The Brothers Bulger: How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century by Howie CarrMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This edition includes a new afterword covering the capture of Bulger, but predates the 2013 trial in South Boston's John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse before Judge Denise J. Casper on 32 counts of racketeering and firearms possession. The afterword does cover the conclusive tip from professional Icelandic model Anna Björnsdóttir and the hermit-like, craven hoarder life of the retired gangster surrounded by stockpiled supplies and guns. The afterword also details the limited inter-tenant interactions Whitey made, including the active, one-sided friendship with young guitarist Josh Bond.
It is really sickening the way James "Whitey" Bulger's role as an FBI informant gave him an implicit U.S. government umbrella of protection to his life of villainous, murderous crime through tip-offs of recording devices, etc. This book covers that sordid tale and brother William Bulger's rise as a corrupt Massachusetts/Boston politico. The context of a weak and disorganized Mafia (La Cosa Nostra; "LCN" here) that allowed Bulger and the Winter Hill gang to flourish is interesting. There also cameos by Donnie Brasco, Mitt Romney, Barney Frank, and Dukakis, as well as a Bush family member. For instance, it was the weakness and disorganization of the mafia that allowed their initiation ceremony to be recorded in Medford, MA as recounted here and published in an unabridged fashion in The Ceremony.
While this book is updated with a where-are-they-now epilogue it ends with a septuagenarian Whitey still on the lam.
The tale of gangster and elected official as siblings with their successes, such as selling booze to the FBI for parties and making a boondoggle out of The Hynes Convention Center, is really almost too amazing to believe. Oh yeah, and on top of that, Whitey participated in gov't LSD experiments while in prison. Wow.
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