The brothers Bulger How they terrorized and corrupted Boston for a quarter century

Howie Carr

eAudio - 2006

This fresh account of Massachusetts's infamous Bulger brothers unveils a stunning criminal alliance, and with its dual biography format, goes deeper than the New York Times bestselling Black Mass. For the first time, journalist Howie Carr reveals the real story behind the infamous Bulgers-two brothers from South Boston who grew up to control a state. With political corruption on one side and deadly force on the other, the Bulgers shared a diabolic and destructive alliance for decades. James "Whitey" Bulger, the "bad" son, blazed a murderous trail to become Boston's most feared mobster and remains one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. William "Billy" Bulger, the "good" son, wielded... the gavel as president of the Massachusetts State Senate and the University of Massachusetts, but was eventually forced from both positions. The parallel stories of these two brothers, rich in anecdote and shocking in their revelations, read like an unholy hybrid of All the King's Men and The Godfather.

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Subjects
Published
[United States] : Tantor Audio 2006.
Language
English
Corporate Author
hoopla digital
Main Author
Howie Carr (-)
Corporate Author
hoopla digital (-)
Edition
Unabridged
Online Access
Instantly available on hoopla.
Cover image
Physical Description
1 online resource (1 audio file (12hr., 30 min.)) : digital
Format
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
ISBN
9781400121885
Access
AVAILABLE FOR USE ONLY BY IOWA CITY AND RESIDENTS OF THE CONTRACTING GOVERNMENTS OF JOHNSON COUNTY, UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, HILLS, AND LONE TREE (IA).
Contents unavailable.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Pritchard sounds so much like actor David Strathairn of Good Night and Good Luck in this compelling audio version of Boston journalist Carr's book about William and Whitey Bulger, that listeners might imagine the late Edward R. Murrow telling this fantastic story. Pritchard, a heralded veteran of more than 430 audiobooks, minimizes any moments of possible melodrama, subtly catching instead the superb irony of two brothers who rose to the heights of their chosen careers. Billy was a political powerhouse and kingmaker who was president of the Massachusetts senate and head of the University of Massachusetts. Whitey (born James) was a psychotic gangster who used such tools as flagrant murder and FBI corruption on his climb to the role of chief of Boston's flourishing Irish mobs and who has now disappeared. Anyone who doesn't know the details of the Bulgers' amazing dual saga will find them all spelled out in Pritchard's clean, understated delivery, which makes the whole thing even more incredible. Simultaneous release with the Warner hardcover (Reviews, Oct. 24). (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review

Boston Herald reporter Carr tracks a pair of Beantown siblings along a twisted trail of extortion, graft, murder and other crimes that overran even the FBI. Making it clear that he will not be unduly obsessed with journalistic objectivity here, the author describes his behavior during Billy Bulger's testimony at a 2003 congressional hearing: "In full view of the CSPAN camera, I periodically grimaced, made faces, stuck out my tongue, rolled my eyes, and grabbed my throat when I thought Billy was being less than forthcoming." Carr goes on to document that Billy's reputation as "the good brother" was as misleading as his congressional testimony. He follows Billy's ascent from Boston's notorious Southie neighborhood (which he served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives to his eventual presidency at the University of Massachusetts. Big brother Whitey Bulger was in Carr's estimation a fulltime, nonpareil crook, possibly the model for the hit man in George V. Higgins's celebrated Boston crime novel, The Friends of Eddie Coyle. For nearly three decades, the author contends, Billy worked inside the system while Whitey worked outside the law; the crux of Carr's thesis is that they cooperated in buying and corrupting whomever they could not intimidate or, in Whitey's case, permanently remove. Among those bought, the author asserts, was FBI agent Zip Connolly, another Southie boy; it was a congressional investigation of corruption in the Boston office of the FBI that finally cost Billy his job at UMass. Billy's eventual disgrace tainted an associated host of Boston political hacks and bureaucrats, but he still draws a state pension; Whitey remains at large, reportedly sighted in locales as disparate as Thailand and Portugal. A classic, seamy portrait of widespread moral turpitude, conveyed with crackling Boston-Irish sarcasm. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.