I Heard You Paint Houses: Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran & Closing the Case on Jimmy Hoffa

by Charles Brandt

More often than not, the first rule in a successful interrogation is to have faith that the subject truly wants to confess, even when he is denying and lying. This was the case with Frank Sheeran. The second rule is to keep the subject talking, and that was never a problem with the Irishman either. Let the words flow and the truth finds its own way out.

The first words Jimmy ever spoke to me were, “I heard you paint houses.” The paint is the blood that supposedly gets on the wall or the floor when you shoot somebody. I told Jimmy, “I do my own carpentry work, too.” That refers to making coffins and means you get rid of the bodies yourself.

I had the ideal carefree young man’s life – the Life of Riley – popular with the girls, good pals, no responsibilities; a life where your only real job is to build memories for the rest of your days.

Like I said, we’re all terminal; we just don’t know the date. Like all young people we thought we had forever to live back then.

That’s the way it was in those days. You showed a gun. Now they don’t show you the gun, they just shoot you with it. In those days they wanted their money today. Now they want their money yesterday.

Carlos used to have a sign in his office that said that three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead.