Months before his grisly death inside a West Virginia prison cell, Boston mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger penned a slew a letters contemplating his health, his crime-ridden past, his longtime girlfriend and his love for President Donald Trump.
In several handwritten missives shared with NBC News, which published excerpts on Saturday, Bulger heaped praise on Trump while employing one of the commander-in-chief’s favorite tactics: bashing the media.
“Trump is tough and fights back instead of bowing down to pressure ― and caving in to press!” he wrote in August 2018. “U.S. agrees with him press attacking and his reaction increases his popularity ― He has my vote so far.”
That same month, Bulger applauded the president’s foreign policy, arguing that “China respects him and hesitant to try to bully him.”
The letters also revealed that Bulger was a fan of right-wing opinion hosts such as Fox News’ Sean Hannity and radio personality Rush Limbaugh.
Much like the conservative commentators, Bulger took aim at former special counsel Robert Mueller, claiming Trump was “being boxed in by so many.”
“Trump is experiencing what Mueller and company can orchestrate,” he wrote in a separate September letter. “[Mueller] should observe biblical saying - ‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.’”
Mueller served in Boston’s U.S. attorney’s office in the 1980s, later heading up the FBI, which faced a wave of scrutiny for protecting Bulger after he became a prized informant in 1975.
Federal authorities suspect Bulger organized or carried out 19 murders as the kingpin of the Winter Hill Gang formed in the city’s Somerville neighborhood. However, he was only convicted of involvement in 11.
Bulger eventually went into hiding and spent 16 years on the run, being captured in 2011 in Santa Monica, California.
In 2018, Bulger’s fate was sealed when he was transferred from a Florida prison to one of America’s most dangerous ― U.S. Penitentiary Hazelton, a high-security federal lockup where he was bludgeoned to death just one day after his arrival.
A Boston Globe report published after the killing revealed that Freddy Geas, a convicted hit man and fellow inmate who allegedly “hated rats,” was believed to be a suspect.
According to NBC, no one has yet been charged in the killing, and it remains unknown why Bulger was transferred there.