“Whitey” Bulger part of a CIA MKUltra experiment

While imprisoned in Atlanta for the bank robbery conviction in 1957, Bulger volunteered to be a drug test subject in an effort to reduce his prison sentence.

Bulger was injected with LSD — a not-so-well-known drug at the time — for what he thought was an effort to find a cure for schizophrenia, according to Kevin Cullen and Shelley Murphy, authors of “Whitey Bulger: America’s Most Wanted Gangster And The Manhunt That Brought Him To Justice.”

Bulger said he suffered from lifelong insomnia and nightmares as a result of the experiment.

He later learned that the experiments were actually part of the CIA’s so-called MKULTRA program to develop a mind-control weapon carried out at dozens of universities and institutions from 1953 to 1967, according to T.J. English, author of “Whitey’s Payback,” citing two of Bulger’s associates.

“(Bulger) was enraged to learn how the covert program had destroyed so many lives,” English wrote in The Daily Beast.

“According to (Bulger’s associate Kevin) Weeks, Bulger had even taken preliminary steps to track down the overseer of the program, Dr. Carl Pfeiffer … and assassinate him,” English wrote.

Source: 6 facts about Boston gang leader James “Whitey” Bulger – CNN