True Crime Book List: Mobsters

Rat Bastards by John "Red" Shea

John "Red" Shea was a top lieutenant in the South Boston Irish mob, rising to this position at the age of twenty-one. Thus began his tutelage under the notorious Irish godfather James "Whitey" Bulger. An ice-cold enforcer with a legendary red-hot temper, Shea was a legend among his Southie peers in the 1980s. From the first delivery truck he robbed at thirteen to the start of his twelve-year federal sentence for drug trafficking at twenty-seven, Shea was a portrait in American crime -- a terror, brutal and ruthlessly ambitious. Drug dealer, loan shark, money launderer, and multimillion-dollar narcotics kingpin, Shea was at the pinnacle of power -- until the feds came knocking and eventually obliterated the legendary mob in a well-orchestrated sweep of arrests, fueled by insider tips to the FBI and DEA.

Killing the Mob by Bill O'Reilly & Martin Dugard

Covering the period from the 1930s to the 1980s, O'Reilly and Dugard start by tracing the prohibition-busting bank robbers of the Depression Era. Following the rise of organized crime, they highlight the creation of the Mafia Commission, the power struggles within the "Five Families," and the growth of the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover. In addition to the mob battles to control Cuba, Las Vegas and Hollywood, O'Reilly and Dugard follow the personal war between the U.S. Attorney General Bobby Kennedy and legendary Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa. Their book shows just how deeply the Mob has influenced every aspect of American life.

Black Mass by Dick Lehr & Gerard O'Neill

John Connoly and James "Whitey" Bulger grew up together on the streets of South Boston. Decades later, in the mid 1970's, they would meet again. By then, Connolly was a major figure in the FBI's Boston office and Whitey had become godfather of the Irish Mob. What happened next -- a dirty deal to being down the Italian mob in exchange for protection for Bulger -- would spiral out of control, leading to murders, drug dealing, racketeering indictments, and, ultimately, the biggest informant scandal in the history of the FBI. Compellingly told by two Boston Globe reporters who were on the case from the beginning, Black Mass is at once a riveting crime story, a cautionary tale about the abuse of power, and a penetrating look at Boston and its Irish population.

Boston Mob by Marc Songini

"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 newly declassified documents and the use of underworld sources, Boston Mob 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, Boston Mob is a saga of treachery, murder, greed, and the survival of ruthless men pitted against legal systems and police forces".