Whitey Bulger has long been a much feared notorious Boston gangster who had a unique position and more intelligence than other noted gangsters, especially the bumbling Mafia presence in north Boston led by brothers Angiulio, who despite being in such a large city, were subordinates of New York through Raymond Patriarca Sr. of Providence who laid down the law to them.
Modern folklore has always been more fascinated with the Mafia through the excellent books, movies like "The Godfather", the first still by far the greatest mob picture ever, "Goodfellas" and "Casino". But outside the metro areas of interest, many didn't pay attention to the Irish gangsters, who easily dominated Boston and had their share in Manhattan.
Now, thanks to the movie featuring a chilling Johnny Depp with gray contacts who makes you shiver involuntarily, such is the menace he conveys as James "Whitey" Bulger, people outside Boston are learning all about this infamous character whom, at the top of his game, literally had the local FBI in his pocket under the bulls*** "informant" tag. With fellow Southie Steve Flemmi, he managed to wrangle the support and protection of John Connolly, who is now known as the most corrupt FBI agent in history, and as the book asserts, was nothing but a gangster on the inside of the FBI, and for an astonishing two decades, did everything to cover Bulger's activities.
This included murder, 11 counts, loansharking, numbers, horse race fixing, demanding a piece of the drug business, and shaking down every bookie or dealer who wanted to operate in his territory. Nobody turned him away, and those who pissed him off ended up dead.
His partner Steve Flemmi was no saint, either, being part of damn near everything Bulger did, mixed with the Italians because he too was Italian, and after deciding a relationship with a woman he was seeing, elected to kill her.
What is remarkable in this very well written book that offers a lot more of the corruption inside the FBI by Connolly and a host of co-conspirators is how long the charade went on between Bulger and them. In return for his "protection" he and Flemmi ratted out the Italians and helped bring the Boston mafia crashing down, not out of civic duty, but because he wanted it all for himself.
Like other true crime sagas, we get lots of details the movie can't cover. It's sickening and maddening to read about the behavior of both parties, and because Connolly in particular passed on information about a possible rat to Bulger, he ended up being an accessory to murder by books' end, among a ton of other charges once investigators from out of town finally clamped down on this circus.
It's a great read, full of tension and fascination. I consider this book worthy of Nicolas Pileggi's two great books, "Wiseguys", which became "Goodfellas" and "Casino." That's very heady company, and for those interested in learning more of the wild story of Bulger and Connolly, this book is strongly recommended. For those interested in the original five crime families of New York, "Five Families" by Sellwyn Raab is also a fine in depth look at the Mafia.
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Two Thugs Corrupted the FBI
I picked up the 2015 paperback movie edition of Black Mass at a local used bookstore. Needless to say after seeing the movie, I read the book and it was very interesting and intriguing. Black Mass by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill answers one question: how were notorious mobsters like James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi able to lead a reign of terror in South Boston and evade prosecution from law enforcement agencies for nearly two decades? The secret: they were informants for the Boston FBI. The Special Agent who was their handler was John Connolly, who was a childhood friend of the gangster. It chronicles their initial relationship in their youth, and their reunion in 1975. As native sons of South Boston, they had a mutual adversary in the Italian Mafia in North Boston. Against ethics and FBI regulations, Connolly got a little too close to his sources, and he and another FBI agent John Morris (his supervisor) were corrupted and turned out; the G-men then became just Gs (as in gangsters)! In exchange for information on rival South Boston gangs and the Patriarca crime family (who at that time split up into rival factions, and the Winter Hill gang fought the Angiulo faction), the two agents tipped off the mobsters about wire taps and raids from local police and other law enforcement agencies, and of course the identities of informants who were later murdered by the Winter Hill gang. Also, it goes into depth about Whitey's younger brother Billy Bulger, who was another powerful man in Boston, and the milieu was not in crime but politics. His relationship with Whitey was very close and complex, and many say that he was complicit in his brother's countless wrongdoings.Of course the tale ends with many indictments and convictions of the Winter Hill gang members (including then-retired Special Agent Connolly, who was practically a gangster himself) and Whitey Bulger's 16-year flight from prosecution and later capture in 2011. He was convicted in 2013.I definitely recommend this book to be a cautionary tale about how law enforcement agencies should not have relationships with criminal informants and how not to abuse their power in fighting crime.
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In a rather inexpensive way one finds books of great interest, to my husband's (Andy) satisfaction because he ...
Reviewed in Canada on May 7, 2016
