The Big Hustle: A Boston Street Kid's Story of Addiction and Redemption

When Jim Wahlberg went to prison the second time at 22 years old, he was sentenced to six to nine years for breaking and entering, bargained down from life for home invasion. He had staggered into a Boston cop’s apartment, helping himself to the sellable stuff and all the beer in the fridge. The cop came home, found Jim passed out at the kitchen table, beat the hell out of him, and arrested him.

But Wahlberg, a 130-pound kid from Dorchester, had learned some things from his life on the stre...