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

Shea, John "Red"

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061232890 ISBN 13: 9780061232893

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks, 2007

Synopsis

John "Red" Shea, 40, was a top lieutenant in the South Boston Irish mob run, led by James "Whitey" Bulger. An ice–cold enforcer with a red–hot temper, Shea was a legend among his peers in the 1990s South Boston, as much as John Gotti, Bugsy Siegel, and Al Capone were in their time and place. When the actor and producer Mark Wahlberg, raised in nearby Dorchester, learned of a script based on Shea's life circulating in Hollywood, he immediately committed to playing the gangster on screen. A major feature film project is now in development.

From the age of thirteen, when he started robbing delivery trucks, to the age of twenty–seven, when he began serving a twelve–year federal sentence for drug trafficking, Shea was a portrait in American crime – a bantam–weight, red–headed terror, brutal with his fists and deadly with a lead pipe, a baseball bat, or a knife. At fifteen he was selling marijuana . At seventeen he was handling Bulger's cocaine. At eighteen he was loan sharking and laundering Bulger's money. At twenty, initiated into Bulger's inner circle at the point of an Uzi, he was running a multimillion–dollar narcotics operation for his mentor.

RAT BASTARDS was the first–ever, firsthand account of mob life that wasn't told by a rat. Red Shea did his crime, then did his time––and never informed, unlike Henry Hill of Wiseguy, Sammy "The Bull" Gravano of Underboss, and so many others. Holding fast to the code of his upbringing, he remained a man of honor.

About this title

Review:

“...a slick read dripping with the underworld holy trinity of sex, drugs, and violence...a bawdy page-turner.” (Publishers Weekly)

“...the hottest Irish-American mob story of all time.” (Liz Smith, New York Post)

“...dish-a-thon on Whitey Bulger.” (Boston Herald)

“...the only memoir told from the perspective of a mobster who refused to betray the code of silence.” (The Improper Bostonian)

Synopsis:

John "Red" Shea was a top lieutenant to South Boston's top Irish mobster, Whitey Bulger, and was the only guy to walk the walk and take the rap when the mob boss and his fellow rats turned and ran. Shea did twelve years of hard time in order to maintain his personal dignity and sense of integrity. "Rat Bastards" was the first-ever, firsthand account of mob life that wasn't told by a rat. Red Shea did his crime, then did his time - and never informed, unlike Henry Hill of Wiseguy, Sammy "The Bull" Gravano of Underboss, and so many others. Holding fast to the code of his upbringing, he remained a man of honour. That's why, even today, in Boston, Red Shea remains an iconic figure. He is the last stand-up guy.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0061232890
• ISBN 13: 9780061232893
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320