The Onion Field by Joseph Wambaugh
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The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob
Format: Trade Paperback
Pub. Date: 2000
Type: Non-Fiction, True Crime, Personal library
Pages: 331 + sources (333-336) + notes (337-371)
Read: 10/4/2015
Rating: Really liked it ♥♡
Black Mass has been sitting on my bookshelf for quite a while, I was looking for a third book about Jimmy “Whitey” Bulger written by Dick Lehr, I have “Whitey” and have been trying to find “Underboss”. Then I saw the movie “Black Mass” (starring: Johnny Depp and Benedict Cumberbatch as the Bulger brothers and Joel Edgerton as John Connolly, former FBI agent) was scheduled to be released in September 2015. I decided I had to read the book before I saw the movie, which I desperately want to see (I haven’t seen it yet, I have seen “Pawn Sacrifice” and “Steve Jobs”).
In 1988 Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill started to write a story for the Boston Globe about the Bulger Brothers, Jimmy and Billy. One was Boston’s most powerful criminal and Billy was the most powerful politician (which some might say is the same, but hey he never killed anyone, that we know of). In the course of the investigation, they discovered that Jimmy Bulger seemed to be made of teflon, since 1965, while he climbed the ranks of Boston underworld from street soldier to boss, he had not been arrested, not once. He seemed to know when the authorities were closing in on him. He knew about wiretaps. Some in law enforcement felt ‘the fix was in’ even so far as ‘the FBI had secretly provided him cover all these years’. But there was no proof. Mobsters hated informants, this was the world Whitey Bulger lived in. In the end however, the FBI had to come clean, Bulger and Flemmi (Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi) had been informants for over 20 years.
The first meeting between John Connolly, FBI agent and Jimmy Bulger was in 1975, Flemmi was already an informant at this time, had already experienced the protection the FBI could offer, he was never questioned about his criminal activities, even the murders he may or may not have committed. When asked, he told Bulger “Go talk to him.” The deal was made, and the fix was in. There is more to this story than two mob guys being informants and more FBI involvement than one agent covering up. Connolly covered Flemmi and Bulger, other agents covered him. There was a massive head in the sand approach to what was going on. The truth started to come out in 1997, 10 months later after sworn testimony and the opening of secret FBI files the Boston FBI office was revealed to be a gigantic stack of shit. This book tells it all.
Detailed with extensive documentation this books read like a too good to be true Godfather book, except its true, and it’s fascinating. I recommend this to true crime fans in particular fans of mafia books.
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Oct. 26: Review by Colloquium,
Oct. 27: Review by Psychotic State Book Reviews,
Oct. 28: Review by Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews,
Oct. 29: Review by Maureen’s Musings,
Oct. 30: Review by The Woman Condemned,
Nov. 2: Review and interview by Just a Girl, Living, Reading, Watching and Writing,
Nov. 3: Review by As I Turn the Pages,
Nov. 4: Guest post by Rother on Colloquium,
Nov. 5: Review by Destiny’s Book Reviews,
Nov. 6: Review by Escape With Dollycas,
Nov. 9: Review by Jersey Girl Book Reviews,
Nov. 10: Review by Ellen Wallace,
Nov. 11: Post by Rother on WildBlue Press
Nov. 12: Review by Educated Reader
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Format: Trade Paperback
Pub. Date: 2015
Type: Non-Fiction, Memoir ~ ARC, LibraryThing Early Review
Pages: 320
Read: 2015-09-08
Rating: Liked it ♥♡
This book has confirmed two things that I have always contended. One is the Chinese have no concept of human rights, by Chinese I mean the Chinese government. The Chinese people are like people everywhere, a mix of good and bad. Some will do only what they have to, will take a job that is wrong because they need money, and some will risk everything to do what is right.
From the back: “One morning in April 2012, China’s most famous political activist — a blind, self-taught lawyer — climbed over the wall of his heavily guarded home and escaped.”
Chen Guangcheng relates his childhood, the difficulties growing up poor and blind in rural China. His descriptions around him are vivid, describing the smells and his impressions of the world around him, how he learned so much from being observant, listening and paying attention to everything around him. He also gives us a history lesson of the politics in China, how he got his education and the discrimination he faced as a disabled person.
A very interesting book, although a bit draggy in spots, still an enjoyable memoir that I recommend. One complaint, he does not related much of his life after he escaped from China. I realize that is a spoiler, but if you read the author bio, you would already know that.
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Two Sisters, a Brutal Murder, and the Loss of Innocence in a Small Town
Format: eBook
Pub. Date: 2007
Type: Non-Fiction, True Crime ~ Library Book, 3M Cloud Library
Pages: 252
Read: 2015-08-01
Rating: Liked it ♥♡
September 24, 1973 started like any other day in Casper, Wyoming, the events that transpired that evening into the next day changed life for everyone. Eleven-year old Amy Burridge and her half-sister Becky Thomson had been abducted from a local store, Amy was thrown off the Freemont Canyon Bridge, afterwards Becky was raped by the two men that had abducted them and was also thrown off the bridge. Becky survived, Amy did not.
Ron Franscell lived next door to Amy and Becky. Because of that we get a uniquely personal view of the account. Besides learning biographical details of the people involved we also learn how the town was affected by this horrifically violent crime. This book is about more than the murderers, the victims, the crime and trial. It is about a town and how one act can have widespread consequences.
Becky struggled with PTSD, with survivor guilt, she self-medicated with alcohol and drugs. She was quite possible the victim of another sexual assault. She lived in fear of the men who raped and tried to kill her. In 1992 they were seeking a new trail, as unlikely as it was they would be successful, she feared they would one day be free. In July she returned to the bridge where it all started and as the back cover of the book states: “she met her fate . . . at the same bridge where she’d lost her sister.”
This is an extremely detailed account of this tragic event. Some have said it was too long, and took too many side trips into the history of the town and other people, I found it rich in detail and well rounded, never boring and recommend it.
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Format: eBook
Pub. Date: 2011
Type: Non-Fiction, True Crime ~ Library Book
Pages: 474
Read: 2015-07-27
Rating: Liked it ♥♡
Tom and Jackie Hawks were looking forward to the stage of their lives, the role of doting grandparents. With that in mind they wanted to sell their 55-foot yacht “The Well Deserved”, buy a smaller boat and house in San Carlos. Doing this would enable them to watch their grandson grow and and still maintain their cruising lifestyle.
On November 15, 2004 they took Skylar Deleon out on a trial voyage. It was the last time anyone heard from Tom or Jackie Hawks. Skylar Deleon wanted the boat without having to pay for it, he wanted a rich lifestyle without having to work for it.
This is a well-written detailed account of a horrific murder, with much biographical information and how the prosecution managed to convict Skylar and his accomplices, including his wife without recovering the bodies, the way the testimony of one of the defendants was backed up with tangible evidence, i.e. cell phone records was fascinating. I recommend this book.
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The Jim Piersall Story
Format: Trade Paperback
Pub. Date: 1955
Type: Non-Fiction, Autobiography/Memoir
Pages: 224
Read: 2015-07-14
Rating: Liked it ♥♡
In this book Jim relates the story of his life including his breakdown in 1952 and recovery. The back of the book says that the breakdown was ‘so complete that seven months virtually have vanished from his memory’. The actual cause of his memory loss was the electroshock treatments he received in the hospital.
Piersall was born in Waterbury, CT. You could say he was born a Red Sox fan, he grew up loving the team and wanting to play for them. He got his wish and then it all seemingly washed down the drain. However, not only did he come back to play for the Red Sox the year after his breakdown, he played 17 seasons of pro ball and has been healthy since.
The covers his childhood, his relationship with his parents, his father primarily, his mother’s history of mental illness, although he doesn’t share her diagnosis he relates she was in and out of Norwich State Hospital. Most importantly, he reveals the twisted way he was thinking, I don’t mean twisted in a depraved way, I mean in the way his mental illness progressed. For example, he read an article in The Sporting News that quoted Lou Boudreau, manager of the Red Sox saying they were planning on converting him to shortstop. He had never played shortstop, he was an outfielder. Instead of being relieved that the Red Sox wanted him, he convinced himself that they didn’t and were trying to make him quit.
His recovery is also covered, including reading about his behaviour in the field and off the field. Which cause his wife distress, his manager didn’t know how to handle him and most of his teammates hated him.
The book ends with the end of the 1953 season, he was well on his way to a long and productive baseball career. The book I read was published in 1999 and contains an afterward by Jim Piersall where he summarizes his life since then, what he is doing now and how he feels about the movie “Fear Strikes Out”.
A very interesting account, easy to read, detailed but not dragging.
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Format: eBook
Pub. Date: 2001
Type: Non-Fiction, True Crime ~ Library Book
Pages: 320
Read: 7/6/2015
Rating: Was O.K.
I was bored, well not really bored, just seemed like she was novelizing or fictionalizing parts, almost making the killer a sympathetic person so i was losing interest. Then it seemed to pick up and get rather interesting. Then we got to the trial and zzzzz
By the way, i wonder how any criminals ever get caught in Texas, police have such a case of tunnel vision!
Cannot recommend this.
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The True Story of the Montreal Massacre (Crimes Canada: True Crimes That Shocked The Nation Book 2)
Format: eBook, Kindle
Pub. Date: 2015
Type: Non-Fiction, True Crime
Pages: 105
Read: 2015-07-03
Rating: Liked it ♥
Another book from the Crimes Canada series. This is book 2. Also short only 105 pages. This is about Marc Lépine who shot 14 female students on the campus of the University École Polytechnique de Montreal. Most of the book was about the issue of feminism and ‘radical feminists’ may have caused Lépine to commit this crime, by their treatment of him, he felt trapped and so on. At times it seemed the author was blaming the feminist for the crime. Not the victims, just that he felt angry and that he couldn’t advance in his life because of the actions of some feminists.
There isn’t much to say about Lépine’s life or the crime, there was no trial since he committed suicide, thus the intense speculation as to motive or what drove him to commit this shooting. Another interesting if brief read about a major crime that happened in Canada.
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city girl drinking craft beer 