From the bestselling authors of Black Mass comes the definitive biography of Whitey Bulger, the most brutal and sadistic crime boss since Al Capone. Drawing on a trove of sealed files and previously classified material, Whitey digs deep into the mind of James J. “Whitey” Bulger, the crime boss and killer who brought the FBI to its knees. He is an American original --a psychopath who fostered a following with a frightening mix of terror, deadly intimidation and the deft touch of a politician who often helped a family in need meet their monthly rent. But the history shows that despite the early false myths portraying him as a Robin Hood figure, Whitey was a supreme narcissist, and everything--every interaction with family and his politician brother Bill Bulger, with underworld cohorts, with law enforcement, with his South Boston neighbors, and with his victims--was always about him. In an Irish-American neighborhood where loyalty has always been rule one, the Bulger brand was loyalty to oneself. Whitey deconstructs Bulger's insatiable hunger for power and control. Building on their years of reporting and uncovering new Bulger family records, letters and prison files, Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill examine and reveal the factors and forces that created the monster. It's a deeply rendered portrait of evil that spans nearly a century, taking Whitey from the streets of his boyhood Southie in the 1940s to his cell in Alcatraz in the 1950s to his cunning, corrupt pact with the FBI in the 1970s and, finally, to Santa Monica, California where for fifteen years he was hiding in plain sight as one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted. In a lifetime of crime and murder that ended with his arrest in June 2011, Whitey Bulger became one of the most powerful and deadly crime bosses of the twentieth century. This is his story.
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"Riveting story of James Whitey Bulger; just yesterday his trial was in the newspaper. They're making a few films based on his life (unlike Departure, it'll be named and truly based on his life in Boston + U.S. A page turner!" — Chrissy (4 out of 5 stars)
"Riveting story of James Whitey Bulger; just yesterday his trial was in the newspaper. They're making a few films based on his life (unlike Departure, it'll be named and truly based on his life in Boston + U.S. A page turner!"
“The definitive word on the whole sordid saga of the Bulger mob. Expertly crafted, beautifully told.”
“Lehr and O’Neill have outdone themselves.”
“Whitey is a masterpiece of investigative reporting that unravels a tension-filled tale of murder, treachery, and abuse of power.”
“Exemplary journalism, high drama, and, for Bulger’s victims, an ongoing tragedy: rarely has a book mattered more.”
“A fascinating psychological profile.”
“Dennis Lehane and Martin Scorsese: take a seat. Nobody knows the twisted saga of Whitey Bulger and his gang; covered this story of criminal savagery and official corruption with more courage, or tell the tale now with such élan as Gerard O'Neill and Dick Lehr.”
“Once you start reading, you don’t want to put it down.”
“Lehr and O’Neill have culled material far and wide—transcripts, old prison records, official documents, interviews, books, and clippings. But best of all, they’ve woven it all in a narrative that is extraordinary, compelling, and impossible to put down.”
" Fascinating! Truth really is stranger than fiction. "
" Fantastic. Typical quality read from Lehr. Not as good as Black Mass in my estimation, but a very thorough look at Whitey's life with some (surprising) new revelations. "
" Not as good as Black Mass by same authors, lots of rehashing old points, would have been better as a multi-part series in a magazine or newspaper. "
" Not as good as "Black Mass." The authors are a little too in love with pop psychology and speculation about what was going on in Bulger's head this time around. "
Dick Lehr is a professor of journalism at Boston University. He is the author of seven works of nonfiction and a novel for young adults. His book The Birth of a Movement: How Birth of a Nation Ignited The Battle for Civil Rights became the basis for a PBS/Independent Lens documentary. Two other books were Edgar Award finalists: The Fence: A Police Cover-up along Boston’s Racial Divide and Judgment Ridge: The True Story behind the Dartmouth Murders. He has previously written for the Boston Globe, where he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in investigative reporting and won numerous national and local journalism awards. He was a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University.
Gerard O’Neill has won the Pulitzer Prize in journalism as well as many other national journalism awards. He was the longtime editor of the Boston Globe’s award-winning investigative team. He co-authored Black Mass and also, with Dick Lehr, The Underboss, as well as Rogues and Redeemers, a political history of the Boston Irish focusing on the city’s most famous mayors.
John Rubinstein is an actor, composer, and director who won a Tony Award for his starring role in Broadway’s Children of a Lesser God. He has narrated dozens of audiobooks, earning several AudioFile Earphones Awards and being named a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for best narration in 2013.
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