James "Whitey" Bulger was called "Satan" and a sociopath as he stood trial on Wednesday during the first day of a two-day sentencing hearing after being convicted of killing 11 people and 31 racketeering counts, Reuters reported.
Bulger, who controlled the Boston mob scene in the 1970's and 1980's alongside the Winter Hill gang, will be handed his fate on Thursday after Federal prosecutors have called for two life sentences plus five years, according to Reuters.
The former mob boss who is now 84-years-old sat in court without saying a word after instructing his attorneys to not participate in the sentence hearing, Reuters reported.
Henry Brennan, one of Bulger's attorneys, told U.S. District Judge Denise Casper "he believes the trial was a sham. In consequence he has directed us to take no position in that process," according to Reuters.
When Bulger first faced charges during his trial, the defense focused on denying he had served as an FBI informant instead of denying the murder, extortion and drug dealing charges, Reuters reported.
"The carnage that he has caused is grotesque. And that doesn't even complete the picture of this defendant, who really is a sociopath," Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Kelly said during the hearing, Reuters reported. "He desperately wants people to believe he wasn't an FBI informant.That's the sham in this case, not the trial."
Judge Casper said that during the sentencing trial she would allow surviving family members of the 11 victims Bulger has been convicted of killing to testify, as well as loved ones of eight other victims Bulger was acquitted of, Reuters reported.
Bulger, who was arrested in June 2011 after fleeing in 1994 due to a tip, was caught living in Santa Monica, California, in an apartment with his girlfriend containing $800,000 in cash and various weapons, according to Reuters.
His story began in a South Boston housing project, from which he grew to become one of the most-feared mobsters in the city at the same time his brother, William Bulger, became the president of the Massachusetts state Senate, Reuters reported.
With the help of a corrupt FBI agent who shared his Irish background, Bulger would leak information on the Italian-American Mafia so that the agent would ignore his criminal activity, allowing him to violently reign over the city of Boston, Reuters reported.
Sean McGonagle, now 49-years-old, was the first witness to take the stand and described how Bulger killed his father in 1974 when he was 11-years-old.
McGonagle said that in 1975, Bulger called the boy and told him: "your father is not coming home for Christmas," and when McGonagle asked who was calling, Bulger responded "Santa Claus," Reuters reported.
"Today I hope we find some semblance of peace and closure," McGonagle told Bulger, according to Reuters.
