Shop Owner Cashing in on Black Mass Hype by Selling Whitey Bulger’s Jumpsuit

Photograph by Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald/Polaris, via ‘Whitey’s Flight’

Update: September 24, 2:11 p.m.

The Boston Herald is reporting that the jumpsuit may in fact be a fake.

While memorabilia dealer Phil Castinetti is still insisting that the prison garb is the real deal, Plymouth County sheriff Joseph D. McDonald Jr. isn’t buying it.

“I don’t see anything that gives me probable cause to believe the jumpsuit came from this facility,” he told the Herald. “I think it’s more likely that it came from (online retailer) Spirit Halloween.”

Previously:

Hollywood executives aren’t the only ones looking to cash in on the Black Mass hype.

Phil Castinetti, the owner of memorabilia shop Sportsworld in Peabody, is selling Whitey Bulger’s orange jumpsuit, according to the Boston Globe. Castinetti claims he bought the item from one of Bulger’s former cellmates and wanted the sale to coincide with the release of the highly anticipated film starring Johnny Depp as the infamous Boston gangster.

Since many Bostonians, and even Bulger himself, aren’t too happy with Black Mass hitting theaters, Castinetti told the Globe that he was conflicted over putting the jumpsuit up for auction.

“Me and my wife are at odds over this, but, look, I sell memorabilia,” he said.

This isn’t the first time Castinetti has attempted to cash in by selling controversial memorabilia.

He previously purchased letters written by Bulger while in jail and sold them for $2,000 a pop in 2013, according to CBS Boston.

That same year, he sold former Patriots star Aaron Hernandez’s prison letter to TMZ for a whopping $18,000 after reportedly paying only $5,000 for the item.

While the man who sold the letter to Castinetti said he regretted his actions, the memorabilia shop owner didn’t seem to care about the backlash.

“I made some money. I buy, I sell, that’s my business,” Castinetti told Boston.com. “I’m not a Hernandez fan or anything like that, but if it’s not me selling it, it’ll be someone else. So why not?”

If you want to own a piece of the Bulger’s prison wardrobe, it’s not going to come cheap. Castinetti says he’s starting the bidding at $25,000. Oof.