Infamous Boston gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger Jr. has been killed in prison, shortly after he was moved to a federal institution in West Virginia.
The 89-year-old, who was portrayed in a film about his life by Hollywood star Johnny Depp, was killed while in prison, according to reports in the Boston Globe.
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Newsweek reports, based in Boston, Michele McPhee, broke the news on Twitter that he had died.
The details of his death are still unclear as official sources are yet to confirm what happened, but a local union official for correctional workers at the prison told CBS that a 'homicide' occurred on Tuesday morning at United States Penitentiary, Hazelton.
According to local outlet WVNews Richard Heldreth, the president of the corrections officers' union at Hazelton confirmed a male inmate had been killed there overnight, but he didn't confirm it was Bulger.
However, in a phone interview he admitted that the prison Bulger had been moved to was struggling to cope.
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He said: "This is the third homicide in seven months at our facility. We are very understaffed, we are short about 40 officers."
The famed criminal mastermind was reportedly found dead in his cell at Hazelton, a maximum security prison he had recently been transferred to after leaving a Florida jail.
Bulger was convicted in 2013 for committing 11 murders, after evading police for 16 years.
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Known as the leader of South Boston's Winter Hill gang, which dominated the area for two decades, Bulger's life has gone on to inspire several films over the years, the most recent being the 2015 movie Black Mass, which starred Depp.
The Bureau of Prisons declined to comment last week on the reason why Bulger - who was serving a life sentence - was being moved to another prison.
As well as a ruthless killer, Bulger was an FBI informant, which eventually caused a huge amount of embarrassment for the Bureau after several corrupted agents were reported to have accepted bribes and protected him during his numerous prison visits.
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