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

BOSTON - Massachusetts officials say 83-year-old mobster James "Whitey" Bulger was taken to a hospital after complaining of chest pains at a prison, where is he awaiting trial on allegations he played a role in 19 murders.

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

But 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 Associated Press.

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

Bulger, former leader of the Winter Hill Gang, fled Boston in 1994. He was captured last year in California.