Aahana Swrup
Sporting a lifelong history with the wrong side of the law, Fotios “Freddy” Geas is an infamous criminal with connections to various mobs, including the Genovese crime family. Over the years, he has participated in a number of crimes — whether outside the prison bars or behind them — establishing a reputation for himself in the world of ruthless criminals. Consequently, ‘World’s Most Evil Prisoners’ allocates its seventh episode, simply titled ‘Geas,’ to explore the titular individual’s criminality and imprisonment’s exacerbating effect on the same.
Freddy Geas Collected Numerous Criminal Convictions in His Early Life
Though Fotios Geas, known as Freddy, didn’t belong to the Italian Mafia on account of his birth into a Greek family, he and his younger brother, Ty, remained notorious criminals in Springfield, Massachusetts, from their teenage years. As a result, by the mid-2000s, when he was in his late 30s, Geas had already received 75 adult convictions. These included a threat of murder to a case witness, a 90s truck heist, and a bat beating in 2004. Consequently, his trips to jail remained frequent. Nevertheless, in the 2000s, during a moment of freedom, Geas and his brother collaborated with another mobster, Anthony Arillotta, working as security muscles for the latter.
Thus, his rise to criminal prominence only increased with the new partnership. In 2008, he saw extortion charges, alongside Ty and Arillotta, for the alleged shake-down of Carlo and Genarro Sarno, illegal poker machine owners. Nevertheless, they were acquitted of the charges. Eventually, Geas received federal convictions in 2011 following a trial against him, his brother, and Arthur “Artie” Nigro — a Genovese crime family acting boss at the time of the crime. By then, Arillotta had begun cooperating with the government and testified against his former partners in crime.
In the 2011 trial, Geas and his co-conspirators were notably convicted of Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno’s murder in Agawam, Massachusetts, on November 4, 2003. Bruno was a known member of the Genovese organized crime family. As such, his death arrived as a result of a hit sent out by Nigro. Furthermore, the victim’s standing as an FBI informant also emerged as a reason behind the targeted attack. Likewise, Geas also received a conviction for the 2003 death of a notorious street thug named Gary Westerman for his believed cooperation with Massachusetts State Police.
Additionally, Geas was convicted with charges of union boss Frank Dadabo’s attempted murder and conspiracy to murder Louis Santos and Guiseppe Manzi, who had links to the mob. While the altercation with the latter was reportedly due to a rivalry, Santos’ attack was said to have been planned due to his alleged involvement with law enforcement officers. Thus, Geas earned a reputation for his dislike of snitches. Ultimately, after a number of convictions, including racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, extortions, and loansharking, he received a life imprisonment sentence. The judge also ordered a forfeit of $120,000 from Geas.
Freddy Geas’ Involvement in a Boston Gangster’s Murder in 2018
After his 2011 convictions, Freddy Geas was transferred to West Virginia’s high-security Hazelton US Penitentiary following an altercation between another inmate and the Geas Brothers. Although the duo, alongside Nigro, filed for convictions appeals, they lost the same in 2014. Thus, the older Geas sibling was still serving his life sentence when James Joseph Bulger Jr. AKA Whitey — a criminal turned FBI informant — got transferred to Hazelton’s general population prison. An 89-year-old man in a wheelchair, he was another infamous mobster in charge of an Irish mob in the 70s and 80s. Bulger was one of the most wanted fugitives in the nation, entering the FBI’s Most Wanted list just under Osama Bin Laden.
Hours after the transfer on October 30, 2018, Bulger was beaten to death. After prison guards found his body, Geas emerged as an obvious suspect, alongside Massachusetts gangster Paul DeCologero and a third inmate, Sean McKinnon. Consequently, the trio were put in solitary confinement for more than two years as the investigation into the murder continued. In 2018, when the investigation was still underway, Private Investigator Ted McDonough theorized the motive behind the accused’s actions and said, “Freddy [Geas] hated guys who abused women. Whitey [Bulger] was a rat [criminal-turned-informants] who killed women. It’s probably that simple.”
Freddy Geas is Serving a Life Sentence in Prison Today
Speculations arose about the possibility that Freddy Geas’ involvement in the murder was an act of revenge exacted on behalf of his friend, Frederick Weichel, who sported a feud with Bulger. Weichel was convicted of the 1980 Boston murder of Robert LaMonica, for which he maintained Bulger had framed him. Eventually, years later, Geas, DeCologero, and McKinnon were charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder of Bulger. While Gease and DeCologero received accusations of hitting Bulger, McKinnon was accused of standing as the lookout for the pair. Thus, the charge of making false statements to a federal agent was also slapped on him.
As per another inmate who said he witnessed the event, a belt with a lock attachment was utilized for the brutal murder. In the end, although Geas and his co-conspirators would have been eligible for the death penalty, the prosecution decided against pursuing the same punishment. Furthermore, in May 2024, they reached plea deals despite the accused’s previous not-guilty pleas. The details are being kept from the public as of writing. Nevertheless, Freddy Geas, at 57, remains locked up in the ADX Florence prison in Colorado with a life sentence.
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