Gerard O'Neill (1) (1942–2019)

I picked up Black Mass because I saw the movie (which I didn't enjoy, by the way). I wanted to read some more non-fiction books and also some more books that were turned into movies. Johnny Depp did a great job as Whitey Bulger, so why not pick up the book? It seemed like it should be good.

For me, it wasn't. I don't normally venture into these kinds of books so it fell flat for me. That was the point on why I read it (expand those horizons, ya know?), but it did exactly as expected.

I found this book too slow. The content is really cool, especially how it follows the FBI through all of this. It was really intriguing and I can see why so many people would enjoy a book like this. For me, it's just too slow and didn't have enough of the other side of the story. It felt way too slow and factoid than actual story.

One out of five stars.… (altro)

I started out somewhat interested in the story but it soon got bogged down in a mass of details that I lost interest in keeping straight. I'm not that fascinated by true crime or gangsters so it was always going to be a uphill slog for me but I thought the local angle would keep me going and it did, for a while. But I mostly wanted to understand the why more than the what and that I never really got. How did Connolly become the willing conspirator of Flemmi and Bulger, was it just the old neighbor ties? Was it more? Was it just plain old power corrupts? That would have made a more interesting book for me. This just ended up dragging to what I knew was the conclusion.… (altro)

This true crime work of investigative reporting exposes the corruption and collusion between Irish mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger and FBI agent John Connolly. Boston Globe's Lehr and O'Neill provide a detailed account of how the Irish mob used the FBI to take out the Italian Mafia in Boston. By serving as FBI informants, Bulger and his partner Stevie Flemmi helped the FBI put away the Angiulo crime family. Meanwhile, the FBI overlooked crimes committed by Bulger and his crew -- including extortion, robberies, drug trafficking, and murder. This "devil's deal" was exposed in 1998 when a federal hearing discovered FBI internal records had been "fictionalized" to obscure Bulger's crimes while embellishing his value. In 1999, Attorney General Janet Reno had Connolly arrested on charges of racketeering and obstruction of justice. Meanwhile, Bulger is now on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List.… (altro)