Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger, who was sentenced this month to two life terms, has been transferred to a federal lockup in New York City that has a checkered past, records show.
The Bureau of Prisons does not comment on the movements of specific inmates, but a spokesman for the agency said it is not uncommon for prisoners to be transferred from one facility to another before they wind up at their final destination.
The Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center is an administrative facility that can house prisoners at all security levels but is mainly occupied by men and women awaiting trial or serving short sentences.
Two months ago, a federal judge called for an investigation into the Brooklyn MDC because an accused cop killer had fathered a child with a guard there.
Nearly 20 years ago, a mobster named George Zappola got a guard to smuggle out his sperm and send it to a fertility clinic so his girfriend could use it to get pregnant.
A probe titled "Operation Badfellas" uncovered a breathtaking pattern of corruption at the jail, with correction officers taking bribes to bring organized-crime prisoners Italian heros, meatballs, olive oil, cheese, pastries, booze, clothing and electronic equipment.
Bulger, 84, was held at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts during his trial over the summer. It's not known how long he will spend at the Brooklyn jail or where he will ultimately serve out his sentence.
He's done hard time before, serving nine years in infamous prisons like Alcatraz and Leavenworth for bank robbery before his iron-fisted reign as the leader of South Boston's Winter Hill Gang.
After fleeing Boston in 1994 — thanks to a tipoff from a corrupt FBI agent — Bulger spent 16 years on the lam. He was nabbed in California in 2011 and convicted in August of a racketeering charge that covered 11 murders and other crimes.
He plans to appeal.
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