Issue date: 5/10/07 Section: Knight Life

We have all heard of Martin Scorcese's Academy Award-winning film, The Departed. Now read about the memoirs of those who know first-hand of the crime mobs of South Boston. [Click to enlarge]

Alright, who didn't see The Departed here? That's what we thought. Turns out, The Departed is actually somewhat based on a true story. South Boston, where the movie took place, really was a hotbed of crime and gang-activity, run by an Irish gangster named Whitey Bulger (played by the excellent Jack Nicholson in the film). Nicholson's real-life counterpart was the brother of Boston's senator, Billy Bulger, and was a protected FBI informant (until he killed too many people). Kevin Weeks, author of Brutal, was one of Whitey's right-hand men. Today, Whitey Bulger is still on the run, with a million dollar bounty on his head, accused of killing 13 people and considered armed and dangerous.

Weeks is unflinching in his portrayal of his former boss and cohort. "I grew up in the Old Colony housing project in South Boston and became partners with James 'Whitey' Bulger, who I always called Jimmy," he writes early on. "Jimmy and I, we were unstoppable. We took what we wanted. And we made people disappear - permanently. We made millions. And if someone ratted us out, we killed him. We were not nice guys." That is a bit of an understatement, as Nicholson's character pales in comparison next to his real-life counterpart.

On the other side of the South Boston divide, is the memoir Easter Rising, by Michael Patrick MacDonald. Easter Rising, the sequel to his earlier memoir, All Souls, outlines the crime and poverty in Boston from Michael's own experience.

Michael and his siblings grew up in South Boston's Old Colony Projects. "My oldest memories are of my mother crying," he says in the book. Michael's mother was a single parent of 10 children, doing the best she could with subsidized housing, welfare programs and abusive boyfriends. Part of the strength of both memoirs is the portrayal of Michael's mother. She lost five of her children with another child becoming paralyzed, but survived. She lived in housing projects, filled with drug dealers, addicts, roaches and gangs, all while the government ignored her.

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