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Whitey Bulger

The gangster who said the CIA gave him LSD in prison.

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The strongest version of this theory

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The CIA helped create a murderer.

Bulger told a juror, Janet Uhlar, in more than 70 letters that the CIA dosed him with LSD more than 50 times in the late 1950s, and that he had suffered hallucinations and violent nightmares ever since. “He didn’t murder prior to the LSD,” Uhlar told the AP. “His brain may have been altered, so how could you say he was really guilty?” [1] The CIA did fund LSD tests on prisoners at a penitentiary. [2]

The sources

  1. NBC News (Associated Press): Whitey Bulger juror regrets conviction after receiving dozens of letters from crime boss (18 February 2020) ↗

    Reports Bulger’s prison letters describing LSD experiments at the Atlanta penitentiary in the late 1950s.

  2. CIA — MKULTRA Subproject 47, June 7, 1956 ↗

    Contemporary federal record. It documents the author’s statements and institutional actions; objectives and reported results must still be evaluated separately.

What can be shown

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Atlanta, a cover story, and a lifetime of claims.

According to the AP, Bulger and fellow inmates were offered reduced time and told they were helping research a cure for schizophrenia. He wrote that it “appealed to our sense of doing something worthwhile for society.” [1]

The Subproject 47 memo of June 1956 plans LSD studies on “normal volunteers” at a penitentiary. It is consistent with Bulger’s account, though his name does not appear in the redacted copy. [2]

Whether LSD caused Bulger’s later crimes is unknowable. He was already serving a federal sentence when he went to Atlanta. Many other test subjects did not become killers.

What we can’t tell you. Bulger is the main source for his own experience, and he had reasons to blame others.

The sources

  1. NBC News (Associated Press): Whitey Bulger juror regrets conviction after receiving dozens of letters from crime boss (18 February 2020) ↗

    Reports Bulger’s prison letters describing LSD experiments at the Atlanta penitentiary in the late 1950s.

  2. CIA — MKULTRA Subproject 47, June 7, 1956 ↗

    Contemporary federal record. It documents the author’s statements and institutional actions; objectives and reported results must still be evaluated separately.

WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT THIS FILE

The claims, rated.

3 claims people make about this file, each rated documented, partly true, disputed, unproven or false. Think a rating is wrong? Use Dispute or Support, or join the Discussion.

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