Audiobook12 hours
The Brothers Bulger: How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century
Written by Howie Carr
Narrated by Michael Prichard
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
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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Reviews for The Brothers Bulger
Rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
5 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I liked this because I grew up around the Bulger kids and I still like Billy Bulger as an ex-politician . . . The stories of alleged corruption were enlightening
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Howie Carr is simply not a very good writer. He is sometimes tolerable in his no more than 200 word columns in the Herald, in which he limits himself to words of no more than two syllables, of course, but taking his bombast to book-length makes his shortcomings painfully obvious. He loathes Billy Bulger, perhaps with good reason, but there's not even a pretense of objectivity here. He's also guilty of doing things like pretending he knows what people he's never interviewed are thinking, as on Billy's thoughts re: a Brooks Brothers suit. He also can't resist a few snide comments toward rival columnist Mike Barnicle that add nothing to the story he's presenting.And yet, he has chosen a winning topic here, at least to anyone with a passing interest in Massachusetts politics over the last quarter century. Assuming the facts of the matter are in order, which I do by and large, reading this book is like taking a header into a full septic tank. Disgusting and depressing in equal degrees, the slimy president of the state senate seemingly protects his brother the vicious criminal. Add to that the fact that two FBI agents went way out of their way to also protect Whitey (John "Zip" Connolly being the main one) the story becomes even more sordid. To say nothing of how politicians on the national scene from both parties (Dukakis, Bush I Gov. Weld) kowtowed to him at his St. Patrick's Day breakfasts the story gets even more depressing. The only caveat: Carr never actually is able to produce a smoking gun tying Billy to Whitey. Of course that fact that Whitey went on the lam means we may never be able to do this. And it is fortunate that Whitey is gone and Billy's power is broken. And the ending seems a bit rushed, Carr should have done a bit more on their mutual downfall.