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    Rat Bastards: The South Boston Irish Mobster Who Took the Rap When Everyone Else Ran
    Unavailable
    Rat Bastards: The South Boston Irish Mobster Who Took the Rap When Everyone Else Ran
    Unavailable
    Rat Bastards: The South Boston Irish Mobster Who Took the Rap When Everyone Else Ran
    Ebook318 pages5 hours

    Rat Bastards: The South Boston Irish Mobster Who Took the Rap When Everyone Else Ran

    By John "Red" Shea

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    You've met the Italian mob
    in The Godfather, now welcome
    to the real-life world of Irish
    America's own murderous clan
    of organized crime

    The man who has remained silent for more than a decade finally speaks, revealing the gritty true story of his life inside the infamous South Boston Irish mob led by the elusive, Machiavellian kingpin Whitey Bulger, who to this day remains on the lam as one of the world's Ten Most Wanted criminals, second only to Osama bin Laden.

    John "Red" Shea was a top lieutenant in the South Boston Irish mob, rising to this position at the age of twenty-one. Thus began his tutelage under the notorious Irish godfather James "Whitey" Bulger. An ice-cold enforcer with a legendary red-hot temper, Shea was a legend among his Southie peers in the 1980s. From the first delivery truck he robbed at thirteen to the start of his twelve-year federal sentence for drug trafficking at twenty-seven, Shea was a portrait in American crime -- a terror, brutal and ruthlessly ambitious. Drug dealer, loan shark, money launderer, and multimillion-dollar narcotics kingpin, Shea was at the pinnacle of power -- until the feds came knocking and eventually obliterated the legendary mob in a well-orchestrated sweep of arrests, fueled by insider tips to the FBI and DEA.

    While Bulger's other top men turned informant to save their own hides, Shea alone kept his code of honor and his mouth shut -- loyalty that earned him a dozen years of hard time even as the man he was protecting turned out to be, himself, a rat. For in the end, in a remarkable show of betrayal, Bulger turned out to be the FBI's "main man" and top informant -- tipping off the feds for decades while still managing to operate one of the most murderous and profitable organized crime outfits of all time.

    In Rat Bastards, Shea brings that mysterious world and gritty urban Irish American street culture into sharp focus by telling his own story -- of his fatherless upbringing, his apprenticeship on the tough streets of Southie, and his love affair with trouble, boxing, and then the gangster life. In prose that is refreshingly honest, personal, and surprisingly tender, Shea tells his harrowing, unflinching, and unapologetic story. A man who did the crime, did the time, and held fast to the Irish code of silence, which he was raised to follow at any cost, Shea remains a man of honor and in doing so has become a living legend. One of the last of a dying breed, a true stand-up guy.

    Shea expects no forgiveness and makes no excuses for the life he chose. His story is intense, compelling, and in your face.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateApr 21, 2009
    ISBN9780061907517
    Unavailable
    Rat Bastards: The South Boston Irish Mobster Who Took the Rap When Everyone Else Ran

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    Reviews for Rat Bastards

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    • 3/5
      An interesting book that offers some insight to the workings of Whitey Bulger's Mob. Red Shea was involved with the importation of drugs to Boston from Florida.What takes away from the book is the author's constant need to remind us how he is tougher,stronger,more loyal than anyone else.The opening scene of the book ,which involves Shea and two hookers sets the overall tone of the book. It reminds me of a kid in high school.The book itself is interesting,the author even shows some regret at some points(regarding his love). If you are interested in organized crime in Boston, this is a good read,but I would not spend the money on it, go to the library.
    • 3/5
      A short, brash, shallow yet interesting look at life in Whitey Bulger's South Boston. Red Shea is one of the gang members who was rounded up, and went to jail rather than snitch. After serving 12 years he is out, and has written an account of his life and the time when he ran drugs for Whitey.He comes on as very childish, as someone who never grew up. He is excessively concerned with being tough, and being considered tough. He is violent and revels in it. He is also of the class of grown men who feel that acting like they are still in high school is how to impress women and others. He is rather vague about what he actually did when working with others, and he follows Whitey's advice about never doing anything in front of someone who can hold it against you. So there are few confessions of getting his hands dirty. There are several other reasons for his lack of specificity. He is probably not going to tell anything that can be considered to be snitching. And he isn't going to open himself up to further prosecution. He never really apologizes for what he did, though he expresses regret for the innocent people he hurt. He includes his family, but doesn't seem to consider that even those who were guilty, had innocent family-members of their own, and Shea hurt them with the violence and the drugs. He also seems to have given up any chance of real life, a home, or a family to live the life of a shallow tough-guy cartoon character gangster. What he doesn't write says as much about him, as what he does write.