When three teen girls sent a letter to a notorious mob boss in prison who had killed and tortured people, he wrote back a surprising response: "My life was wasted and spent foolishly, brought shame and suffering on my parents and siblings and will end soon."

The response, reported by the Boston Globe's Shelley Murphy, came from imprisoned 85-year-old gangster James "Whitey" Bulger. It contrasts with the reputation the former Boston crime boss built when he killed at least 11 people, swore at witnesses during his trial, and refused to get on his knees when he was captured because he didn't want to get his pants dirty.

"If you want to make crime pay — 'Go to Law School'"

The three 17-year-old girls wrote to Bulger — who is serving two life sentences — for a National History Day competition, seeking his opinion on his legacy. "It wasn't what we were expecting at all," Brittany Tainsh, one of the girls, told Murphy.

Bulger goes on in the letter to describe how he wasted his life by dropping out of high school and pursuing crime, and how his brother — a Massachusetts lawmaker who applied himself in school — turned out much more successful. It concludes with a final piece of advice for the girls: "If you want to make crime pay — 'Go to Law School.'"

Here's the letter, taken from the Boston Globe: