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Dick Lehr

Black Mass Paperback – May 22, 2001

by Dick Lehr (Author), Gerard O'Neill (Author)

387 customer reviews

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John Connoly and James "Whitey" Bulger grew up together on the streets of South Boston. Decades later, in the mid 1970's, they would meet again. By then, Connolly was a major figure in the FBI's Boston office and Whitey had become godfather of the Irish Mob. What happened next -- a dirty deal to being down the Italian mob in exchange for protection for Bulger -- would spiral out of control, leading to murders, drug dealing, racketeering indictments, and, ultimately, the biggest informant scandal in the history of the FBI.

Compellingly told by two Boston Globe reporters who were on the case from the beginning, Black Mass is at once a riveting crime story, a cautionary tale about the abuse of power, and a penetrating look at Boston and its Irish population.

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Editorial Reviews

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"...A heartbreaking...story of corruption and crime...a work of rare lucidity, high drama, journalistic integrity, and plain courage." -- --James Carroll, author of An American Requiem and Boston Globe columnist

"...[A] jaw-dropping, true-life tale of how two thugs corrupted the FBI." -- -- The Baltimore Sun

"...[A] jaw-dropping, true-life tale of how two thugs corrupted the FBI." -- -- The Baltimore Sun

"Black Mass should prompt a re-evaluation of the uses and misuses of informers by law enforcement officials throughout the country." -- -- Alan Dershowitz, The New York Times Book Review

"A triumph of investigative reporting." -- -- Publishers Weekly

"An eye-opening true-crimer..." -- -- Kirkus Reviews

"[Lehr and O'Neill] vividly capture the turbulent culture and conflicting loyalties of the Boston underworld." -- -- Library Journal

"[Lehr and O'Neill] vividly capture the turbulent culture and conflicting loyalties of the Boston underworld." -- -- Library Journal

"[Shows] how fragile FBI integrity can be when the good guys lose sight of truth, the rules, and the law." -- -- The Washington Post Book World

About the Author

As a reporter for nearly two decades for the Boston Globe, Dick Lehr won numerous journalism awards and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. A professor of journalism at Boston University, he is coauthor of the Edgar Award-winning Black Mass, the Edgar Award finalist Judgment Ridge, and The Underboss. He lives near Boston with his wife and four children.

Paperback: 424 pages
Publisher: HarpPeren (May 22, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060959258
ISBN-13: 978-0060959258
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 387 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,205,917 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1830 in Law Enforcement Politics
- #1867 in Law Enforcement (Books)
- #5322 in Murder & Mayhem True Accounts

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Jajisee

True but Filtered and Disjointed

November 11, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Whitey BGulger's story is fascinating, however, this book is written from a journalistic point of view and includes lots of overlapping and repeated time frames and events. I found it hard to keep track of the time line and the meat of the story. This book reads like revised newspaper articles that may have referred to events from some time ago rather than an engaging narrative. So, for me, the story got lost frequently in the snippets of information that came out in the news jumping back and forth. Factual, yes. Engaging page turner, no. Having written over 200 business cases, I understand the challenge of interviewing people post facto and then trying to assemble and tell the story.

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Chainsaw

A GOOD read !

October 23, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

After reading "Black Mass: Whitey Bulger ..." I became more fully aware just how corruption gets a foothold: It takes TWO willing parties who are greedy for power and/or money, and it takes opportunity. The FBI was betrayed, (and then so, too, were the American people), by a couple of "I-wanna-go-up-the-ladder-of-promotion" of it's members. The cancer that was the underworld in South Boston got a "green light", and took advantage of it. The rest is history. Only the scruples of honest men stopped the mayhem, and ... eventually ... justice was served. The details between the first encounter and the last, is where the story lies. And, oh my, what a story it is. A good read, but the malignancy of corruption, I predict, will leave a foul taste in the readers mouth ... for a long time after the final page is silenced by the closing of the back cover.

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MJS

A Fine Bromance

September 23, 2009

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

If you live in Boston, as I did for a few years, the name Whitey Bulger is as resonate as Jimmy Hoffa. Both were men feared by some and idolized by others. Both had no qualms about victimizing those who feared and idolized them. Both were seen by some as the guy like them who managed to stand up to the Establishment. And both disappeared. But nobody thinks Whitey is buried at Gillette Stadium.

Whitey Bulger was a mythic figure in Boston, especially his old neighborhood of Southie, the gangster who always managed to slip out of the hands of the law.But even Southie little boys and girls grew up dreaming of becoming FBI agents. Chances are their dreams didn't involve having gangster over to the house for dinner. John Connolly, another son of Southie, dared to have this dream and in pursuit of it he pretty much turned the Boston office of the FBI into Whitey Bulger and his Winter Hill gang's own little intelligence squad.

Make no mistake about it, James "Whitey" Bulger and his partner Stevie "The Rifleman" Flemmie were crooks, thugs, murderers, and all around low lifes. One could spend hours cataloging their many crimes. Oddly, they fail to get the credit they deserve for their pioneering work in the field of bromance. Any law enforcement agent can have an informant. Any crook can become a snitch. But it takes real imagination to turn it into quite evenings at home with your snitch/handler at the home of the handler's boss enjoying a home cooked meal the handler's boss has prepared. Candles, wine - champagne on occasion, steaks and the occasional visit from Whitey's powerful politician brother to share the latest family pictures. Just another night at Chez Agent Morris. Special dinners away from the cares of work aren't enough to keep a bromance alive, either. You need to show your bro that you care. Really care. Don't be afraid to give him a give now and then. A bottle of wine, a tasteful silver champagne bucket or a very special belt buckle says "I think you're the best" more than words ever can.

This is one mind-bending story and Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill are perfectly suited to the task. Their journalistic style is spot on in terms of original research and the kind of prose that doesn't get in the way of illuminating facts. Lehr & O'Neill know when to let these looney-tunes speak for themselves as in this line from murderer Stevie Flemmie that actually made me laugh out loud:

"I received a sweatshirt from (Agent) Nick Gianturco."

The next time you're wondering what to get that special multiple murderer in your life, look no farther than your local sporting goods store. I kept hoping it was some sort of demented joke about giving a fleece to a thief but no, ethically challenged FBI Agents John Morris and John Connolly and their pals thought this made sense.

This is an entertaining, well-researched, well-written book. The only flaws are that it drags in the final chapters when they provide perhaps a bit too much detail about the grand jury proceedings that ultimately brought this sordid business to light and that the books begs to be updated to cover Connolly's recent convictions. Aside from that, this is as smart a book about the mob as any True Crime fan could hope for. Highly recommended for any True Crime fan, anyone interested in the Mafia and anyone from Boston.

Kindle note: Photographs included.

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Wheelchair Assassin

Depressing but fascinating

June 19, 2004

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Written by two veteran Boston reporters, "Black Mass" is a story of crime and corruption that turns into a gripping tale of good intentions gone awry. Taking place on the mean streets of South Boston, a mere twenty miles or so from where I've lived my whole life, this book tells of a violent intersection of cultures: the tribal culture of Irish America, the often-closed culture of the Federal Bureau of investigation, and the violent culture of organized crime. And unfortunately, it's all true. At bottom, "Black Mass" presents a haze of divided allegiances and moral ambiguity, that may well shake your faith in our government-appointed protectors.
Looming large over the whole story is the imposing figure of James J. Bulger Jr., or "Whitey Buljah" as he is more commonly known around these parts. Long before the Bloods and Crips were household names, Bulger emerged from a culture where street gangs were omnipresent and career options for adults were mostly restricted to the Armed services, politics, factory and police work, or crime. Unfortunately, Whitey Bulger never quite outgrew the gang culture of his youth, and he proved exceedingly skilled at the crime profession. As intelligent as he was soulless, Bulger graduated from street enforcer to bank robber (with a stint in Alactraz along the way) to organized crime kingpin with his hand in all things illegal as the head of the vicious Winter Hill Gang. Along for the ride was the aptly nicknamed Stevie "The Rifleman" Flemmi, a barbaric killer whose Mafia connections made him a perfect stoolie in the Boston FBI's war against the Mafia.
It was in 1975 against the backdrop of the FBI's battle with La Cosa Nostra that FBI agent John Connolly, who emerged from the same projects as Bulger, crafted a plan to bring Whitey and Flemmi into the Bureau's fold as informants. It sounded like a sweet deal for all those concerned: Bulger and Flemmi got to take out the Winter Hill Gang's competition, and the FBI got a well-placed ally in its effort to bring down Boston's ruling Angiulo family. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out that way. The FBI did manage to bring down the Angiulos, due largely to its now-legendary wiretapping operation at Gennaro Angiulo's headquarters, but Bulger and Flemmi remained connected to the FBI long after they had outlived their usefulness. In fact, as this book makes clear, the two gangsters greatly enlarged their stature in Boston's underworld during the 1980's, and they did it with the full knowledge and even collaboration of the FBI.
As O'Neill and Lehr explain, the shared South Boston origins of Bulger and Connolly, which seemed like such an asset back in 1975 when Connolly was recruiting Whitey, ultimately became a liability. Coming from a tight-knit, tribal culture like Southie, Connolly couldn't exactly be counted on to maintain his objectivity in dealing with Bulger, whom he even came to refer to as a "good bad guy." An even deeper problem, though, was John Connolly himself: a smooth-talking lady's man who liked the high life a bit too much, Connolly eventually became virtually indistinguishable from his prized informants. Hanging out with Bulger and Flemmi and accepting their gifts, Connolly didn't just look the other way while Bulger, Flemmi & Co. enlarged their empire and the bodies piled up; he was an active assistant in their operation. Although they were frequently pursued by the Massachusetts State Police, local detectives, and even the DEA, the two gangsters were virtually untouchable.
Perhaps even worse, O'Neill and Lehr make it clear that the FBI's mishandling of its two prized informants went beyond John Connolly's corruption to encompass a massive institutional failure. With Connolly corrupted and a series of supervisors compromised, the Bureau's guidelines for oversight of informants became essentially null and void. Falsified reports that exaggerated Bulger and Flemmi's usefulness while understating their criminal activities became the norm, and even those in other law enforcement agencies who suspected something amiss had their efforts blocked. One painful lesson to be drawn from this book is that the law is only as strong as those who enforce it. When those charged with stopping crime drift to the other side, where do we turn then?

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