MURDERED CRIME boss James 'Whitey' Bulger was made to suffer prior to his death if the disturbing details that have surfaced online are to be believed.
Bulger was murdered by three of his fellow inmates following his transfer to the Hazelton penitentiary in West Virginia.
The 89-year-old Bulger was jailed in 2013 for the murder of 11 different people following a 16-year manhunt that ended when the veteran crime boss turned himself in.
A notorious criminal presence in Boston, with ties to illegal gambling, drug trafficking, extortion, racketeering and murder, Bulger also served as an FBI informant.
And it would appear that Whitey's duplicitous and violent past finally caught up with him if the details published by TMZ are to be believed.
According to the US gossip website, the now wheelchair-bound Bulger was attacked and killed by three fellow prison inmates.
The trio is alleged to have tried to pluck Bulger's eyes from their sockets with a shiv. When those attempts proved unsuccessful they allegedly beat him to death with a special lock in a sock'.
This particular piece of prison-made weaponry made from pieces of metal collected inside a sock and used to repeatedly strike the intended victim with severe force.
The lethal attack took place in a corner of the prison selected by the inmates because it is away from the watching eye of the facility's security cameras.
According to the TMZ report, the gruesome attack was possibly motivated by Bulger's decision to serve as an informant.
Their research suggests that back in the 1940s, mobsters were known to gouge out the eyes of any informants speaking to the police.
The men alleged to have killed Whitey are thought to have links to the Mafia.
Bulger was killed shortly after arriving at Hazelton on Monday night. His body was only discovered on Tuesday morning with the initial 911 call claiming he had gone into cardiac arrtest.
A statement released by US attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia William Powell said:
"The US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of West Virginia and the FBI will be conducting an investigation into the death of James Bulger."
"No other information will be released at this time."
Bulger had been transferred to the prison due to his failing health and was set to be moved to a secure medical facility prior to the attack.