Rat Bastards: The South Boston Irish Mobster Who Took the Rap When Everyone Else Ran

New
Illustrated
2007
$17.95

John Red Shea was a top lieutenant to South Boston's top Irish mobster, Whitey Bulger, and was the only guy to walk the walk and take the rap when the mob boss and his fellow rats turned and ran. Shea did twelve years of hard time in order to maintain his personal dignity and sense of integrity. Rat Bastards was the first-ever, firsthand account of mob life that wasn't told by a rat. Red Shea did his crime, then did his time - and never informed, unlike Henry Hill of Wiseguy, Sammy The Bull Gravano of Underboss, and so many others. Holding fast to the code of his upbringing, he remained a man of honour. That's why, even today, in Boston, Red Shea remains an iconic figure. He is the last stand-up guy.

Synopsis

John "Red" Shea was a top lieutenant to South Boston's top Irish mobster, Whitey Bulger, and was the only guy to walk the walk and take the rap when the mob boss and his fellow rats turned and ran. Shea did twelve years of hard time in order to maintain his personal dignity and sense of integrity. "Rat Bastards" was the first-ever, firsthand account of mob life that wasn't told by a rat. Red Shea did his crime, then did his time - and never informed, unlike Henry Hill of Wiseguy, Sammy "The Bull" Gravano of Underboss, and so many others. Holding fast to the code of his upbringing, he remained a man of honour. That's why, even today, in Boston, Red Shea remains an iconic figure. He is the last stand-up guy.

$17.95

Quantity

10 in stock

More Information

Format: Illustrated
Pages: 320
Edition: Illustrated
Publisher: WmMorrowPB
Published: 01 Feb 2007
ISBN 10: 0061232890
ISBN 13: 9780061232893

Media Reviews

...a slick read dripping with the underworld holy trinity of sex, drugs, and violence...a bawdy page-turner. -- Publishers Weekly ...the hottest Irish-American mob story of all time. -- Liz Smith, New York Post ...dish-a-thon on Whitey Bulger. -- Boston Herald ...the only memoir told from the perspective of a mobster who refused to betray the code of silence. -- The Improper Bostonian

Author Bio

John Red Shea, forty, completed his twelve-year federal prison sentence in 2002 and is now living on the right side of the law and working in Boston, Massachusetts.