Ex-Boston mobster Bulger sentenced to 2 life terms plus 5 years

BOSTON, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Former Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger was sentenced to two life-in-prison terms plus five years and ordered to pay $19.5 million in restitution Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Denise Casper cited the "depravity" of Bulger's crimes during his bloody reign in Boston's underworld when she sentenced him, The Boston Globe reported.

"The testimony of human suffering that you and your associates inflicted on others was at times antagonizing to hear and painful to watch," Casper said. "The scope, the callousness, the depravity of your crimes, are almost unfathomable."

Bulger, 84, was convicted earlier this year for participating in 11 murders, drug trafficking, racketeering, money laundering, extortion, and other crimes during his crime rampage. Bulger, who fled Boston shortly before a racketeering indictment against him was handed down, was captured in June 2011 in California. He was listed on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list.

Expressionless, Bulger listened to Casper's remarks and then stood between his lawyers as he was sentenced, the Globe said.

Besides the $19.5 million she ordered Bulger to pay in restitution to his victims' families, Casper ordered him to forfeit $25.2 million to the government.

"You have, in some ways over time become a face of this city," Casper said. "It's regrettable."

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons will decide where Bulger serves his sentence, the Globe said.

Casper also said another court would consider Bulger's claim that his trial was unfair, adding, "in my humblest estimation you received a fair trial."