Key insights from
The Brothers Bulger: How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century
By Howie Carr
Audio available
14 minute read
Published Nov 1, 2006
What you'll learn
Most Boston mob movies only begin to depict the extent to which corruption plagued Boston thanks to the Bulger brothers and the complex webs they built in politics, law enforcement, and the criminal underworld. Howie Carr was close to the action in Boston, working as a journalist. He tells the story of the rise and fall of their empires.
Key insights
- 1 Billy and Whitey were very different in temperaments, but their upbringing in poor Irish Catholic South Boston left its marks on each.
- 2 The Irish Gang Wars in the 1960s paved the way for Whitey’s swift rise to underworld prominence.
- 3 Whitey used the Winter Hill Gang and the FBI to knock out rivals while staying out of jail.
- 4 Billy’s brand of politics was petty, nepotistic, and effective.
- 5 When the FBI tried to cut ties with Whitey, the agents on mob payroll did whatever they could to keep the connection going.
- 6 Bulger influence waned after decades of poisoning their hometown, but organized crime had done long-term damage to the FBI in Boston.
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