When news broke Tuesday that the infamous James “Whitey” Bulger was murdered shortly after being transferred to a West Virginia prison, people were also wondering who did it?

Local news outlets are reporting Fotios “Freddy” Geas is suspected of killing Bulger just hours after he was transferred to Hazelton federal penitentiary in West Virginia. 

51-year-old Geas is serving a life sentence at Hazelton for the 2003 murders of mob boss Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno and associate Gary Westerman. 

“He’s a rich man now. He’ll run any prison he’s in,” a law enforcement source told MassLive.com.

Officials say Geas has not disputed his role in the death of Bulger, according to the Boston Globe.

A source told DailyMail that Geas had previously been talking about outing people in the FBI before his death.

Private investigator Ted McDonough, who knew Geas, told the Boston Globe “Freddy hated rats.”

Sources close to the investigation say Bulger’s body was beaten and his eyes were nearly gouged out. 

Gouging a victims’ eyes and cutting tongues has long been a trademark signature of the mafia as a symbolic punishment for spying and warning to others.

“He has great disdain for informants,” Daniel D. Kelly, a lawyer who represented both Geas and his younger brother Ty Geas in several criminal cases, told MassLive. “I’m not saying Freddy did this just because the media says so, I’m just telling you what I know about him.”

Bulger, leader of the South Boston gang, was the ruthless kingpin of a criminal empire that a federal judge said committed “unfathomable” acts. His infamous reign would be the inspiration for Jack Nicholson’s character in Martin Scorsese’s film “The Departed.” Bulger evaded police for 16 years before his capture in 2011.

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