulger was moved to the prison in West Virginia on the morning of October 30. That same day, a homicide was reported inside the maximum security facility. TMZ reported that Bulger, who was wheelchair bound, was set upon by inmates inside of his cell. That occurred at around 8 a.m. The TMZ report says Bulger was attacked with a padlock in a sock and some kind of shiv. Inmates could be seen attempting to clean up the blood with a bucket and mop after the killing. The article says that inmates attempted to gouge out one of Bulger’s eyes and to rip out his tongue, but failed. When Bulger was found by officers, he had dents in his head. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Bulger was 89 years old.
Fotios “Freddy” Geas, 51, is serving a life sentence and has exhausted all of his appeals in his case.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. One of Geas’ Friends Said the Mobster ‘Hated Rats’
Speaking to the Boston Globe, private investigator Ted McDonough, said, “Freddy hates rats. Freddy hated guys who abused women. Whitey was a rat who killed women. It’s probably that simple.” Since the 1970s, Whitey Bulger had worked as an FBI informant while also helming his criminal empire in South Boston. Geas’ lawyer, David Hoose, told the Globe that his client “wouldn’t rat on anybody. And he had no respect for anyone who did.”
2. Geas’ Greek Ancestry Meant He Never Held a Rank in the Italian Mob
Geas’ real name is Fotios Geas. The Springfield Republican reported in a March 2015 feature on the Geas brothers that due to their Greek ancestry, the pair could never hold an offical rank within the Italian mob. The piece goes on to say that Geas first did time at 22 after threatening to murder a witness in a case involving his brother. His brother was accused of firing an assault weapon at a high school hockey game. Ty Geas was 17 at the time. Shortly afterwards, Geas also pleaded guilty to smashing a classic car during a nightclub brawl, according to the Republican.
The pair had a string of convictions in the 1990s. In the 2000s, the brothers began to work for Massachusetts mafia kingpin Anthony Arillotta. They and Arillotta were acquitted of extortion in 2008.
3. Geas Is in the Midst of a Life Sentence for the Gangland Murders of Adolfo Bruno & Gary Westerman
In 2003, Geas helped to assassinate Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno, the then head of the mafia in Springfield, Massachusetts, who answered to New York’s Genovese family. They were also accused of the murder of a local drug dealer, Gary Westerman. Prosecutors in Springfield said that the Geas brothers became involved in the crime in their role as muscle for Arillotta. Arillotta was attempting to unseat Bruno as the boss of the mob in Springfield. Gary Westerman, a drug dealer in the region, was Arillotta’s brother-in-law and a close associate of Bruno. Westerman’s body was discovered after Arillotta became a government informant. Freddy Geas and his brother, Ty, were convicted of Bruno and Westerman’s murders in 2011.
Arillotta testified that Freddy Geas shot Westerman twice in the head. He added that Geas “marveled” in the teamwork that went into the murders of Bruno and Westerman, according to the Republican. Geas was also accused of recruiting his friend, Frankie Roche, to execute Bruno. Reputed mob journalist Jerry Capeci says that Roche was paid $10,000 by Geas for the action. In 2013, Roche was sentenced to 14 years for his part in the murder. Capeci says that Roche described the killing saying, “Bruno came out of the social club. I walked up to Bruno and said, “Hey Al, you looking for me?” and I popped him.”
On his website, private investigator Ted McDonough writes of the Bruno murder and Geas’ involvement, “The consensus on the street and in law enforcement was that the New York wise guys would not have two Greek brothers (Freddy and Ty Geas; Ty was later indicted) hire a nutcase with an extensive record to murder a Boss and then not kill Roche afterward. Freddy and Ty were serious and dangerous muscle for the mafia in Springfield and Hartford Ct.”
4. Geas’ Daughter Described the Hitman as ‘a Flawed Man That’s Paying for the Choices He Made’
Geas’ daughter wrote a touching opinion piece about her father in the Springfield Republican in January 2016. Taylor Geas wrote that when she was younger, she was “under the impression” that her father wasn’t around because he was in the army. Taylor Geas described her father as a “flawed man that’s paying for the choices he made. My dad is intelligent and one of the best people I know. I know who he really is behind all of the obligations that were expected of him because of the organization in which he was affiliated.” Taylor Geas went on to write that she remembers her father crying the first time he had to leave her to go to prison.
The Republican said in their feature on Geas that in 2013, that he sent out hand drawn Christmas cards to friends and family that featured a snowman wearing a masking and being armed with a hairdryer, robbing another snowman. The Geas brothers initially were sentenced to do time together, however when they were accused of assaulting a fellow inmate, they were moved. Geas is in Hazelton while his brother is in the Victorville U.S. Penitentiary in California. Like his brother, Ty Geas has exhausted all of his appeals in his case.
5. Hazelton Is Regarded as One of the Toughest Prisons in the Federal System
West Virginia News had confirmed through the president of Local 420 of the American Federation of Government Employees, Richard Heldreth, that a murder had taken place at the Hazelton prison on the morning of October 30. That article referred to Hazelton as “one of the federal system’s roughest prisons with more than 1,200.”
The Boston Globe reports that another infamous Boston-mobster in Hazelton is convicted killer Paul Weadick. Weadick was convicted in June 2018 of the 1993 murder of Steven DiSarro, a South Boston business owner. Bulger’s one-time henchman, Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, testified during Weadick’s trial that he had walked in on Weadick killing DiSarro, but hastily left. That murder trial also involved New England mobster, Frank Salemme, 85. Salemme and Weadick were both sentenced to life in the case.
READ NEXT: Michigan School Teachers Admit to Being Porn Stars on the Side