Whitey: The Life of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss

I am Lindsey A. Cyr, mother of Whitey's son and lover of 12 years. I was fascinated by what was done with my interviews. Unfortunately, Dick Lehr went with "his" story not mine which, considering I lived it, was upsetting. Jimmy and I had an amazing relationship. He called me at least twice a day - 10 a.m. and about 3 p.m.; he called the house each day about 2 p.m. and talked to the babysitter to see how Douglas' day was going and what was happening there which wasn't easy due to Mrs. Damon's thick Polish accent and difficulty with English. He was at the house at least 4 nights a week and weekends - not the 2 nights a week in the book. Jimmy involved himself in every facet of my life; frequently dropping by the office to take me to lunch or say Hi.The house on Paomet Road was not my parents Summer House. As I explained to Gerry O'Neill: it was a beach shack my folks had purchased when they lived next door to it to tear down to have a side yard to their own house. Due to a glitch on the title they didn't get possession to it for 5 years. By then, my modelling money had helped them buy the big house up in Bicknell Square next to the Post Office; so, Dad fixed up the beach shack and they rented it rarely collecting the rent.By 1970, the apartment was too small. Jimmy wanted to move us into Boston. I didn't want City life for my son and it was, to my mind, too dangerous. In June of 1970, I bought the beach shack and began the process of evicting the "tenants" who hadn't paid rent in about a year. They finally moved out under cover of darkness the last week in August. I didn't see the condition of it until the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend. Terrible! Filthy!I got to work and began scrubbing off layers of filth. My father took the old gas stove out to the driveway, took it apart, pour gasoline all over the inner works to burn off the grease. The phone rang and Jimmy was demanding to know why his son was standing in front of a bonfire at my parents' rental. I explained it was now mine and was going to become our home. Jimmy was furious, he told me he wouldn't help me, I told him I didn't ask him to and he hung up on me. I hoped he would come around; but, bottom line, we desperately needed more room and Paomet Road was a very safe environment - the next to the last house on a deadend street, everyone on the street knew me, it was very close-knit, my girlfriend had a son Douglas' age so he would be able to have a normal child's life.Note: Exactly what I said in my interviews; not, Dick Lehr's version. Jimmy didn't buy the house for me at all. I bought it against his will. He put no money into it until later. He did buy his son wall-to-wall for his bedroom. I had an excellent job - was a very well-paid, respected Legal Secretary and later Legal Assistant in Boston and easily qualified for a $10,000 mortgage.As the matter of fact, Jimmy drove down the street that afternoon -- [probably to rant at me more] -- stopped to pick up his son at the 4th house in only to have Mrs. Schnell run out of her house yelling to Douglas to get away from that car. Jimmy tried to tell her he was Douglas' father and she said: Not until Lindsey tells me you are! She grabbed Douglas' hand and walked down the street to our house with Jimmy following in his car. I came out of the cellar with a gallon of paint for upstairs and explained to Mrs. Schnell that Jimmy indeed was Douglas' father and thanked her for being so protective. Jimmy, out of the car by now, shook her hand and thanked her for protecting his son. He was shocked that an older woman in a house dress had braced him and refused him something.Jimmy was appalled by the condition of the house and my telling him I didn't have time to chat as I had to have it ready to move into by October 1st; it was small and had to be complete to move into. I promised him it would be lovely when I finished it. He said he didn't see how. However, after it was done and we were in, Jim would say how beautiful it had turned out and moan about my plans for it for the future. It became a place he loved to come to until Douglas died at 6 1/2.There are many things left out - for instance, the night Billy O'Sullivan was killed, Jimmy was home, we were in bed, the phone rang, I answered and a voice said: Tell Whitey not to go into Southie tonight; Billy O's been hit on his front stairs and they are tearing up Southie looking for him. This was omitted entirely.Needless to say, there are many more things in the book that are not accurate or are totally inaccurate; but, it will take a book to set them all out; particularly, Jimmy's amazing relationship with his son. Having listened to Dick Lehr in person on several panels, he has his own view of Jimmy and that colors everything; he doesn't listen and doesn't want to hear.

Deborah Davis, the lovely, young girlfriend of Steve Flemmi got into her Mercedes convertible and drove to her death. She knew too much and talked too much and James Whitey Bulger wasn't having it. He killed her, had Flemmi pull out her teeth and bury her. There, that was the end of that problem. And, so, Whitey Bulger was protecting his life of crime, murder, greed and mayhem, nothing could touch him, now.The authors, Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill have followed Whitey, the Boston Mafia, the Winter Hill Gang from the beginning of their careers. This is the third in the trilogy of books where the life of Whitey has been highlighted. This book is the most detailed and gives us a fascinating look into the beginning of the Bulger family, their journey from Ireland to South Boston. Whitey is a name to be reckoned with in Southie, as it is in Boston, and across the US and the world after Whitey made his run and the FBI took a more than ten year look for him.Along the way we meet the people Whitey invited into his life, his cronies, his men, his family, his women. We learn about his son by an early love. We meet the FBI who became part of Whitey's crew, the State Police who were paid handsomely to protect Whitey. All along Whitey's life there was always someone who stepped up to protect him. He did serve a long prison sentence for armed robbery, but he got out of one mess after the other with relative ease. We also meet up front and personal, the people he killed or had killed, nineteen people, died at the hands of Whitey Bulger. He either planned the deaths or caused the deaths, himself. He had a temper, and Whitey had to learn how to manage it. At one time in prison, Whitey took part in research trials with LSD, and he thought that might be a reason for his temper, his hallucinations and his bad dreams. But, it appears, Whitey is a psychopath, who has no regret for his actions.Whitey ran a superb crime organization for many years in South Boston. He eliminated his competition, one by one. He usually killed them. He had an FBI informant, John Connelly, who would tell him when someone was after him. Connelly would warn him of traps by other police departments, and, in the end, he warned Whitey it was time to get out of town. Of note, John Connelly, was convicted of several crimes and is spending time in prison. As one reads this book, there was a time in Boston when it appeared that every type of police force that were hired to protect citizens, were in reality, protecting Whitey. Nothing was sacred.Whitey Bulger left Boston with his long time girlfriend, Catherine Grieg. They ended up in Santa Monica, California, where they lived a life of seclusion as a couple with many different identities. They either bought or stole the identities. During the years, Whitey had hidden money all over the world, so money was no object. The FBI seemed lost in their old ways and the hunt for Whitey was not a number one priority. It was not until Osama Bin laden was killed, that Whitey Bulger moved his way to the top of the list, The Number One Most Wanted Man in the US, that things started to change. The hunt for Whitey and his capture is the most exhilarating, and I will leave that up to you to discover.Lehr and O'Neill have written a fast paced, comprehensive, and compelling story of Whitey Bulger. As a native of New England, I have had a long fascination with Whitey Bulger. His capture was exciting. I had read the first two books of the trilogy about Whitey, and I thought I knew most everything about him. I was astonished to read about his forebears from Ireland and his life that led to the apartment in Santa Monica. This is a book not to be missed.Highly Recommended. prisrob 03-03-13

I enjoyed the book. There is so many Whitey Bulger books out there, but this one did have some news stories, especially on the family dynamic with his siblings and others enabling him from early on. Also, some information on his relationship with the FBI which I hadn’t read elsewhere. Definitely worth a read.

Because of the family history and the clear understanding of a psychopaths evolution.. Having come from a large Irish family with the same socio economic background it was interesting to try and identify with what made him tick... Unfortunately I too had a family member with similar tendencies but not near having the propensities to kill people... What really fascinated me was the family dynamics and those members who would never think of committing the atrocities that he did, would nevertheless take on the role of protecting and enabling such heinous crimes., and those government officials who knowingly allowed the crimes to be committed. It is SHOCKING, when one thinks of the evolution of mankind, it is hard to imagine how this type of behavior was allowed in the twentieth century. All I can say is God help them all! The only person I really feel sad about is Catherin Grieg, she succumbed like all the others to this mans obvious attraction, and after 16 years on the run with a Physco, deserves her freedom.....

The life story of Whitey Bulger should have the makings of a great book or at least a very interesting one - just unfortunately not by this author. This book is supposed to based on exhaustive research - but research of what exactly? This author seems to rely exclusively on third hand information regarding everything to do with his subject matter. Maybe he exhaustively researched newspaper articles and the official record but what appears clear (and I'm not even half way through the book) is that the author doesn't seem to have interviewed anyone remotely close to Whitey Bulger or the events that shaped his life at any stage.. There's no intimacy with the subject he's writing about and he tries to compensate for that by filling pages with details which have little or no relevance. Another reviewer here used the words boring and dull to describe this book and he was right. . - . ..

Great read

Tons and tons of dull facts about his early formative criminal life, half way through I got so bored I gave up.

Für Menschen die sich für solche Themen interessieren, das beste Buch über die (irische) Mafia und Whitey Bulger überhaupt.Unbesingt auf Englisch lesen (weiß gar nicht genau ob es übersetzt wurde)

A great read, well done. It covered what has to be known about Whitey, sad that he wasted his whole life on crime. We all make choices in life and he made his.....sad.