Black Mass, Dick Lehr
Black Mass, Dick Lehr
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Black Mass
Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devil's Deal

Author: Dick Lehr, Gerard O'Neill

Narrator: John Pirhalla, Dick Lehr

Unabridged: 14 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 01/06/2026


Synopsis

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.

About Dick Lehr

Dick Lehr, a professor of journalism at Boston University, has won numerous national and regional journalism awards. He is a former investigative reporter, legal affairs, and magazine writer for the Boston Globe, where he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in investigative reporting. He is the author of The Fence: A Police Cover-up along Boston's Racial Divide, an Edgar Award finalist for best nonfiction, and coauthor, with Gerard O'Neill, of the New York Times bestseller and Edgar Award winner Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devil's Deal, and its sequel, Whitey: The Life of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss. He lives outside Boston with his wife and four children.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Nancy on March 26, 2008

The scene is Boston, starting in the 1970s. The FBI has made it a top priority to clamp down on organized crime (in this case, the Mafia, populated by the Italians of North Boston). John Connolly, a very young FBI agent, is called to the Boston office to work in the Organized Crime unit. The idea wa......more

Goodreads review by Grace on August 09, 2011

When I was in my early teens I had an unhealthy obsession with the mafia. I read every single book Mario Puzo wrote, The Way of the Wiseguy, Joey Pistone's Donnie Brasco among other mafia books. Reading Black Mass was like returning to an old friend, but I'm a no longer a pre-teen. I now know that b......more

Goodreads review by Samantha on September 22, 2012

For any reader looking for a dramatic, engrossing true crime story, this one is fantastic. It is well organized, well written, and because of Whitey's recent capture, well timed! (well: the book has been edited since his capture; it originally came out well before.) I won't say much except that the B......more


Quotes

"Black Mass should prompt a reevaluation of the uses and misuses of informers by law enforcement officials throughout the country."—New York Times Book Review

"[Shows] how fragile FBI integrity can be when the good guys lose sight of [the] truth, the rules, and the law."—Washington Post Book World

"A jaw-dropping, true-life tale of how two thugs corrupted the FBI."—Baltimore Sun

"Bone-chilling...one of the best nonfiction reads of the year...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