
Brutal: The Untold Story of My Life Inside Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob
I grew up in the Old Colony housing project in South Boston, a tough, working class, mostly Irish neighborhood. I went from being a Golden Gloves boxer to a bouncer in a popular Southie bar called Triple O's. I got into many fights, knocked out a lot of people, and got noticed by one person in particular. People paid him a great deal of respect, came to him with their problems. Sure, I knew who he was. I'd heard stories. He was tough. He could be vicious. He ran the rackets in Southie. His name was James "Whitey" Bulger, although I always called him Jimmy.In 1982 I went with Jimmy full time. We became partners, running legitimate businesses and some not-so-legitimate businesses. Basically, we were gangsters. We took what we wanted. We shook down drug dealers, bookmakers, like that. What were they gonna do -- go to the police? We beat people up; shot and stabbed them. And we made people disappear -- permanently. We were smart -- experts at avoiding microphones and cameras. We made milli