(Photo/Whitey Bulger)
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — A federal inmate who served as lookout while inmate Whitey Bulger was beaten to death at FCI Hazelton in 2018 has been sentenced to four additional years in federal prison.
Massachusetts gangster Paul J. DeCologero, 50, could have been sentenced to 10 additional years, but lawyers successfully argued he was only a lookout and did not deliver any of the fatal blows. DeCologero was already serving a 25-year sentence for buying heroin that was used to kill a teenage girl in 2006.
DeCologero declined to speak, but his attorney did deliver an apology to the family on his behalf.
Another inmate, Sean McKinnon, pleaded guilty in June to lying to FBI special agents and was given credit for 22 months served following his 2022 indictment. He is currently in Florida on supervised release.
Freddy Geas has been charged with murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in connection with the crime. That carries up to a life sentence. His hearing is scheduled for Sept. 6.