Mass. mobster 'Whitey' Bulger reportedly taken to hospital for chest pains

BOSTON – Mobster James "Whitey" Bulger was taken to a Boston hospital after complaining of chest pains at the prison where he is awaiting trial for his alleged role in 19 murders, Massachusetts officials say.

Bulger, 83, the former leader of the Winter Hill Gang, was hospitalized Sunday for chest pains at Boston Medical Center, according to media outlets, although a hospital spokeswoman told The Associated Press she had no information on any patient named Bulger.

Plymouth Fire Department battalion chief Kevin Murphy told The Boston Globe that firefighters responded to the Plymouth County Correctional Facility at 1:48 a.m. Sunday and took Bulger to Boston Medical Center. Murphy refused to comment when contacted by the AP.

WBUR-FM in Boston first reported that Bulger was hospitalized for chest pains, citing unnamed law enforcement sources.

The U.S. attorney's office, the U.S. Marshals Service, and Bulger attorney Hank Brennan declined to comment.

Bulger's trial is scheduled to begin in March, but his lawyers have said they cannot be ready by then because they are reviewing more than 300,000 documents turned over by prosecutors. Last week, they asked that the trial be moved to November 2013.

Bulger's lawyers say in court papers filed Friday that the current trial date infringes on Bulger's constitutional rights to effective counsel and due process.

Bulger's lead attorney, J.W. Carney Jr., has repeatedly complained that prosecutors have turned over documents in a disorganized fashion. Prosecutors have accused Carney of using stall tactics.

Bulger fled Boston in 1994 and was captured last year in Santa Monica, Calif.

The defense says Bulger was an FBI informant who had immunity to commit crimes while he was providing information about the Mafia, his gang's main rival. In court papers filed this week, Carney identified former U.S. Attorney Jeremiah O'Sullivan as the federal official Bulger claims gave him immunity. O'Sullivan died in 2009.

Prosecutors say Bulger never received immunity from anyone.