CELEBRITY JUSTICE ™

12:09 PM PT -- A prison source tells us Bulger -- who is wheelchair bound -- was in general population Tuesday morning. We're told he was approached by 3 other inmates who wheeled him into a corner that could not be seen by surveillance cameras.

Our source says the inmates beat Bulger -- one used a lock in a sock as a weapon -- until he was unconscious. They also attempted to gouge his eyes out with some type of shiv, but were unsuccessful. Bulger fell to the ground covered in bruises and with several dents in his head.

As for the eyes, we've been doing some research -- back in the days of Murder Inc., (the 1940s gangsters, not the rappers) mobsters would gouge out the eyes of witnesses who talked to cops.

Whitey was an informant for the FBI starting back in 1975 -- so, this may have been a message from his killers to warn others about snitching.

11:43 AM PT -- A law enforcement source tells us Bulger's death is being treated as a suspected homicide.

11:15 AM PT -- TMZ has learned emergency dispatchers got a call from the prison for someone in cardiac arrest, and staffers at the facility were performing CPR. They also had a defibrillator on scene.

10:25 AM PT -- The Dept. of Justice says Bulger was found at 8:20 AM, and prison staff immediately attempted to resuscitate him. Bulger had just arrived at Hazelton on Monday.

James "Whitey" Bulger -- one of America's most notorious mobsters -- was found dead Tuesday in a federal prison where he had just been transferred ... TMZ has confirmed

Bulger was just moved to a new facility -- U.S. Penitentiary Hazelton in West Virginia, a maximum-security prison. Prison officials haven't released details, but say his body was found sometime after he was moved to the prison.

Bulger had been serving out his life sentence in a federal pen in Florida until last week, when he was transferred to one in Oklahoma City ... and then recently arrived in Hazelton. He was convicted in 2013 for a slew of crimes, including being linked to at least 11 murders.

The ex-crime boss was on the run for years and was one of the FBI's most wanted before being captured in Santa Monica in 2011.

Bulger's life story was documented in the 2015 flick, "Black Mass," where Johnny Depp played the ruthless Winter Hill Gang crime boss, and longtime FBI informant, who terrorized the Boston area for years.

On an episode of "Objectified" ... UFC honcho Dana White told Harvey Levin, Bulger was the reason he had to get the hell out of Boston.

Bulger was 89.

Mel B is suing her old lawyer for mistakenly bringing her and Stephen Belafonte's ex-nanny into their divorce case, and ultimately getting Mel sued by the lady ... according to new court docs.

The Spice Girls singer just filed suit against Susan Wiesner -- who repped Mel during the early stages of her contentious divorce against Stephen and successfully got a restraining order put in place against their nanny, Lorraine Gilles.

In the docs that were filed by Mel's new lawyer, Sean Macias, which were obtained by TMZ, Mel claims that Wiesner improperly included a third party's name -- in this case, Lorraine -- in her initial application for a restraining order against Stephen.

She's saying that's a big no-no under California law ... and that ended up getting Mel sued for defamation and invasion of privacy by Lorraine. On top of that, Mel says Wiesner's legal bills were "excessive, unconscionable, and not within the realm of reason."

She's asking a judge to award her damages and wants Wiesner to cover any damages that Lorraine might win in her lawsuit against Mel, which is still ongoing.

Ronnie Ortiz-Magro suffered a nasty black eye after his baby mama allegedly hit him with a phone and punched him in the face, and this is a DIFFERENT incident from the one last week where cops came rushing to his home.

TMZ broke the story ... cops were called to the 'Jersey Shore' star's Vegas home Thursday night for a custody dispute over the couple's 6-month-old daughter. Law enforcement sources tell us during their visit, Ronnie told cops about Jen's history of violence toward him.

Now we find out ... this was just the latest incident of strife and violence. Back on October 5, Ronnie was allegedly brutalized by Jen ... he says she punched him and struck him in the head with a phone.

As we reported ... Ronnie posted a pic of his injuries on Instagram, but never disclosed what caused the shiner.

We're told officers in Vegas informed Ronnie he needed to file a police report in New Jersey -- where the alleged attack went down -- if he wanted Jen arrested. Sources close to Ronnie say he has not reported the incident ... at least not yet.

Aly Raisman just went OFF on USA Gymnastics -- saying the organization is still not being transparent about the child abuse scandal and warns the public ... THEY CAN'T BE TRUSTED.

Raisman is really pissed about the fact there still has not been a full, independent investigation by law enforcement ... despite the fact she's been calling for one since JANUARY!!!

Raisman calls the situation "absolutely absurd."

During her interview with Hoda Kotb on "Today," Aly also stated, "We can't trust USA Gymnastics because they're not being transparent."

She was referring to 2 major recent developments in the program. First, Team USA tumbling coach Sergio Galvez being forced to resign amid undisclosed accusations of misconduct on Monday.

Second, Steve Penny -- the former president of USA Gymnastics -- being arrested by U.S. Marshals for allegedly tampering with evidence in the Larry Nassar case.

Aly's problem ... she claims Team USA Gymnastics needs to be more open about what really happened behind the scenes. Instead, she claims the org is more concerned with fixing a PR problem than a "child abuse problem."

William Daniels, the actor who played Mr. Feeny in "Boy Meets World," stopped an attempted burglary at his home ... TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... William and his wife, actress Bonnie Bartlett, were at their San Fernando Valley home Saturday night at 9:20 PM when someone tried to kick in the back door. William sprang into action, turned on the lights, and the intruder high-tailed it off the property.

Sounds like Mr. Feeny is still pretty sharp at age 91 ... we're guessing he's still got eyes in the back of his head after his longstanding role as teacher-turned-principal on the ABC sitcom. It was always tough to sneak anything past him, just ask Ben Savage.

Despite a recent rash of burglaries in the area targeting celebs, cops believe the attempted burglary was a random act and William was not targeted.

Alex Rodriguez's ex-wife, Cynthia, says he has NO business calling her out for not working because he's the one who demanded she leave the workforce in the first place.

Cynthia is firing back after A-Rod griped about her refusal to put her master's degree in psychology to work. It's just one of the reasons he wants to drastically reduce the $115k/month in child and spousal support he's been paying since their divorce in 2008.

Cynthia thinks the former MLB superstar is way off base with his claims, telling TMZ, "To ensure that our daughters had a stable upbringing, and given his extensive traveling, Alex requested that I discontinue working and make parenting my primary focus."

Our sources say Alex is pissed because he claims Cynthia now has millions in the bank, 3 homes and multiple cars. With his income reduced by 90 percent, due to retirement, A-Rod doesn't think he should have to bankroll Cynthia any longer.

In the statement, provided by her attorney, Maurice Kutner, Cynthia throws some shade at A-Rod too, telling us ... "I find it terribly disheartening, shocking and disappointing that Alex has resorted to reporting falsehoods. Why he seeks sympathy from the press and public baffles me."

1:22 PM PT -- Cops say Bonnar was speeding down I-15 in a red Cadillac CTS in excess of 90 MPH around 1:15 PM.

Witnesses say he was driving like a maniac. By the time the Highway Patrol responded to the scene, citizens had already surrounded the vehicle and physically restrained Bonnar, who appeared incoherent.

As cops tried to place handcuffs on him, Bonnar woke up and began to resist. With help from the citizens, cops eventually got him cuffed and transported him to a nearby station where he was booked for 3rd-degree felony DUI.

Cops say Bonnar reeked of booze. Medical staff also responded to the scene and determined nothing was medically abnormal, he was just drunk.

UFC Hall of Famer Stephan Bonnar was arrested for DUI on Sunday -- after a group of concerned citizens (one armed with a gun) corralled him after an apparent car crash in Nevada.

Law enforcement sources tell us ... witnesses claim the 41-year-old was driving erratically and feared he would hurt someone.

Somehow, a group of concerned citizens wrangled Bonnar to the ground and kept him at bay until law enforcement arrived.

One he was taken into official custody he was booked for DUI, resisting arrest and unsafe driving. Bail was set at $22,000.

Bonnar is a UFC legend -- he fought Forrest Griffin in the finale of the very first season of "The Ultimate Fighter" back in 2005 -- a fight that's regarded as one of the best and most important in UFC history.

Bonnar lost that fight, but got a UFC contract out of the deal and went on to have a pretty solid career -- fighting guys like Anderson Silva and Jon Jones.

The L.A. County D.A. has rejected criminal charges against Gloria Govan ... this after she was arrested for felony child endangerment in a super bitter custody war with ex-husband Matt Barnes.

Gloria was arrested the Friday before Labor Day after Matt claimed she put the lives of their twin boys at risk by allegedly flying into a rage in her car, blocking Matt and the kids from driving away from their school.

Sources connected with Gloria called BS on Matt's claim he had custody of the kids that weekend. Gloria says she even asked her lawyer well in advance to notify Matt's attorney Labor Day weekend was hers.

On the day in question ... her rep told the D.A. Gloria went to the school to pick up the boys, but Matt was already there. She says the kids were in her car when Matt ordered the boys to get in his car ... she believed in violation of the custody order. Gloria says she blocked his car, called 911 and "calmly" waited for cops.

Gloria denied she drove crazy to get at Matt's car and ultimately the D.A. said there was insufficient evidence to move forward.

Matt subsequently got a restraining order, keeping Gloria 100 yards from the kids. She's only allowed to see the boys once a week with a monitor present.

Sofia Vergara's ex is trying to destroy her marriage to Joe Manganiello ... so say sources close to the actress.

Sofia's been locked in a long legal battle with her ex-fiance, Nick Loeb, over two frozen embryos the couple produced. He wants to keep them but she wants them destroyed.

Our Sofia sources say the driving force behind the fight has nothing to do with bringing another life into the world ... it's pure and simple revenge. The sources claim Nick remains angry Sofia dumped him and they believe his end goal is to ruin her marriage.

The sources point to the fact that Loeb had a daughter with another woman last October, so his desire to become a father has already been fulfilled, yet he continues to fight over the embryos.

And, speaking of the fight ... Nick has moved his lawsuit against Sofia to Louisiana -- a heavily pro-life state that recognizes embryos as human beings.

In order to sue in Louisiana, Nick needs to be a resident of the state. We've learned the longtime California resident now claims he lives in Plaquemines Parish, LA, where he's even established a trust fund for the embryos, whom he named Emma and Isabella. Our Sofia sources say Nick never stays at the home, and is only using the address as a front.

Nick's attorneys, Pierre Miller and Jasha McQueen, confirm Nick is renting a place in the area and is registered to vote in LA, but would not get specific when asked how often he stays at the property. McQueen also says Nick has a Louisiana driver's license, and they're confident a judge will see he's taken the appropriate steps to establish residency and win his case.

The Manhattan D.A. prosecuting Harvey Weinstein says he's got something up his sleeve ... doubling down the criminal case will move forward despite some major setbacks.

Cyrus Vance Jr. told our producer at an event Thursday night in NYC ... he's confident the remaining counts against Weinstein will stick ... this after Vance agreed to dismiss one of the sexual assault counts after learning lead detective, Nicholas DiGaudio, allegedly engaged in witness tampering.

Check out the audio ... Vance won't take a stand with our producer on whether or not the detective's actions were criminal. Our producer persisted and said the detective was involved in all of the counts against Weinstein, so it stands to reason the entire case may be tainted.

Taylor "Lil Bit" Wright had a ton of legal trouble last week, because we've learned she got busted for a second time in 3 days -- and this time it involved her kids.

According to legal docs obtained by TMZ ... the former "Party Down South" star got arrested Wednesday for taking her kids out of their home state of Virginia to North Carolina -- a violation of her custody agreement with their father.

That arrest came just 48 hours after cops hauled her in for allegedly punching her mother-in-law in the face.

We broke the story ... Taylor cracked a pretty wide grin for her mug shot on that assault case.

The shooting that left a hole in the stomach of a Tekashi69 crew member was triggered by threats of gun violence and death ... threats coming from the rapper's own muscle.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Tekashi's crew tried to bully its way into the NYC restaurant where 6ix9ine was supposed to meet with a record exec. The rapper's security was turned away and threatened to shoot the men who wouldn't let them in.

We're told Tekashi was meeting record exec Elliot Grainge for dinner. Elliot was waiting for Tekashi at the restaurant with his two bodyguards, retired NYPD detective Efrain Vasquez and Maurice Fernandez.

When Tekashi arrived with his 7-person entourage, a fight broke out after Fernandez told Tekashi's crew they weren't welcome. 6ix9ine then called off the meeting and left.

Some of Tekashi's crew stayed behind and for some reason insisted on entering. One of the men allegedly shouted, "F*** this, I'm getting inside!"

Fernandez texted Vasquez -- who was inside -- telling him Tekashi's men were trying to force their way in and feared they had guns.

Vasquez charged outside to back up Fernandez, and then Tekashi's crew member, Shottie, allegedly threatened them, saying, "I'm going to violate you both with gunshots."

One of the men in 6ix9ine's group then allegedly yelled, "Shoot these motherf***ers! Gunfire!"

One of Tekashi's associates allegedly struck Vasquez in the head with a chair ... and two witnesses said Shottie was the man wielding the furniture.

Vasquez saw one of Tekashi's guys pull up his shirt and reach for something in his waistband ... that's when Vasquez brandished his gun, firing 2 rounds and hitting one of Tekashi's crew in the stomach.

Everyone scattered after gunfire erupted, but police tracked down and arrested 2 of the 3 Tekashi associates allegedly involved in the melee ... Faheem "Crippie" Walter and Zachary Bunce.

Shottie -- real name Kifano Jordan -- has not been apprehended.

Lance Lazzaro, the criminal defense attorney who reps Tekashi, Shottie and the 2 men, tells TMZ ... "It is my understanding that Tekashi was not present when the incident occurred. Shottie has no involvement with any criminal act. The two other men were victims of an assault. The charges will be completely dismissed at some point against them both."

A terrifying gun threat made against Lil Xan earlier this month -- that triggered a concert cancellation -- is now the subject of a criminal investigation ... TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell us cops are investigating a series of threats made against Xan earlier this month. We're told it centers around videos and photos posted by St. Louis rapper VladHQ that show him with multiple firearms and calling out Xan.

One disturbing video shows Vlad spraying bullets into a lake, calling Xan a "bitch" and asking for "smoke" at his scheduled Oct. 10 concert at The Pageant.

He also posted a photo of himself with what appear to be three AK-47s, with a caption that read ... "hi Lil Xan see ya later at your show."

Like we told you ... Xan went on to cancel his St. Louis show after the images surfaced, which police are clearly taking seriously.

Our sources say no arrests have been made, nor have any warrants been issued.

The man who got beat up by Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Dante Fowler claims he needs surgery to repair his injuries from the 2017 attack ... so now he's suing the NFL player.

As we previously reported Fowler confronted and attacked Alvin Trotman on July 18, 2017 after a dispute in an apartment complex parking lot in Florida.

Trotman claims he was innocently strolling through with groceries when he witnessed Fowler almost hit another car. Trotman admits he made a comment to Fowler, who then got out of his car and said, "What did you say, bitch?"

Trotman says Fowler punched him in the face, stomped on his prescription glasses, stole his grocery bag and threw it in a nearby lake.

Fowler was arrested and convicted in the subsequent battery case and was sentenced to a year probation.

But, Trotman says he's still really injured from the attack -- with damage to his back and a torn rotator cuff that requires surgery.

Trotman also claims he suffers from humiliation and mental anguish, and he wants Fowler to pony up a check to make things right.

8:50 PM PT -- NYPD's been able to speak to witnesses and sort out what happened. The retired cop was working security for the 10k Projects exec who was meeting with Tekashi, and our law enforcement sources say everything went to hell when the exec turned away Tekashi's entourage.

We're told Tekashi and his family were taken back to their vehicle, but his entourage went back to the restaurant and confronted the exec ... who's security quickly stepped up. We're told someone in Tekashi's crew grabbed a chair and smashed it over the exec's bodyguard, who then took out his gun and fired.

As we told you ... 6ix9ine's guy was shot in the abdomen.

5:10 PM PT -- We've learned the bodyguard is now out of surgery and in stable condition.

4:45 PM PT -- The shooter didn't get away scot-free. Law enforcement sources tell us a retired police officer was nearby when the gunfire broke out and shot at the suspect, who cops believe he was hit.

We're told NYPD is searching for the perp.

Gunfire erupted during Tekashi69's celebration after his court hearing, and one of his bodyguards was hit ... TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell us, the group was at a restaurant in midtown NYC, celebrating the fact that 6ix9ine dodged a prison sentence and got off with 4 years probation in his child sex case.

Here's what we're told -- Tekashi was meeting a 10k Projects Records exec at the party. A bodyguard for the exec turned away 6ix9ine's entourage, saying the only person who could come into the restaurant was Tekashi himself. Tekashi's security said hell no, and an argument erupted.

During the argument, a third party walked up and fired 4 shots, hitting Tekashi's bodyguard in the stomach. The bodyguard was taken to the hospital.

We're told Tekashi was not involved in the scuffle. Nevertheless, it's interesting just hours before the shooting, the judge warned the rapper to stay out of trouble or risk going to prison.

The Shade Room was first to break the story.

Tekashi69 just got a huge break -- he's getting off with probation in his child sex case.

Tekashi was tight-lipped walking into the NYC courthouse Friday to get his sentence. The judge gave him 4 years probation ... which is exactly what the rapper's team had requested. The courtroom, packed with his entourage, erupted in cheers.

Afterward, he addressed the judge directly and embraced his government name, saying he's Daniel Hernandez, not Tekashi69. He added, "I have millions of youth that look at me as a role model and the last place I want to be is incarcerated, they don’t deserve it. Thank you.”

The judge gave him credit for one year, so he effectively only has 3 years of probation left. He'll also have to perform 1,000 hours of community service, and refrain from associating with any gang members and avoid all gang activity. That part might be difficult -- he's repped the Bloods in several music videos.

Any new arrests will be deemed a violation, and he could be resentenced ... which could mean prison.

As we reported ... 6ix9ine pled guilty to one count of Use of a Child in a Sexual Performance back in October 2015, long before he was famous.

In legal docs, obtained by TMZ, prosecutors say Tekashi was at a party in Harlem where a 13-year-old girl was taped engaging in sexual acts with another man while Tekashi, 18 at the time, stood "behind the child making a thrusting motion with his pelvis and smacking on her buttocks." Prosecutors say the child is nude in the video.

The rapper's sentence was deferred for 2 years and, if he complied with certain conditions -- like getting mental health treatment and staying out of trouble -- the judge would only give him probation. The problem for Tekashi was he got arrested in Texas and Brooklyn.

As we reported ... Tekashi had filed a letter with the judge claiming his arrests for assaulting an officer (Brooklyn) and attacking a fan in a mall (Houston) don't constitute a violation of his plea deal.

Tekashi's lawyer, Lance Lazzaro, argued both arrests happened long after the Oct. 2017 deadline on his plea deal -- so 6ix9ine should only get 4 years probation and a youthful offenders program. Prosecutors had recommended he get 1 to 3 years prison time.

Score one for 6ix9ine Daniel.

His rep tells TMZ, "Daniel understands what he must now do moving forward and we will be with him every step of the way. We also want to thank the judge for being very fair and impartial."