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The Combat Zone: Murder, Race, and Boston's Struggle for Justice
Shortlisted for the 2021 Agatha Award for Best Non-Fiction and the 2022 Anthony Award for Best Critical or Nonfiction Work
At the end of the 1976 football season, more than forty Harvard athletes went to Boston's Combat Zone to celebrate. In the city's adult entertainment district, drugs and prostitution ran rampant, violent crime was commonplace, and corrupt police turned the other way. At the end of the night, Italian American star athlete Andy Puopolo, raised in the city's North End, was murdered in a stabbing. Three African American men were accused of the crime. His murder made national news and led to the eventual demise of the city's red-light district.
Starting with this brutal murder, The Combat Zone tells the story of the Puopolo family's struggle with both a devastating loss and a criminal justice system that produced two trials with opposing verdicts, all within the context of a racially divided Boston. Brogan traces the contentious relationship between Boston’s segregated neighborhoods during the busing crisis; shines a light on a court system that allowed lawyers to strike potential jurors based purely on their racial or ethnic identity; and lays bare the deep-seated corruption within the police department and throughout the Combat Zone. What emerges is a fascinating snapshot of the city at a transitional moment in its recent past.
At the end of the 1976 football season, more than forty Harvard athletes went to Boston's Combat Zone to celebrate. In the city's adult entertainment district, drugs and prostitution ran rampant, violent crime was commonplace, and corrupt police turned the other way. At the end of the night, Italian American star athlete Andy Puopolo, raised in the city's North End, was murdered in a stabbing. Three African American men were accused of the crime. His murder made national news and led to the eventual demise of the city's red-light district.
Starting with this brutal murder, The Combat Zone tells the story of the Puopolo family's struggle with both a devastating loss and a criminal justice system that produced two trials with opposing verdicts, all within the context of a racially divided Boston. Brogan traces the contentious relationship between Boston’s segregated neighborhoods during the busing crisis; shines a light on a court system that allowed lawyers to strike potential jurors based purely on their racial or ethnic identity; and lays bare the deep-seated corruption within the police department and throughout the Combat Zone. What emerges is a fascinating snapshot of the city at a transitional moment in its recent past.
240 pages, Hardcover
Published September 24, 2021
20 people are currently reading
174 people want to read
About the author
Jan Brogan
6 books18 followersJan, an award-winning journalist, is a former staff reporter for Worcester Telegram and The Providence Journal. Currently a freelance journalist and formerly a correspendent for The Boston Globe, she is the author of four mysteries. Her first,Final Copy, won the Drood Review Editor's Choice award. A Confidential Source and Yesterday's Fatal were both named "Killer Books" by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association."
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
May 24, 2025
2.75 ⭐️ fascinating case, with broader exploration of society in Boston. The author has a personal connection which soils some of the journalistic integrity.
October 21, 2021
The Combat Zone: Murder, Race, and Boston’s Struggle for Justice is an incredible read, through which I learned about the 1976 murder of Harvard football player, Andy Puopolo and the tumultuous court cases that followed. The author presents this fascinating, yet tragic story from the perspective of a journalist— with unbiased facts that allow the reader to come to their own conclusion about what really happened. To me, the truth rings clear. Andy Puopolo sounds like an incredible person who got caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time… and then who’s name got wrapped up in something bigger than himself.
History will smile upon Jan Brogan for putting together a holistic view of the events that transpired, and for gathering together the accounts of so many first-hand sources of one of America’s pivotal stories.
I would recommend this book for any fans of true crime, history, or narrative non-fiction. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and I feel like it helped broaden my world-perspective.
History will smile upon Jan Brogan for putting together a holistic view of the events that transpired, and for gathering together the accounts of so many first-hand sources of one of America’s pivotal stories.
I would recommend this book for any fans of true crime, history, or narrative non-fiction. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and I feel like it helped broaden my world-perspective.
November 14, 2021
The book was an excellent read and brought back many memories of what Boston was like back in the 70’s (and before). The Afterward perfectly summarized the essence of Boston during that era and how much the City has progressed to where we are today. The memory of the Ted Landsmark incident is still fresh in my mind. I was in my first job out of college and walking through Government Center when that attack occurred and how horrific it was. Also, I forgot about the Darryl Williams tragedy. While the City environment is still not perfect, we have come along way and are a more homogeneous society. Finally, I am not sure how much more you could have written about Andy Puopolo. I feel for Danny and his family’s pain. His decision to change his plans for retribution and move on as best as he can were positive steps for him and his family.
July 27, 2022
The conclusion of this book is basically….”Yeah Boston is racist but it used to be much worse”
Aside from that which I felt left the book off on a sore note for me it was interesting to read about the development of the Chinatown/Downtown Crossing area and a 1970s murder case that affected the way that juries were selected in Massachusetts.
Aside from that which I felt left the book off on a sore note for me it was interesting to read about the development of the Chinatown/Downtown Crossing area and a 1970s murder case that affected the way that juries were selected in Massachusetts.
August 12, 2023
This book felt like uncovering a trove of secrets hidden in the attic. I'm so thankful for everything it taught me about parts of Boston that I've passed through obliviously for so many years. A must-read for any Bostonian, and a compelling history of a crime and prosecution that says so much about race and class in the latter half of the 20th century.
April 5, 2025
Truly a fascinating story, and the provided context around the broader racial dynamics at play in Boston at the time of the murder were particularly instructive.
Could have used a strong edit, for style but more importantly for the heavily biased language used throughout. This includes calling the three defendants "the three murderers" even after their conviction was overturned and referring to them with phrases like the three men who murdered Puopolo and the men who ended Puopolo's life even though it was agreed on by all that only one of the defendants inflicted the fatal stab wounds, and one of them never touched the victim.
The lack of true journalistic objectivity on Brogan's part permeates the entire book but becomes more and more undeniable in the last few pages, where it's essentially revealed that the impetus for the entire project was a desire from the victim's younger brother for his "hero" brother's story to be told. In the final paragraphs, Brogan falls unabashedly into presenting the family's subjective view of their son/brother as the objective truth, throwing a pall of bias over the entire book.
It's not unheard of for journalists to make concessions to encourage the participation of sources around sensitive subjects if it's the only way to ensure an important story gets told. But, for Brogan to conceal until the end how closely she worked with the younger Puopolo rather than disclosing it in the book's first paragraphs amounts to true deception and journalistic malpractice in my mind. Definitely a shame to have such an unshakable flaw marring what appears to be the definitive account of an event that truly changed Boston's history and left a lasting impact on the legal system nationally.
Could have used a strong edit, for style but more importantly for the heavily biased language used throughout. This includes calling the three defendants "the three murderers" even after their conviction was overturned and referring to them with phrases like the three men who murdered Puopolo and the men who ended Puopolo's life even though it was agreed on by all that only one of the defendants inflicted the fatal stab wounds, and one of them never touched the victim.
The lack of true journalistic objectivity on Brogan's part permeates the entire book but becomes more and more undeniable in the last few pages, where it's essentially revealed that the impetus for the entire project was a desire from the victim's younger brother for his "hero" brother's story to be told. In the final paragraphs, Brogan falls unabashedly into presenting the family's subjective view of their son/brother as the objective truth, throwing a pall of bias over the entire book.
It's not unheard of for journalists to make concessions to encourage the participation of sources around sensitive subjects if it's the only way to ensure an important story gets told. But, for Brogan to conceal until the end how closely she worked with the younger Puopolo rather than disclosing it in the book's first paragraphs amounts to true deception and journalistic malpractice in my mind. Definitely a shame to have such an unshakable flaw marring what appears to be the definitive account of an event that truly changed Boston's history and left a lasting impact on the legal system nationally.
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October 23, 2021Giving this one three and a half stars, even if they don’t let you do that.
Read this one (review) for work. It’s about a notorious murder in The Combat Zone, a four-block area in downtown Boston more or less set aside for vice. This one took place in 1976, when Boston was riven by racial animosity.
Turns out Harvard football players (of all people) had the idiotic custom of going to the Zone to let off a little steam after the season was over. In this case, after a confused melee involving a stolen wallet, two of them were stabbed; one would die.
Three African-American men were arrested, and even though their roles that night were very different, they were all charged with first degree murder under a dubious legal theory called “joint enterprise.”
Boston was a few years into its disastrous experiment in forced school busing, and Brogan shows how race played a huge part in the trial. (Prosecutors were able to keep almost all black candidates off the jury.). Brogan, a former reporter for The Providence Journal, is very good with the legal maneuvering of the case, and setting the scene in a very tense city.
In the first trial, all three defendants were found guilty of murder. At the second, after higher courts objected to some prosecutorial tactics, one was found guilty of manslaughter, the other two were acquitted. We don’t get much of the inner life of the defendants, but Danny Puopolo, brother of the murder victim, is a particularly sympathetic figure.
He never got over his brother’s death, and even considered recruiting mob hit men to take revenge, which fortunately never happened.
Read this one (review) for work. It’s about a notorious murder in The Combat Zone, a four-block area in downtown Boston more or less set aside for vice. This one took place in 1976, when Boston was riven by racial animosity.
Turns out Harvard football players (of all people) had the idiotic custom of going to the Zone to let off a little steam after the season was over. In this case, after a confused melee involving a stolen wallet, two of them were stabbed; one would die.
Three African-American men were arrested, and even though their roles that night were very different, they were all charged with first degree murder under a dubious legal theory called “joint enterprise.”
Boston was a few years into its disastrous experiment in forced school busing, and Brogan shows how race played a huge part in the trial. (Prosecutors were able to keep almost all black candidates off the jury.). Brogan, a former reporter for The Providence Journal, is very good with the legal maneuvering of the case, and setting the scene in a very tense city.
In the first trial, all three defendants were found guilty of murder. At the second, after higher courts objected to some prosecutorial tactics, one was found guilty of manslaughter, the other two were acquitted. We don’t get much of the inner life of the defendants, but Danny Puopolo, brother of the murder victim, is a particularly sympathetic figure.
He never got over his brother’s death, and even considered recruiting mob hit men to take revenge, which fortunately never happened.
August 4, 2021
At the end of Harvard football's 1976 season, most of the team went to drink in the Combat Zone (CZ) after the official party. At this time the CZ was at it's height of infamy, the small four block area was the home to x-rated bookstores, strip joints and bars, many acting as brothels. The denizens of the CZ were known to use whores as distractions for pick-pockets and drug dealers.
When the Harvard boys left the bar, some went into the Coaches van and prepared to go back to the dorms. When those in the van saw some of the other boys chasing a woman, they were yelling "she stole my wallet". The white boys in the van joined the chase. When some of them ran down a alley they were confronted by three black men, one of whom was armed with a knife. In the ensuing melee two of the football players were stab, one of them twice and he later died.
The rest of the book concentrates on the three men of color who were arrested at the CZ, though only one had a knife and admitted to doing the stabbing. Through the original trial and the follow up appeal, the racial problem in Boston just escalated. Following through to the end, Brogan gives an unbiased account of the stabbing and the trials.
When the Harvard boys left the bar, some went into the Coaches van and prepared to go back to the dorms. When those in the van saw some of the other boys chasing a woman, they were yelling "she stole my wallet". The white boys in the van joined the chase. When some of them ran down a alley they were confronted by three black men, one of whom was armed with a knife. In the ensuing melee two of the football players were stab, one of them twice and he later died.
The rest of the book concentrates on the three men of color who were arrested at the CZ, though only one had a knife and admitted to doing the stabbing. Through the original trial and the follow up appeal, the racial problem in Boston just escalated. Following through to the end, Brogan gives an unbiased account of the stabbing and the trials.
October 3, 2021
This is a true crime story about the murder of a Harvard football player and the subsequent trials of those accused. It is also a book about the many racial, cultural, economic and sociological impacts that overtook Boston in the late nineteen seventies, leaving it branded as the most racist city in the country, and how all these elements played their part in the outcome of justice for Andy Puopolo. Boston became the screen upon which people saw the most brutal human impulses enacted and could either congratulate themselves for not being like Boston, or cheer the city for being as it was. Jan Brogan’s book untangles and explicates all the complications of these events—She also examines with careful detail and empathy the permanent psychic wounds enacted on the murder victim’s family.
Brogan tells a careful, measured story that detangles the myriad components which made this murder a landmark case for Boston.
Brogan tells a careful, measured story that detangles the myriad components which made this murder a landmark case for Boston.
February 17, 2022
I was a wee lad during 1976 and 1977 when most of the action takes place in Boston's adult entertainment district and racial disparity in the Boston's justice system. I have no recollection of the events in real time with the exception of the busing initiative that integrated schools during that era (only tangent to this story).
I enjoyed the writing style and the research during production must have been monumental. Kudos To Jan Brogan. Fast paced and well detailed while keeping my interest form the first page to the last.
A must read for anyone interested in learning more about that time and place. Highly Recommended.
I enjoyed the writing style and the research during production must have been monumental. Kudos To Jan Brogan. Fast paced and well detailed while keeping my interest form the first page to the last.
A must read for anyone interested in learning more about that time and place. Highly Recommended.
February 6, 2022
Jan Brogan's The Combat Zone: Murder, Race, and Boston's Struggle for Justice is a marvelously well-written book that starts with a 1970's murder in Boston's notorious red-light district and then explores all the way around it. From the Harvard football player victim, his family, and their neighborhood to the court rooms where the three accused were tried twice and the entire city of Boston at that time, this is a highly readable true crime book that also deals with the bigger questions of the day.
May 31, 2022
This book was incredibly sad to read, but I learned a ton about a trial I hadn't heard about before and how it was shaped by Boston's racist history in the 70s. The intersection of police corruption, school bussing racial tensions, gentrification, zoning, politics, and media is really quite something and the author does (in my opinion) a really nice job developing empathy for the murder victim and his family while also calling out the appalling racism surrounding the trial.
September 1, 2022
Well written unbiased, factual book of historical non-fiction. I am giving five stars for the quality of the writing, how the story was laid out, and the deep dive the author took to capture an aspect of Boston in the 1970s. Caveat: this is a niche topic (Boston, non-fiction, racial tension/discrimination) and may not be for everyone.
November 7, 2023
I was in high school in the Boston area in the 1970s and remember the Andy Puopolo murder case that gripped the city during that time. Jan Brogan revisits that fraught era, retracing the steps of family, friends, law enforcement, courtroom players, and the defendants' lives as well. It's a compelling story, and one that deserved to be told in its entirety. A tragedy certainly, but also a cautionary tale of how narratives can get bent through a prism of time, politics, grief, and injustice. Brogan's clear-eyed and compassionate reporting sheds new light on a story that still rings with relevance.
August 22, 2022
While this book recounts an important case in Boston's tough history with violence and race relations, it started to feel like it was getting repetitive and likely could have been shorter while still getting the point across.
March 28, 2023
A beautifully written, well researched book detailing a horrific crime during one of the most difficult times in Boston. Jan Brogan never forgets the victim, or the victim's family, as she weaves the racial issues that served as a backdrop at the time. This is a must read.
December 16, 2023
Boston has such a checkered history with destroying neighborhoods. First the west end which resulted in the combat zone and created havoc for the Chinatown neighborhood. Learn the history of the combat zone and how it impacted the city during the turbulent 70s
October 26, 2024
I was more interested because I live here, but overall it felt a little less focused than I would have preferred. I think either you do the trials alone or you do the overall snapshot of history of Boston in the mid-70s, but this felt like it was on neither side.
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January 6, 2022Growing up in Boston during this time made this book very interesting
April 4, 2022
Excellent- very moving; details of trial, strategy & effects on family of murder victims so important
January 13, 2023
Excellent. Very clearly depicts Boston in the 70's.
April 16, 2023
Interesting volume. Well done.
June 2, 2023
Not great.. Kind of like reading a newspaper
September 4, 2023
vey good history of porn and sanctioned "adult entertainment" area, police corruption, racial tensions in Boston in the 1970's, a murder/trial/appeal, poor jury selection, subsequent social changes.
October 18, 2023
Excellent journalism- I learned so much about the history of Boston and also about how the law works. I highly recommend!
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews