I have recently completed the book Black Mass, 448 page novel by Dick Leer. This author is big on crime books and police related books. This book came out in 2001 and was turned into a motion picture in 2015 and really struck it big and people read the book before watching the movie (including me). This book is essential to read and highlights a true story in the seventies. It’s a true story, and who doesn’t like a true story?  It goes over the corruption in the government and how one person can change a whole lot. It separates itself from all the other cops and robber type books and has a distinct plot and very almost random you could say.

In the book Black Mass a group of brothers live in southern Boston. One is the senator of Boston, one of them is an FBI agent, And finally, one is a gangster who is a FBI informant. He makes his living off of the streets and is a very brutal, mean man. He is know for being a very dangerous man and is also know to over react. He is approached by his brother the FBi agent to try to help bring down the Italian mob. He agrees to help out but doesn’t tell his gang. He informs The FBI agent regularly about they’re location and his theory is that if he helps them, then they wont bust him for all the things he does. John ( the FBI agent) becomes popular at the office for his great course. Whites (the gangster) tells one of his friends Hess an informant and it will help get the cops off there back and while they are obsessed with the Italian mob they can do whatever they want while the FBI is busy. It works for a while but the FBI gets suspicious after a few murders are directly linked to Whites crew without a doubt. They let a few slide since he is such a good informant and think for the better and that the Italian mafia is a better outcome then just Whites and if they bust Whites they wont get anymore information out of him. People pay the to do inside jobs and other “chores” for people. This money they use to pay some of the cops off to leave them alone. Everyone knows that they are criminals but no one has the guts to do something. Eventually after Whites made a deal for a boat full of assault rifles to be his, the police found it. Apparently the boat driver was an under cover CIA agent and he ended up finding him and killing him. Any of his business partners that he’s upset with he kills. His son dies in the book after his wife gives him too much David and he gets super mad. The FBI finally gets on his case after its too much. They arrest of what’s left of his crew but Whites finds a way to escape to Santa Monica prior to the police’s arrival. His friends are interrogated and they all busted. They ratted him out freely and relentlessly. Whites calls his brother before leaving and says Hess leaving. His senator brother gets sent to jail for even knowing about it. Random sightings have been seen around Santa Monica and other parts of California of Whitney bulgier around 1990 and eventually the FBI cracks down his case and catches him. He faced two life sentences for the murder of over 30 people and also an extra 5 years for not complying.

 

I was moved at the part in the novel when his son died. Him being such a gangster I wouldn’t think that he would react so greatly to death but he seemed really sad. It made me think how family is family no matter what and there’s no easy way to handle death even if your used to it. This book is a history novel but I think it deserves its own category. Its a very different book then any other book that I have read and can’t really compare it too.  The kind of reader who would enjoy this novel is someone who likes mystery novels or true stories. If I were the author I probably would have incorporated more detail because he seemed to really cut to the chase with this novel and be very blunt and realistic. Short and sweet. I would have liked to stretch this novel out a couple hundred pages and had some good detail in there. This book is a three out of five for me but was still a good read.

Sincerely Christian Hiden