March 2024 - Page to Screen Book Club - Past Titles - LibGuides at Westwood Public Library

"Black Mass" by Dick Lehr & Gerard O'Neill

Black Mass by Dick Lehr; Gerard O'Neill
Call Number: 364.106 Lehr
This is a true story of violence, double-cross, and brutal murders involving Irish mobsters and corrupt FBI agents in South Boston. Two boys - John Connolly, and James Whitey Bulger - grew up together on the streets of South Boston. Decades later, in the late 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 between them - a dirty deal to trade secrets and take down Boston's Italian Mafia in the process - would spiral out of control, leading to murders, and drug dealing, and racketeering indictments. And, ultimately, to Bulger making the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. Told in narrative style by the Boston Globe reporters who covered the case from the beginning, Black Mass is an epic crime story that is also a book about Boston and Irish America; about the pull of place; and about the ties between people - ties that bind, and ties that blind.

"Black Mass" directed by Scott Cooper
In 1970s South Boston, FBI Agent John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) persuades Irish mobster James "Whitey" Bulger (Johnny Depp) to collaborate with the FBI and eliminate a common enemy: the Italian mob. The drama tells the true story of this unholy alliance, which spiraled out of control, allowing Whitey to evade law enforcement, consolidate power, and become one of the most ruthless and powerful gangsters in Boston history.

Accuracy and Fidelity to Real Events:
- How accurately does the movie represent the events and characters depicted in the book?
- Were there any major deviations or omissions in the movie, and how did they impact the overall narrative?
Character Portrayals:
- How do the actors in the movie compare to your mental images of the characters from the book?
- Were there any notable differences in the portrayal of certain characters that stood out to you?
Emphasis on Certain Events or Aspects:
- Did the movie emphasize certain events or aspects of Whitey Bulger's life and criminal activities more or less than the book did?
- Were there aspects of the story that you felt were given more or less attention in the movie adaptation?
Pacing and Structure:
- How does the pacing and structure of the movie compare to that of the book?
- Were there any significant changes in the chronological order or narrative structure between the two versions?
Visual and Cinematic Elements:
- How did the visual elements of the movie contribute to your understanding and experience of the story?
- Were there any scenes in the movie that stood out to you as particularly well-done or poorly executed?
Inclusion or Exclusion of Subplots:
- Were there any subplots or additional information in the book that were excluded from the movie?
- Did the exclusion of certain elements impact your understanding or enjoyment of the story?
Tone and Atmosphere:
- How did the tone and atmosphere of the movie compare to that of the book?
- Were there aspects of the book's atmosphere that you felt were captured or lost in the adaptation?
Cinematic Interpretation of Violence and Crime:
- How did the movie handle the depiction of violence and criminal activities compared to the book?
- Were there differences in the level of detail or intensity in the portrayal of these elements?
Critical Reception:
- How did critics and audiences respond to the movie adaptation, and do you agree with their assessments?
- Do you think the adaptation was successful in capturing the essence of the book and its impact?
Overall Enjoyment:
- Did you prefer the book or the movie, and why?
- In what ways did the book and the movie complement each other, or do you see them as standalone experiences?

"First of all, the movie was very true to the book on Bulger, Black Mass, written by former Boston Globe reporters Dick Lehr and Gerry O'Neill. Johnny Depp as Bulger certainly looks the part and his and the others' Boston accents are, for the most part, spot on. Even the accent of Bulger's brother, former State Senate President Billy Bulger, with that hint of Brahmin mixed with his Southie dialect, is great, delivered by actor Benedict Cumberbatch. Having seen FBI agent John Connolly in court many times over the years, I thought Joel Edgerton really captured his swagger" (CBS News).

Which was better?

Book: 0 votes (0%)

Movie: 0 votes (0%)

Total Votes: 0

Jimmy the King by Gus Garcia-Roberts
Call Number: 364.13 Garcia-Roberts
An incredible four-decade account of murder, power, and corruption in one of the country's largest police departments In 1979, the gruesome slaying of a thirteen-year-old boy riveted the suburbs of Suffolk County, New York. As the county hustled to bring the case to a dubious resolution, a wayward local teenager emerged with a convenient story to tell. For his cooperation, James Burke was rewarded with a job as a cop. Thus began Burke's unlikely ascent to the top of one of the country's largest law enforcement jurisdictions. He and a crew of likeminded allies utilized vengeance, gangster tactics, and political leverage to become the most powerful and feared figures in their suburban empire. In his quest to maintain that power, Burke botched -- intentionally or not -- dire investigations like that of the famed Gilgo Beach serial killings and the county's MS-13 gang scourge. Until a pilfered bag of sex toys brought it all crashing down. Jimmy the King is the story of the rise, reign, and paranoiac fall of a corrupt cop and his regime--a crime family with badges and guaranteed pensions. Novelistic in detail and piercing in its political insight, this book will leave you questioning who modern policing serves, who it protects, and who it preys upon and abandons.
Five Families by Selwyn Raab
Call Number: 364.106 Raab
Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo and Lucchese. For decades these Five Families ruled New York and built the American Mafia (or Cosa Nostra) into an underworld empire. Today, the Mafia is an endangered species, battered and beleaguered by aggressive investigators, incompetent leadership, betrayals and generational changes that produced violent and unreliable leaders and recruits. A twenty year assault against the five families in particular blossomed into the most successful law enforcement campaign of the last century. Five Families is the vivid story of the rise and fall of New York's premier dons from Lucky Luciano to Paul Castellano to John Gotti and more. The book also brings the reader right up to the possible resurgence of the Mafia as the FBI and local law enforcement agencies turn their attention to homeland security and away from organized crime.
Boston Mob by Marc Songini
Call Number: 364.106 Songini
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.
Dark Harbor by Nathan Ward
Call Number: 364.106 WARD
What if the world of the old New York waterfront was as violent and mob-controlled as it appears in Hollywood movies? Well, it really was, and the story of its downfall, told here in high style by Nathan Ward, is the original New York mob story. New York Sun reporter Malcolm "Mike" Johnson was sent to cover the murder of a West Side boss stevedore and discovered a "waterfront jungle, set against a background of New York's magnificent skyscrapers" and providing "rich pickings for criminal gangs." Racketeers ran their territories while doubling as union officers, from the West Side's "Cockeye" Dunn, who'd kill for any amount of dock space, to Jersey City's Charlie Yanowsky, who controlled rackets and hiring until he was ice-picked to death. Johnson's hard-hitting investigative series won a Pulitzer Prize, inspired a screenplay by Arthur Miller, and prompted Elia Kazan's Oscar-winning film On the Waterfront . And yet J. Edgar Hoover denied the existence of organized crime - even as the government's dramatic hearings into waterfront misdeeds became mustsee television. Nathan Ward tells this archetypal crime story as if for the first time, taking the reader back to a city, and an era, at once more corrupt and more innocent than our own.
Gaspipe by Philip Carlo
Call Number: 364.1092 Carlo
From birth, Anthony Casso's mob life was preordained. Michael Casso introduced his young son around South Brooklyn's social clubs, where "men of honor" did business by shaking pinkie-ringed hands--hands equally at home pilfering stolen goods from the Brooklyn docks or gripping the cold steel of a silenced pistol. Young Anthony watched and listened and decided that he would devote his life to crime. Casso would prove his talent for "earning," concocting ingenious schemes to hijack trucks, rob banks, and bring into New York vast quantities of cocaine, marijuana, and heroin. Casso also had an uncanny ability to work with the other Mafia families, and he forged unusually strong ties with the Russian mob. By the time Casso took the reins of the Lucchese family, he was a seasoned boss, a very dangerous man. It was a great life--Casso and his beautiful wife, Lillian, had money to burn; Casso and his crew brought in so much cash that he had dozens of large safe-deposit boxes filled with bricks of hundred-dollar bills. But the law finally caught up with him in his New Jersey safe house in 1994. Rather than stoically face the music like the old-time mafiosi he revered, Casso became the thing he most hated--a rat. It broke his family's heart and made the once feared and revered mobster an object of scorn and disgust among his former friends. For it turned out that a lifetime of street smarts completely failed him in dealing with a group even more cunning and ruthless than the Mafia--the U.S. government.
The Brothers Bulger by Howie Carr
Call Number: 364.1092 Carr
The riveting New York Times bestseller by award-winning columnist Howie Carr--now with a stunning new afterword detailing Whitey Bulger's capture. For years their familiar story was of two siblings who took different paths out of South Boston: William "Billy" Bulger, former president of the Massachusetts State Senate; and his brother James "Whitey" Bulger, a vicious criminal who became the FBI's second most-wanted man after Osama Bin Laden. While Billy cavorted with the state's blue bloods to become a powerful political force, Whitey blazed a murderous trail to the top rung of organized crime. Now, in this compelling narrative, Carr uncovers a sinister world of FBI turncoats, alliances between various branches of organized crime, St. Patrick's Day shenanigans, political infighting, and the complex relationship between two brothers who were at one time kings. As the film Black Mass , starring Johnny Depp as Whitey Bulger, hits theaters, take a deeper dive into the story of the Bulgers, and their fifty-year reign over Boston with Howie Carr's The Brother's Bulger .
Whitey Bulger by Kevin Cullen; Shelley Murphy
Call Number: 364.1092 Cullen
It was after a nine-year stint in Alcatraz and other prisons that Whitey reunited with his brother William "Billy" Bulger, who was soon to become one of Massachusetts's most powerful politicians. He also became reacquainted with John Connolly, who had grown up around the corner from the Bulgers and was now--with Billy's help--a rising star at the FBI. Once Whitey emerged triumphant from the bloody Boston gang wars, Connolly recruited him as an informant against the Mafia. Their clandestine relationship made Whitey untouchab≤ the FBI overlooked gambling, drugs, and even homicide to protect their source. Among the close-knit Irish community in South Boston, nothing was more important than honor and loyalty, and nothing was worse than being a rat. Whitey is charged with the deaths of nineteen people killed over turf, for business, and even for being informants; yet to this day he denies he ever gave up his friends or landed anyone in jail.
Where the Bodies Were Buried by T. J. English
Call Number: 364.1092 English
For sixteen years, Whitey Bulger eluded the long reach of the law. For decades one of the most dangerous men in America, Bulger--the brother of influential Massachusetts senator Billy Bulger--was often romanticized as a Robin Hood-like thief and protector. While he was functioning as the de facto mob boss of New England, Bulger was also serving as a Top Echelon informant for the FBI, covertly feeding local prosecutors information about other mob figures--while using their cover to cleverly eliminate his rivals, reinforce his own power, and protect himself from prosecution. Then, in 2011, he was arrested in southern California and returned to Boston, where he was tried and convicted of racketeering and murder.

"The Departed" (2006):
- Directed by Martin Scorsese, this crime thriller revolves around undercover agents and organized crime in Boston. The film features an ensemble cast, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Jack Nicholson.
"Goodfellas" (1990):
- Another Martin Scorsese classic, "Goodfellas" provides a gripping portrayal of the rise and fall of a mob associate played by Ray Liotta. It's known for its intense storytelling and stellar performances.
"Donnie Brasco" (1997):
- Based on a true story, this film stars Johnny Depp as an FBI agent who infiltrates the Mafia, forming a close bond with Al Pacino's character. It explores the complexities of undercover work.
"The Town" (2010):
- Directed by and starring Ben Affleck, "The Town" is a crime drama set in Boston. It follows a group of bank robbers and the challenges they face when a relationship with a witness becomes complicated.
"American Gangster" (2007):
- This crime film, directed by Ridley Scott, tells the true story of Frank Lucas, a drug lord in Harlem, and the detective (played by Russell Crowe) determined to bring him down.
"Public Enemies" (2009):
- Directed by Michael Mann, this film stars Johnny Depp as John Dillinger, a notorious bank robber during the Great Depression, and Christian Bale as the FBI agent tasked with capturing him.
"Heat" (1995):
- Another Michael Mann film, "Heat" features Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in a crime drama that explores the lives of a group of professional bank robbers and the dedicated detective pursuing them.
"The Irishman" (2019):
- Directed by Martin Scorsese, this epic crime film spans decades and follows the life of a hitman, played by Robert De Niro, and his involvement with the Bufalino crime family.
"Casino" (1995):
- Also directed by Martin Scorsese, "Casino" explores the rise and fall of a casino executive in Las Vegas and his ties to organized crime. It features Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, and Joe Pesci.

Page to Screen Book Club - Past Titles: March 2024

"Black Mass" by Dick Lehr & Gerard O'Neill

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