Paul DeCologero: Crew History, Bulger Killing, and Sentence

Paul J. DeCologero is a Massachusetts man serving a 25-year federal sentence for racketeering and witness tampering tied to a 1990s Boston-area crime crew run by his uncle, and in 2024 he was sentenced to an additional 51 months for acting as the lookout in the 2018 prison killing of former Boston crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger.

The DeCologero Crew

DeCologero belonged to a criminal enterprise known as the “DeCologero Crew,” led by his uncle Paul A. “Big Paulie” DeCologero and operated out of a gym in Woburn, Massachusetts. Between roughly 1995 and 1997, the group tried to carve out a piece of the Boston-area drug trade by robbing rival dealers, extorting others, and distributing marijuana and cocaine. They terrorized more than a dozen local dealers during that stretch.¹

The crew operated independently of the Patriarca crime family, the dominant New England Mafia organization. Members included Paul A. DeCologero, his nephews Paul J. DeCologero and John P. DeCologero Jr., and associates Joseph F. Pavone, Thomas Regan, Stephen DiCenso, Kevin Meuse, Derek Capozzi, and John P. DeCologero Sr.¹

The Killing of Aislin Silva

The most serious crime attributed to the crew was the 1996 murder of Aislin Silva, a 19-year-old living in Medford. Silva was a friend of crew member Stephen DiCenso, who had been stashing stolen guns at her apartment. When police found the weapons in November 1996, Paul A. DeCologero feared Silva would cooperate with investigators and ordered her killed.²

Paul J. DeCologero’s assigned role was to procure high-grade heroin at his uncle’s direction. The plan was to pass the heroin off as cocaine so Silva would fatally overdose. DiCenso and Kevin Meuse gave her the drugs, but she did not die.¹²³

Meuse, the man who physically killed Silva, took his own life in March 1997, long before any crew member stood trial.²

Federal Conviction and 25-Year Sentence

A federal grand jury in the District of Massachusetts indicted the crew on October 17, 2001. After a 39-day trial, a jury returned verdicts on March 20, 2006. Paul J. DeCologero was convicted of RICO conspiracy, substantive RICO charges, witness tampering conspiracy, witness tampering by misleading conduct, and witness tampering by attempted murder in connection with the Silva killing. He was also convicted of conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to distribute and being a felon in possession of a firearm, with predicate acts including a 1995 robbery and kidnapping of a drug dealer named Richie Pesaturo and the extortion of Shane Finethy.¹

On August 30, 2006, U.S. District Judge Rya W. Zobel sentenced him to 25 years in federal prison.⁴ His uncle Paul A. DeCologero received life without parole for witness tampering by murder. The First Circuit affirmed the convictions and sentences in 2008.⁵ A later challenge arguing that the government had withheld FBI reports pointing to an alternative suspect was rejected by the district court in 2013 and by the First Circuit in 2015, which called the trial evidence against the crew “overwhelming.”⁶

Role in the Killing of Whitey Bulger

While serving that sentence, DeCologero was housed at USP Hazelton in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia, when 89-year-old James “Whitey” Bulger was transferred there on October 29, 2018. Bulger, the former Boston crime boss and longtime FBI informant, was beaten to death inside his cell on October 30, less than 12 hours after arrival.⁷

Prosecutors said the attack came together almost as soon as inmates learned Bulger was coming. Surveillance footage showed DeCologero and fellow inmate Fotios “Freddy” Geas entering Bulger’s cell at about 6:06 a.m., minutes after cell doors were unlocked. They stayed inside for roughly seven minutes. A third inmate, Sean McKinnon, acted as a lookout from a nearby table with a view of the cell and the officers’ station. Bulger was found dead at 8:07 a.m. According to prosecutors, Geas and DeCologero used a belt with a padlock attached to it to bludgeon Bulger in the head, then placed his body in his bunk and covered him with bedding so only the top of his head was visible.⁸⁹

DeCologero allegedly told an inmate witness that Bulger was a “snitch” and that they had planned to kill him as soon as he arrived in their unit. A crime lab identified DNA matching DeCologero on the blankets used to cover Bulger’s body.⁹

Plea Deal and 51-Month Sentence

Federal prosecutors charged all three inmates on August 18, 2022. Geas and DeCologero were charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, first-degree murder, and assault resulting in serious bodily injury; McKinnon was charged with conspiracy and making false statements to a federal agent. The Justice Department confirmed it would not seek the death penalty against Geas or DeCologero.¹⁰

On August 1, 2024, DeCologero pleaded guilty to a single count of assault resulting in serious bodily injury. In exchange, prosecutors dropped the murder and conspiracy charges. Both sides stipulated that DeCologero had acted as a lookout and did not physically assault Bulger. His attorney argued the distinction warranted a sentence below the 10-year statutory maximum, and delivered an apology to the Bulger family on DeCologero’s behalf. DeCologero himself declined to speak at the hearing.¹¹ U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Kleeh sentenced him to 51 months, calling the term “fair, just and appropriate.”¹²

Geas, identified as the principal assailant, was sentenced on September 6, 2024, to 25 years after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and assault. That sentence runs consecutively to a life term he was already serving from a 2011 conviction tied to the murders of Genovese crime family captain Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno and associate Gary Westerman.¹³ McKinnon, sentenced earlier on June 17, 2024, pleaded guilty only to making false statements to the FBI and received time served.¹⁴

Where He Is Now

DeCologero remains in federal custody. He is serving the 51-month sentence from the Bulger case on top of the remainder of his 25-year sentence from the 2006 racketeering and witness tampering convictions. His earliest possible release date has been reported as the end of 2031.¹⁵

1
FindLaw. United States v. DeCologero, 530 F.3d 36 (1st Cir. 2008)
2
U.S. Government Publishing Office. DeCologero v. United States, District of Massachusetts
3
Lowell Sun. Aislin Silva Murder Case
4
DEA. DeCologero Crew Sentencing Press Release
5
vLex. U.S. v. DeCologero, 530 F.3d 36
6
FindLaw. DeCologero v. United States (1st Cir. 2015)
7
ABC News. Whitey Bulger Killing Planned Within Minutes
8
NBC News. Whitey Bulger Murder Case Details
9
Boston Herald. Whitey Bulger Murder Lookout Takes Plea Deal
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CNN. Whitey Bulger Killing Sean McKinnon Sentencing
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WV MetroNews. Second Inmate Sentenced in Bulger Prison Beating Death
12
PBS NewsHour. Inmate Sentenced for Role in Prison Killing of Whitey Bulger
13
New York Times. Whitey Bulger Fotios Geas Sentencing
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New York Times. Sean McKinnon Whitey Bulger Sentencing
15
Prison Legal News. Three BOP Prisoners Sentenced in Murder of Whitey Bulger