Boston Mob: The Rise and Fall of the New England Mob and Its Most Notorious Killer

by Marc Songini

The New England Mafia was a hugely powerful organization that survived by using violence to ruthlessly crush anyone that threatened it, or its lucrative gambling, loansharking, bootlegging and other enterprises. Psychopathic strongman Joseph "The Animal" Barboza was one of the most feared mob enforcers of all time, killing as many as thirty people for business and pleasure. From information based on newly declassified documents and the use of underworld sources, Boston Mob spans the gutters and alleyways of East Boston, Providence and Charlestown to the halls of Congress in Washington D.C. and Boston's Beacon Hill. Its players include governors and mayors, and the Mafia Commission of New York City. From the tragic legacy of the Kennedy family to the Winter Hill-Charlestown feud, the fall of the New England Mafia and the rise of Whitey Bulger, Mark Songini's Boston Mob is a saga of treachery, murder, greed, and the survival of ruthless men pitted against legal systems and police forces.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, History, Biography

384 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2013

Reviews

[Patrick O'Neil]

High in snark. Lacking in direction, or focus. Written for the easily impressed sufferers of A.D.D.

[Allison]

terribly written.

[Matt Sullivan]

Sloppy: the writing, the action, the “characters”.

[Alex Orlando]

To contribute towards my goal of reading more non-fiction I picked up this book at barnes and nobles cause I think the mafia is so interesting and wanted to learn about what it was like in boston as a new massachusetts resident. I’d say it was definitely cool to learn about and it’s crazyyyy how much they got away with and some of the stories were insane. It centered around this one guy who contributed most to the killings and then contributed most to bringing down the mob when he turned witness which was crazy. It was cool to hear stories about places I recognize and have been to and how different Boston looked in the 60s. However, the book was pretty poorly written and super disorganized. It jumped around a lot so was pretty hard to follow, and I ended up skimming the last like 100 pages or so because of it. Overall was an interesting subject matter but poorly executed and would not recommend.

[Ben W]

So poorly written. Fascinating info but just way too all over the place. Introduces way too many people and then doesn’t talk about them again for dozens of pages. And then when they are re-introduced its with new nicknames etc. Disappointing

[Big Jack]

Really good book. Well researched, well written and exceptionally well read by Joe Barret. His voice modulation, changing accents and temperate tone make this audiobook a fun trip to Boston. Having grown up and lived there most of my life, The geographic and regional references are a nice touch. Highly recommend for anyone even remotely interested in the Old Boston Organized Crime situation. It’s focus on Joe “The Animal” Barboza is not only warranted but necessary. And fantastic. Marc Songini delivered on this entertaining yet informative book.

[Tracy]

I've read my share of true, but, this is probably the bloodiest book I have ever read. The book centers around hit man Joe Barboza. He's the classic example of a psychopath and the scariest, most violent person I've read about in a Mob book. I really didn't like the style of the author. At certain points, it reminded me of the voice-over guy from TMZ

[Sabrish Menon]

Zero art of story telling. People's stories, conversations and episodes are dumped without any structure. If it was organized, it could have been an interesting read.

[Kelly Lekey]

This book was terrible. The author should not be proud of this work. Even further, the editor should feel bad about having let this go to press in this form. I regret spending money on it.

My expectation was that this would be a coherent missive with a story line that tied the many people and major crimes of the Boston Mob era together. Instead, it was a disjointed mashup of people, nicknames, addresses, dates and times that did nothing to provide any type of continuous thread through the book. There was far too much detail that held no importance. There’s no reason to include the address of every bar, apartment, house and business front location or the names and nickname of every minor thug. It all ended up a confusing mess.

Only about the last 10% of the book had any continuity that made sense. -1/10. Do not recommend unless reading history books and police reports with no context is your idea of a good time.

[Barry]

Not very good! Was supposed to be about the New England mob and it's most notorious killer but came off mostly as a comedy. The author obviously thought these guys were straight out of a Three Stooges skit. The second half had a lot to do with Joe Barboza but very little to do with his alleged Most Notorious Killer status.

Very hard to follow due to there being too many people in the story, a number of whom didn't need to be in it. Also, the author constantly jumped around timewise, it's a little hard to read an unnecessary story in one year, then jump back ten years to tell another unnecessary story.

Basically a waste of time!

[Sandy Schmidt]

I must admit I double-timed most of the audio book because the amount of criminality, double crossing, violent murder, obscenity, and corruption among the criminals as well as police and government was just too much to listen to at normal speed. And I did want to finish. The one good thing was that came from this was the development of the Witness Protection Program and it did include some of the Kennedy family anti-mafia actions. In 1977 a New York statute was enacted to prevent financial gain from commercial exploitation of crimes, such as selling memoirs, film rights, or giving paid interviews.

[Kelly]

This is an interesting read if it is a subject you have an interest in, overal it's a rather poorly written book, but it did touch on a lot of individuals I was previously unfamiliar with, as well as numerous criminal acts I had never heard of. So for me, there was of interest.

But I have to say if you're not a big crime fan already, this one may not turn you on.

If you are a huge crime fan, check it out, you may learn something new, I know I did, and although the writing isn't wonderful, there are still some good stories in this book.

This one is a three star ⭐⭐⭐ read for me

[Jane Everist]

The good aspects of this book are the introductions to gangster vocabulary and a general feel for the mob in Providence Rhode Island and Massachusetts from about 1960 To 1971.

The bad aspects is the army of characters and trying to follow them through time when sometimes they are identified by last name, sometimes by nickname, and sometimes by last name. I have to take notes to keep them recognizable.

[Bill White]

Written like an 8th grader using a thesaurus to avoid using the same word twice. Rambling, non-sensical quotes from meetings and second hand stories with some actual facts and dates haphazardly tossed in.

Very difficult to follow who did what to whom, when, where and for what reason and what was the result.

Maybe would have been better if a high school freshman wrote it.

A complete waste of the $20 I spent!

[Christopher]

The book meanders a great deal covering a large number of members of the New England mafia. The main reason I enjoyed the book was that I lived in the Boston area for many years in the time frame covered. I could visualize many of the locations described. If it were not for this trip down memory lane I would have rated this book lower.

[Mark Richardson]

This violent history of the Boston Mafia focuses around three of the Mob's leading figures, Joe Barboza, Stevie Flemmi, and Raymond Patriarca. Of course, there are many, many others who come under the scope of the book's attention, but these three dominated the mob for three decades. It is a record of killings and other crimes that matches Chicago and New York's syndicated crime histories.

[Nicole Fuller]

Meh… This was hard for me to finish. I was really interested in learning more about the mobs of the 50s and 60s. This book was really scattered, and I didn’t feel like it accomplished its goal or lived up to its title. Disappointing.

[Robert Salemme]

Informative book with an entertaining writing style. Fascinating details about government witnesses, corrupt officials, witness relocation program and unfortunate victims who suffered from many of the mob's brutal characters.

[Eddy III]

Great book, Marc dives into the intricacies of the Boston underworld and the different personalities that made the time unique. Great in depth accounts of Barboza, and the historical names of that era.

[Bluegrassfan]

An ok book, it is about the Italian mob, not the Irish mob with Bulger who followed the Italians. It would have been better if there had been more narrative instead of just one fact after another.

[Jenny]

Interesting read

[Tim]

Excellent history of the Boston Mob...

[David Kruh]

Often gritty and detailed look at the ruthless men who bullied, muscled, and often killed their way to underworld infamy.

[Jon Zittel]

Very confusing to keep names of mobsters straight.

[theresa]

if you enjoy reading about men wiping brains and bits of skull from themselves after a hit this is the book for you.

[Ben]

some really great anecdotes, but needs an organizational re-write. very curious how little Whitey Bulger figures in.

[BeeCee Oh]

Book is interesting enough but the writing and stories are all over the place.

[Katie Harding]

It was really hard to follow, all over the place with names and stories. I tried but gave up.

[Melanie Lussier]

idk how to explain it other than it seems like it was written in an adhd hyperfocus and then never edited

[Brian Raymond]

Interesting stories and content, but very poorly written