List $25.95

Written by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill - Audio book performed by John Rubinstein - Abridged Nonfiction - Abridgment approved by Dick Lehr - 4 CASSETTES - 6 hours

Publisher, Harper Audio (May 2001)

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"...A heartbreaking...story of corruption and crime...a work of rare lucidity, high drama, journalistic integrity, and plain courage." --James Carroll, author of An American Requiem and Boston Globe columnist

"[Lehr and O'Neill] vividly capture the turbulent culture and conflicting loyalties of the Boston underworld." --Library Journal

"An eye-opening true-crimer..." --Kirkus Reviews

"[Shows] how fragile FBI integrity can be when the good guys lose sight of truth, the rules, and the law." --The Washington Post Book World

"...[A] jaw-dropping, true-life tale of how two thugs corrupted the FBI." --The Baltimore Sun

"A triumph of investigative reporting." --Publishers Weekly

"Black Mass should prompt a re-evaluation of the uses and misuses of informers by law enforcement officials throughout the country." --Alan Dershowitz, The New York Times Book Review

John Connolly and James "Whitey" Bulger grew up together on the streets of South Boston. Decades later, in the mid-1970s, they would meet again. By then, Connolly was a major figure in the FBI's Boston office and Whitey had become godfather of the Irish Mob. What happened next -- a dirty deal to bring down the Italian mob in exchange for protection for Bulger -- would spiral out of control, leading to murders, drug dealing, racketeering indictments and, ultimately, the biggest informant scandal in the history of the FBI.

Compellingly told by two Boston Globe reporters who were on the case from the beginning, Black Mass is at once a riveting crime story, a cautionary tale about the abuse of power, and a penetrating look at Boston and its Irish population.

About the Author: Dick Lehr joined the Boston Globe in 1986. Lehr has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist and has won the Hancock and Loeb awards, among others. He is the co-author of The Underboss : The Rise and Fall of a Mafia Family and Black Mass. Black Mass won the MWA's 2000 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime.