The Brothers Bulger: A Good Read

Several months ago, a friend suggested to me that I read Howie Carr's book, The Brothers Bulger: How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century. I didn't really give it much thought again until I saw it in the bookstore in paperback. ( I guess I'm frugal...I mean cheap!) I remembered that Howie Carr is a habitual William Bulger critic. So I assumed the book would be the usual politician-bashing collection of rumor and innuendo that we see too much of today. I was wrong.

Carr thoughtfully and comprehensively chronicles the lives of James "Whitey" Bulger and William "Billy" Bulger. One, a murderer and mobster and the other, a local politician who advances from State Representative to the President of the Massachusetts Senate and then to the Presidency of the University of Massachusetts.

The book details for us not only the background of the Bulger family, but brilliantly chronicles the existence and significance of organized crime in Boston in the 1970's - 1990's. For those who were unaware of the violence and horror of one Whitey Bulger, who murdered and thought nothing of it, it is a real eye-opener. But Carr's book is not just about the mob, the Bulger family and crime but a story about a government agency out of control. The actions of our FBI in partnering with Whitey Bulger for decades is an incredible abuse and misuse of power and authority.

It reminds us that government actions must be questioned and monitored. For the FBI to think that it was proper to use a monster like Whitey Bulger as an informant, and to routinely turn the other way when Bulger was literally murdering people, is beyond our comprehension. And it went on for years.

The Bulger story reminds us that government at all levels, federal, state and local, must be participatory and must be audited and evaluated regularly.

Howie Carr's, The Brothers Bulger, deserves your attention!