The true story of the destruction of the New England mafia and its hitman, “The Animal,” who terrorized Boston during the city’s bloodiest five years.

“A stark reminder that the tropes and clichés familiar from countless books and movies about organized crime have their origins in bloody realities.” —The Boston Globe

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. 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 newly declassified documents and the use of underworld sources, Boston Mob 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, Mark Songini’s Boston Mob is a saga of treachery, murder, greed, and the survival of ruthless men pitted against legal systems and police forces.

“It’s not a pretty story, but it is fascinating reading.” —New York Daily News

“A colorful, even gleeful, account of murder, mayhem and corruption during the heyday of the New England Mafia... . . . The fast-reading narrative begins and ends with the turbulent history of Joseph Barboza... . . . A romp through the violent misdeeds of thugs, with plenty of humorous asides.” —Providence Journal

“An admirable attempt to tie together the lies, myths, facts and legends of the 1960s and ‘70s war between the Winter Hill Gang and the McLaughlin brothers’ outfit.” —Kirkus Reviews

Marc Songini