John "Red" Shea

A short, brash, shallow yet interesting look at life in Whitey Bulger's South Boston. Red Shea is one of the gang members who was rounded up, and went to jail rather than snitch.

After serving 12 years he is out, and has written an account of his life and the time when he ran drugs for Whitey.

He comes on as very childish, as someone who never grew up. He is excessively concerned with being tough, and being considered tough. He is violent and revels in it. He is also of the class of grown men show more who feel that acting like they are still in high school is how to impress women and others.

He is rather vague about what he actually did when working with others, and he follows Whitey's advice about never doing anything in front of someone who can hold it against you. So there are few confessions of getting his hands dirty.

There are several other reasons for his lack of specificity. He is probably not going to tell anything that can be considered to be snitching. And he isn't going to open himself up to further prosecution.

He never really apologizes for what he did, though he expresses regret for the innocent people he hurt. He includes his family, but doesn't seem to consider that even those who were guilty, had innocent family-members of their own, and Shea hurt them with the violence and the drugs.

He also seems to have given up any chance of real life, a home, or a family to live the life of a shallow tough-guy cartoon character gangster. What he doesn't write says as much about him, as what he does write. show less

An interesting read about John "Red" Shea and the Boston Irish mob, including James "Whitey" Bulger.
Living in Boston, I found this an interesting insight into recent past of my city.