Rat Bastards (Paperback)

John "Red" Shea

ISBN 10: 0061232890 / ISBN 13: 9780061232893

Published by HarperCollins Publishers Inc, New York, 2007

About this Item

Paperback. John "Red" Shea, 40, was a top lieutenant in the South Boston Irish mob run, led by James "Whitey" Bulger. An icecold enforcer with a redhot temper, Shea was a legend among his peers in the 1990s South Boston, as much as John Gotti, Bugsy Siegel, and Al Capone were in their time and place. When the actor and producer Mark Wahlberg, raised in nearby Dorchester, learned of a script based on Shea's life circulating in Hollywood, he immediately committed to playing the gangster on screen. A major feature film project is now in development. From the age of thirteen, when he started robbing delivery trucks, to the age of twentyseven, when he began serving a twelveyear federal sentence for drug trafficking, Shea was a portrait in American crime a bantamweight, redheaded terror, brutal with his fists and deadly with a lead pipe, a baseball bat, or a knife. At fifteen he was selling marijuana . At seventeen he was handling Bulger's cocaine. At eighteen he was loan sharking and laundering Bulger's money. At twenty, initiated into Bulger's inner circle at the point of an Uzi, he was running a multimilliondollar narcotics operation for his mentor. RAT BASTARDS was the firstever, firsthand account of mob life that wasn't told by a rat. Red Shea did his crime, then did his timeand 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 honor. 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 12 years of hard time to maintain his personal dignity and sense of integrity. This book provides an account of mob life and Red Shea. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780061232893

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Rat Bastards (Paperback)
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc, New York
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0061232890
• ISBN 13: 9780061232893
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

John "Red" Shea, 40, was a top lieutenant in the South Boston Irish mob run, led by James "Whitey" Bulger. An ice–cold enforcer with a red–hot temper, Shea was a legend among his peers in the 1990s South Boston, as much as John Gotti, Bugsy Siegel, and Al Capone were in their time and place. When the actor and producer Mark Wahlberg, raised in nearby Dorchester, learned of a script based on Shea's life circulating in Hollywood, he immediately committed to playing the gangster on screen. A major feature film project is now in development.

From the age of thirteen, when he started robbing delivery trucks, to the age of twenty–seven, when he began serving a twelve–year federal sentence for drug trafficking, Shea was a portrait in American crime – a bantam–weight, red–headed terror, brutal with his fists and deadly with a lead pipe, a baseball bat, or a knife. At fifteen he was selling marijuana . At seventeen he was handling Bulger's cocaine. At eighteen he was loan sharking and laundering Bulger's money. At twenty, initiated into Bulger's inner circle at the point of an Uzi, he was running a multimillion–dollar narcotics operation for his mentor.

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 honor.

About the Author

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.