Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the Fbi, and a Devil's Deal - Paperback

by Dick Lehr (Author), Gerard O'Neill (Author)

A New York Times bestseller!

The gripping story of Whitey Bulger, the mobster turned FBI informant responsible for the worst crime spree Boston has ever seen.

"A powerhouse of a book. Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill ... write like veteran novelists, weaving scene after jaw-dropping scene into a tapestry of sickening American corruption." -New York Post

John Connolly and James "Whitey" Bulger grew up together on the tough streets of South Boston. Decades later, in the mid-1970s, they met again. By then, Connolly was a major figure in the Boston office of the FBI and Bulger had become godfather of the local Irish American mob. What happened next--a dirty deal to bring down the Italian American mafia in exchange for protection for Bulger--would spiral out of control, leading to a rash of murders, Bulger's takeover of the neighborhood drug trade, and, ultimately, the biggest informant scandal in the history of the FBI.

In Black Mass, Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill, the two former Boston Globe reporters who were on the case from the beginning, take us deep undercover, exposing the bargain struck in darkness by two old friends, and the bloody consequences that ensued.

Author Biography

Dick Lehr is a professor of journalism at Boston University. A Pulitzer Prize finalist for his work at The Boston Globe, he is also the coauthor with Gerard O'Neill of Whitey and The Underboss. He lives outside Boston.

Gerard O'Neill was the editor of The Boston Globe's Spotlight Team. A recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, he died in 2019.