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

by Marc Songini

Journalist Marc Songini presents the brutal and bloody history of Boston’s organized crime syndicates in the 1960s and 70s through the life of gangster Joseph Barboza.

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. And 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 declassified documents and the use of underworld sources, Boston The Rise and Fall of the New England Mob and Its Most Notorious Killer 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, Songini’s account is a saga of treachery, murder, greed, and the survival of ruthless men pitted against legal systems and police forces.

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

384 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2013

Reviews

[Patrick O'Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

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

[Allison · Rating 1 out of 5]

terribly written.

[Matt Sullivan · Rating 2 out of 5]

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

[Ben W · Rating 1 out of 5]

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

[Sabrish Menon · Rating 1 out of 5]

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.

[Big Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 2 out of 5]

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

[Kelly Lekey · Rating 1 out of 5]

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 · Rating 2 out of 5]

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!

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 · Rating 1 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 · Rating 1 out of 5]

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 · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Bluegrassfan · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history of the Boston Mob...

[David Kruh · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

[Jon Zittel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very confusing to keep names of mobsters straight.

[theresa · Rating 1 out of 5]

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

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

[BeeCee Oh · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

[Brian Raymond · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting stories and content, but very poorly written

[msleighm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.


This book confused me from the get-go. It's called "Boston" Mob, but in smaller print it's really "The rise and fall of the New England mob and its most notorious killer." Okay. But then, it never made clear who the "most notorious killer" was -- was it mob hitman Joseph "The Animal" Barboza or Whitey Bulger who are both mentioned on the back cover. In retrospect, I guess they were talking about "the Animal," but why the reference to Whitey when he's only referred to once in the book that I noticed. I was very confused by that.

In the Source notes at the end, the author states "This is a work of non-fiction." But on the next page he says "The conclusions I draw, in many cases, are my own." So he's deciding what is history, not giving the reader both or all sides of the story that are available. It may make for a better narrative flow, but leaves out possibilities.

The book seemed to be missing a beginning and an ending. It felt incomplete to me. I would have liked some background on when the mob first started in Boston, or was it Rhode Island? Really, couldn't they have found a less confusing name? Then, there are so many families and nicknames, it would be nice for the book to have a chart with the allegiances at least at the start (I know people switched sides at times, and that made it confusing, especially when alternate names were used to refer to them). And photographs? These are all real people, how difficult would it be to get copies of photo's of them? Since Whitey was alluded to in the text and the back of the book, a chapter at the end; what happened to the mob in Boston after "The Animal" was no longer in the picture? Is it still a presence? I grew up in Massachusetts in the 70's and 80's and was only slightly aware of a thing called the mob (supposedly one of my boyfriends step-fathers was connected, I never came out and asked), it would be interesting to know what came after the events in the book.

And then a final pet-peeve, and this is new, I'm just starting to notice it... I've read a lot of ARC's and you'll see a typo here or there, a punctuation that needs correction or a misspelling... In this ARC it seems like the editing hasn't been done yet. There were sentences that made no sense or were repeated. Just a mess. I'm sure most of it will be cleaned up for publishing, but not how I'd want to present myself to first readers. Especially with content this complicated.

If you're interested in New England, the mob, that kind of thing, this book has a lot of interesting detail and you'll probably like it. I may reread it now that I've gotten through it once and gotten the kinks out of my system.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing.
I had thought that this book would be an interesting introduction to the world of the infamous Whitey Bulger, he of recent notoriety, but I was wrong. Bulger, to my understanding one of the most dangerous, cunning and connected of Boston mobsters is in the book hardly at all.
The prime subject of the book is supposed to be one Joe ( the Animal) Barboza, but the entire treatment of all the mobsters, including the head boss, Raymond Patriarca, is episodic. The author never focuses long enough on one to really flesh them out, preferring an anecdotal approach. Young Joe does this, meets Stevie and does that. Jump to another incident years later with another thief. Cut to the criminal boss for a summary of his life at the top, then off to another moment or so with other low life's. After a while the book is simply a series of flashbacks. It is rather similar to one of those " and then I wrote" song writer, actor, director gab feasts on PBS during a fund drive.
So do not expect any in- depth, novelistic treatment of the Boston mob here. One can find more information in depth on Wikipedia.

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'll give Marc Songini his due for writing a book about the Boston Mob that doesn't focus exclusively on the Bulger years. Still that is it's weakness in that it focuses on another person in Joe Barbara. I did like the background on Raymond Patricia and Gerry Angulio but the author seems to want us to think that after The Animal was out of the picture things settled down. By cutting off the story in the mid 1970s we missed some of the key moments in the history of the Boston Mob. We missed the arrest of Angullio, the death of Patricia, the taping of a mob induction ceremony and the rise and fall of Cadillac Frank. So much more interesting information which I will grant can't match the depravity of Joe the Animal but still quite interesting. It would be impossible to tell the story without Whitey but that's not a reason to ignore it.

It's a decent book and OK but could have been so much better with more focus on a full history.

[Brian Connolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I knew many of the criminals, I found the book to be a walk down memory lane. In any case, the book was just meh. Still, if you like mob books and aren;t looking to be challeneged, it's a good read.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book kick off my interest in mafia history, which is saying a lot considering most my bookshelves are filled with books on the mafia. When you hear "boston mafia" the first name you think of is Whitey Bulger, but this book shows how many players there were in the boston game. Well written, well researched.