Rat Bastards

In this true crime memoir, a former member of the Irish mob under Whitey Bulger details his criminal exploits in 1980s and ‘90s Boston.

An ice-cold enforcer with a red-hot temper, John “Red” Shea was already a top lieutenant in the South Boston Irish mob at the young age of twenty-one, a protégé of the notorious Irish godfather James “Whitey” Bulger. Brutal and ruthlessly ambitious—a loan shark, money launderer, and multimillion-dollar narcotics kingpin—Shea was at the pinnacle of his power when the feds came knocking and obliterated the mob in a well-orchestrated sweep of arrests. Bulger’s other top men turned informant to save their own hides, but Shea alone held to his code of honor and kept his mouth shut—earning a dozen years of hard time as his reward. Even Bulger, the man She was protecting, turned out to be a rat who had been tipping off the feds for decades while continuing to operate one of the most murderous and profitable organized crime outfits in America.

Harrowing and unflinching, Rat Bastards brings the gritty world of the Irish mob into sharp focus—the no-holds barred memoir of a former gangster who makes no excuses for the life he chose. Intense, compelling, and in your face, it is a remarkable story from a dying breed: a true stand-up guy.