The Brothers Bulger: How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century

by Howie Carr Narrated by Michael Prichard

Overview

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.

Editorial Reviews

James "Whitey" Bulger would qualify as the bad seed in any household. Now a wanted fugitive, this street-smart South Boston mobster stands accused of numerous violent crimes, including no fewer than 18 murders. Not surprisingly, Whitey's brother Billy has always been known as "the good son." But according to this revelatory book, William Bulger's career as a Massachusetts state senator and as the president of UMass was also riddled with corruption and chicanery.

Kirkus Reviews

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 asdisparate as Thailand and Portugal. A classic, seamy portrait of widespread moral turpitude, conveyed with crackling Boston-Irish sarcasm.

From the Publisher

"Listeners might imagine the late Edward R, Murrow telling this fantastic story . . . Anyone who doesn't know the details of the Bulgers' amazing dual saga will find them all spelled out in Michael Prichard's clean, understated delivery, which makes the whole thing even more incredible." ---Publishers Weekly Audio Review

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170463121
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	02/23/2006
Edition description:	Unabridged

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