Oklahoma prosecutors have said that they will pursue Irish American gangster, Whitey Bulger, for murdering a local businessman, despite the sudden death of a retired FBI agent accused of assisting in the killing.
Mr H. Paul Rico (78), and in poor health, died in his prison cell on Friday night, only hours after a judge ordered that he undergo a psychological evaluation before trial. Mr Rico was accused of setting up the murder of wealthy Tulsa businessman, Mr Roger Wheeler, to hide the infiltration of the Miami gambling and sporting world by Bulger's Irish American crime group, known as the Winter Hill Gang.
Bulger, who is wanted on 20 other murder charges and has been on the run since 1995, controlled much of the racketeering in south Boston in the 1970s and 1980s and is alleged to have had strong political and police protection.
Mr Rico was charged with conspiracy in the 1981 murder of Mr Wheeler, who was shot dead after a round of golf at a Tulsa country club. Mr Rico, who had retired from the FBI, had been Mr Wheeler's head of security at the time.
Investigators say Mr Wheeler had suspected that Boston gangsters were skimming money from his gambling and sporting company, World Jai Alai. Police named Mr Rico as a suspect after discovering that members of the Winter Hill Gang had been his informants when he was a Boston FBI agent.