Boston Mob - by Marc Songini (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Journalist Marc Songini presents the brutal and bloody history of Boston's organized crime syndicates in the 1960s and 70s through the life of gangster Joseph Barboza.

The New England Mafia was a hugely powerful organization that survived by using violence to ruthlessly crush anyone that threatened it, or its lucrative gambling, loansharking, bootlegging and other enterprises. And psychopathic strongman Joseph "The Animal" Barboza was one of the most feared mob enforcers of all time, killing as many as thirty people for business and pleasure.

From information based on declassified documents and the use of underworld sources, Boston Mob: The Rise and Fall of the New England Mob and Its Most Notorious Killer spans the gutters and alleyways of East Boston, Providence and Charlestown to the halls of Congress in Washington D.C. and Boston's Beacon Hill. Its players include governors and mayors, and the Mafia Commission of New York City. From the tragic legacy of the Kennedy family to the Winter Hill-Charlestown feud, the fall of the New England Mafia and the rise of Whitey Bulger, Songini's account is a saga of treachery, murder, greed, and the survival of ruthless men pitted against legal systems and police forces.

Review Quotes

"A stark reminder that the tropes and clichés familiar from countless books and movies about organized crime have their origins in bloody realities." --The Boston Globe

"It's not a pretty story, but it is fascinating reading." --New York Daily News

"A colorful, even gleeful, account of murder, mayhem and corruption during the heyday of the New England Mafia....The fast-reading narrative begins and ends with the turbulent history of Joseph Barboza....A romp through the violent misdeeds of thugs, with plenty of humorous asides." --Providence Journal

"This excellent, well-researched book....is a gripping account of treachery, murder and greed." --GanglandNews.com

"Boston Mob is an opera sung by thugs in polyester suits, cherry red Cadillacs, and cheap sunglasses. With this book, Marc Songini has written an indispensable guide to organized crime in New England." --Jay Atkinson, author of Legends of Winter Hill and Memoirs of a Rugby-Playing Man

"With attention to detail both mesmerizing and macabre, Marc Songini delves deep into the sordid but fascinating lives of New England's most lethal gangsters. Long before James "Whitey" Bulger grabbed the national spotlight, the bad boys of Boston and Providence ran lucrative criminal operations in which gruesome hits were just businesses as usual. Even if you think you know all there is to know about Boston's murderous gang wars of the 1960s and 1970s, this book is an eye opener." --Stephanie Schorow, co-author with Beverly Ford, The Boston Mob Guide: Hit Men, Hoodlums & Hideouts

"This book's a winner. With Boston Mob, Marc Songini guides us on a grand tour of New England organized crime. Rich in telling details, and impeccably researched, Boston Mob offers a fresh and compelling look at the usual suspects, and introduces us to underworld figures that have been long forgotten. Once you start reading, you won't be able to stop, because this book reads like a well-wrought thriller. Don't miss it." --Gary Braver, bestselling and awarding-winning author of Tunnel Vision

"Boston Mob is a brilliant and thoughtful study of the events that helped spawn the Whitey Bulger fiasco within the FBI, both in Boston and beyond. Marc Songini has crafted a riveting tale of narrative nonfiction featuring bad guys from both sides of the law that raises the True Crime genre to heights often aspired to but seldom attained. A splendid historical document as well as a provocative cautionary tale, Boston Mob is equally at home on the mean streets and hallowed halls of justice run amok. A book that hits us in the gut and leaves its indelible mark long after the final page is turned." --Jon Land, bestselling author of Betrayal

"An admirable attempt to tie together the lies, myths, facts and legends of the 1960s and '70s war between the Winter Hill Gang and the McLaughlin brothers' outfit." --Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

MARC SONGINI is a Boston-area journalist whose work has appeared in the Boston Herald, the Boston Globe and numerous other major publications. He is also the acclaimed author of The Lost Fleet, a chronicle of Yankee whaling and disaster at sea.