Boston mobster James 'Whitey' Bulger was investigated for loan sharking and beat an FBI informant months before he was recruited by the agency in the 1970s, newly declassified documents reveal

Newly released documents by the FBI show the agency's early investigations into James 'Whitey' Bulger's dealings as a loan shark, including that he at one point 'slapped around' an informant in late 1974

Newly released FBI documents show that murdered Boston mobster James 'Whitey' Bulger was being investigated for loan sharking, and had on at least one occasion beat an informant over late payments in the months before he struck a deal with the agency in 1975. 

The dealings were revealed in a 300-page trove of heavily redacted FBI documents on the notorious mobster recently released on the agency's website through a Freedom of Information Act request. 

Bulger, who in 2013 was found guilty of 11 murders and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, was found brutally murdered in his cell with his eyes gouged out in October 2018 at age 89, a day after he was transferred to a federal penitentiary in West Virginia. 

His family is suing the Federal Bureau of Prison for $200million in his death.

The documents revealed the FBI's early investigations into Bulger through wire taps, body recording devices and reports on his dealings as a Boston-area loan shark.

The bureau reported that on November, 1974 its mole was 'in fear for his life' after having received threats from various sharks, including Bulger, demanding he make so-called, 'juice payments,' or otherwise suffer consequences. 

Details of the investigation are outlined in roughly 300 pages of newly declassified, albeit heavily redacted FBI documents  

The agency had instructed that he withhold the back payments from five separate 'hoodlum groups' to further draw out the criminals.

Despite feeling threatened, the agency instructed its mole to continue withholding the loan payments, and to start wearing a recording device, saying, 'The Boston office feels that this matter should be continued in order to obtain additional incriminating evidence on major organized crime figures.' 

Another report states that on December 10, 1974, Bulger and another shark being investigated were secretly taped having 'highly incriminating' telephone conversations with the mole. 

Bulger was the notorious leader of the Winter Hill Gang in the 1970s. He is pictured in 1953 after one of his arrests

He was eventually arrested in 2011 and convicted in the murder of 11 people  

Then, in a reported dated Dec. 19, 1974, the agency says Bulger and other suspects had threatened the mole with 'bodily harm,' and that he 'was on one occasion "slapped around" and told to pay his debts.' 

The Boston Herald originally filed the FOIA request for the documents in August, 2019. 

Months later in 1975 Bulger, who at the time and for decades after was in control of South Boston's Winter Hill Gang, was recruited by FBI agent John 'Zip' Connolly. 

Connolly would later tip Bulger off in 1994 that the FBI was close to indicting him, allowing him to flee.

He would remain on the run for 16 years until he was arrested in Santa Monica, California in 2011 along with his girlfriend Catherine Grieg.

Whitey Bulger: Life and crimes of a mob kingpin 

Sept. 3, 1929: James Bulger is born to Irish immigrant parents living in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. He is the second of six children. His shock of platinum blonde hair earns him the nickname 'Whitey.'

Sept. 3, 1929: James Bulger is born to Irish immigrant parents living in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. He is the second of six children. His shock of platinum blonde hair earns him the nickname 'Whitey.'

1956: Whitey Bulger is sentenced to federal prison for bank robbery. After he's suspected of plotting an escape from one prison, he's transferred to Alcatraz.

1956: Whitey Bulger is sentenced to federal prison for bank robbery. After he's suspected of plotting an escape from one prison, he's transferred to Alcatraz.

1960: Bulger's younger brother, William, is elected to the state House of Representatives. John Connolly, a childhood friend from South Boston, works on the campaign.

1960: Bulger's younger brother, William, is elected to the state House of Representatives. John Connolly, a childhood friend from South Boston, works on the campaign.

1965: Bulger is released from prison and returns to Boston. He becomes a top underling to local mobster Howie Winter, boss of the Winter Hill Gang.

1965: Bulger is released from prison and returns to Boston. He becomes a top underling to local mobster Howie Winter, boss of the Winter Hill Gang.

1970: William Bulger is elected to the state Senate.

1970: William Bulger is elected to the state Senate.

1975: Bulger cuts a deal with Connolly - now a Boston-based FBI agent - to provide information on the Italian Mafia in exchange for protection.

1975: Bulger cuts a deal with Connolly - now a Boston-based FBI agent - to provide information on the Italian Mafia in exchange for protection.

1978: William Bulger becomes president of the state Senate.

1978: William Bulger becomes president of the state Senate.

1981: Roger Wheeler, owner of World Jai Alai, a gambling enterprise from which Bulger was skimming money, is shot between the eyes in the parking lot of his country club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

1981: Roger Wheeler, owner of World Jai Alai, a gambling enterprise from which Bulger was skimming money, is shot between the eyes in the parking lot of his country club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Bulger, pictured in 1994, disappeared on the eve of his indictment on racketeering charges in 1995

1982: Bulger and Stephen 'The Rifleman' Flemmi gun down a former henchman in broad daylight on a South Boston street to silence him over the Wheeler murder. Connolly files a report with the FBI saying rival gangsters made the hit.

1982: Bulger and Stephen 'The Rifleman' Flemmi gun down a former henchman in broad daylight on a South Boston street to silence him over the Wheeler murder. Connolly files a report with the FBI saying rival gangsters made the hit.

July 1982: Flemmi and Bulger order a hit on John Callahan, the former president of World Jai Alai.

July 1982: Flemmi and Bulger order a hit on John Callahan, the former president of World Jai Alai.

January 1995: Bulger disappears on the eve of his indictment on racketeering charges.

January 1995: Bulger disappears on the eve of his indictment on racketeering charges.

1997: The FBI, under court order, admits that Bulger was a 'top echelon' informant launching a federal probe into the agency's corrupt ties to its mob informants.

1997: The FBI, under court order, admits that Bulger was a 'top echelon' informant launching a federal probe into the agency's corrupt ties to its mob informants.

June 22, 2011: Bulger is arrested in Santa Monica, CA, with girlfriend Catherine Grieg.

June 22, 2011: Bulger is arrested in Santa Monica, CA, with girlfriend Catherine Grieg.

Aug 12, 2013: Bulger is found guilty of a raft of racketeering charges, including his role in 11 murders.

Aug 12, 2013: Bulger is found guilty of a raft of racketeering charges, including his role in 11 murders.

Nov 13 2013: Bulger, aged 84 , is sentenced to two consecutive life sentences plus five years. Before announcing her sentence, the judge tells Bulger that the 'scope, callousness and depravity of your crimes are almost unfathomable.' She says they are made 'all the more heinous because they were all about money.'

Nov 13 2013: Bulger, aged 84 , is sentenced to two consecutive life sentences plus five years. Before announcing her sentence, the judge tells Bulger that the 'scope, callousness and depravity of your crimes are almost unfathomable.' She says they are made 'all the more heinous because they were all about money.'

Oct. 30, 2018: Bulger is found dead inside USP Hazelton at 8.20am, the day after he was transferred to the federal prison in West Virginia.

Oct. 30, 2018: Bulger is found dead inside USP Hazelton at 8.20am, the day after he was transferred to the federal prison in West Virginia.