A former mafia hitman is to be sentenced in prison for the murder of gangster James “Whitey” Bulger

CLARKSBURG, West Virginia (AP) – A former Mafia hitman is set to be sentenced in prison for the fatal killing of notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger after reaching an agreement with prosecutors to change his plea from not guilty.

Federal inmate Fotios “Freddy” Geas is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in northern West Virginia on Friday.

Prosecutors said Geas repeatedly struck 89-year-old Bulger on the head with a lock attached to a belt hours after he arrived at the U.S. Penitentiary in Hazelton, West Virginia, from another prison in Florida in October 2018.

Bulger, who ran the predominantly Irish Mafia in Boston in the 1970s and 1980s, was an informant and betrayed his gang's main rival, according to the FBI. Bulger vehemently denied ever being a government informant.

Bulger became one of the country's most wanted criminals after escaping Boston in 1994. He was captured at age 81 after more than 16 years on the run and convicted in 2013 of a series of 11 murders and dozens of other gang-related crimes.

Geas, who authorities say was a Mafia hitman, is already serving a life sentence for previous violent crimes. He is charged with murder and conspiracy to commit premeditated murder of Bulger, each of which carries a life sentence. Last year, the Justice Department said it would not seek the death penalty.

Court records do not indicate how Geas will plead, but the court scheduled sentencing for the same hearing. Plea bargains for Geas and two other Hazelton inmates were announced on May 13, and a lawyer for Geas did not oppose the government's motion.

Another inmate, Massachusetts mobster Paul J. DeCologero, was sentenced in August to more than four years in prison for assault. Prosecutors said he served as a guard while Geas beat Bulger. A third inmate, Sean McKinnon, pleaded guilty in June to lying to FBI special agents and received no additional prison time.

An incarcerated witness testified before a grand jury that DeCologero told him Bulger was a “snitch” and that they planned to kill him as soon as he entered their unit.