James Comey on Whitey Bulger’s prison murder: ‘You want to learn from it’
The former FBI director says he expects that Bulger's gruesome killing will be fully investigated.
James Comey says it’s “terrible” when anyone is killed while in the custody of law enforcement, and that includes infamous former Boston mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger.
The former FBI director says he wants to see a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding Bulger’s gruesome death in a West Virginia prison last month. The 89-year-old wheelchair bound Bulger was reportedly beaten to death by fellow inmates shortly after being transferred to USP Hazelton, a high-security federal prison.
“If I were running the Department of Justice, I would want a big team of experts on that right away to figure out who did it, how did it happen, where were the drops along the way,” Comey told WGBH’s Jared Bowen toward the end of a wide-ranging interview Monday night at the Boston Public Library.
“It’s terrible when anyone is killed in your custody,” he said. “You want to learn from it. And I got to assume that’s going on now.”
Amid criticism of federal officials for not adequately protecting Bulger in a prison “full of suspects” with a reputation of violence, Comey said he expects full accountability.
“It’s in the hands of the inspector general for the Department of Justice, a very competent and aggressive group of people, and I’m sure they’re going to dig into it in a great way,” he said.
The inspector general’s office, which serves as the DOJ’s internal watchdog, launched a review earlier this month, requesting additional information from the Bureau of Prisons “about conditions affecting safety and security” at Hazelton. Comey says he doesn’t know how much of that information will become public, but reiterated his confidence in investigators.
“There will be quality work done,” he said.
https://youtu.be/3zIyREmctMc?t=795
