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Whitey

The Life of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss

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About this listen

 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. Americas Crime Organized Crime True Crime United States Boss Scary
All stars
Most relevant
Great insight into the life of one of Americas most notorious mobsters. A lot more detail than the black mass movie

Very informative

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Fascinating and well written but didn't need the excessive and overly detailed scene painting and ancillary factual indulgence.
Some of these trips away from the main thrust of the book, and there are many, right from the very beginning with a detailed history of US immigration are long and frankly a big distraction.
The author 's obsession with LSD almost drove me to slam dunk the whole book. Yes it is relevant and yes some facts are useful but an academic treatise? No!

Otherwise this was an excellent and obviously well researched piece of work that covered every angle of Bulger's life and how it intertwined with the FBI. John Rubinstein's narration is superb, perhaps one of the best I've heard on audible.

If you read about organised crime and are interested in the subject then this book is a must. If you just want gangster hits and anecdotes there are plenty of those about.

Excellent Historical Reference

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brilliant insight into the mind and life of the infamous whitey. well worth a listen.

outstanding

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Whitey A Simple Nick-Name for Man who was Far from Simple in Mind! Devilish, Daring, as You are Forced to Admire His Brilliance, though Grudgin for The Public, but with A kind of Cheeky Wide Eyed Smile in Private, as You Wish You'd have had but Half of His Sense of Adventure.. Then, You Come to Your Senses, Realising such Behaviour is Never Justified!!

The Ultimate Boss of Bosses!!

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A very detailed account on the life and times of Whitey Bulger that included a lot of information that I had never heard before on any of the other books I had listened to about him...

Excellent

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