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that he did not commit, including the killings of James Leary and Donald Killeen. Carr wrote that Jimmy knocked on Leary’s door in Florida and shot him in the face. Carr got this wrong, because he obviously based his “facts” on rumors or sources. The police actually knew the two individuals who committed the crime, one of whom is dead, the other presumed missing. Carr also credited Jimmy with killing Donald Killeen, when, in fact, it was James Mantville and Tommy King who committed that murder. Mantville and King are both dead now, but they were on the opposing side of the gang war in South Boston between the Mullins and Killeens. Jimmy has never been charged with either of these murders.

Carr also included a lot of inaccuracies about Jimmy and the events that took place after he went on the run. For instance, he has Jimmy’s car being found in Yonkers, New York, when it was actually found in Selden on Long Island. Carr even had me flying to Chicago, rather than driving there to bring Jimmy new IDs, as I did. I know where I went and how I got there. Howie has no idea and just writes up the whole story inaccurately. He also has Jimmy and Cathy flying from Chicago to New York. Untrue. The two of them used Amtrak. And those are just a few of the dozens of details he got wrong.

In one Boston weekly, The Phoenix, writer David Boeri cited a list of some of the inaccuracies in Carr’s book, writing, “There are so many errors that Boston’s greatest self-described hack hunter could be eligible for induction into his own halls of hackorama. Some of the errors are just annoying; others are laughable.” Boeri also brought up the question of why Carr’s book paid so little attention to the FBI’s errors in dealing with Jimmy, both before and after he took off, stating that this was “the price Carr paid for the exclusive access he got and continues to get to the FBI’s photos and files.” Interesting.

Another book, this one written by a mid-level drug dealer, exaggerated the author’s role, citing that he was the Angel of Death, when in fact the only thing he ever killed was time when he was in prison. He said that he was running the South Boston drug organization at age twenty, when the truth is he was lucky if he could run water from a faucet. Some people who wrote books embellished their roles, never thinking that the truth would come out. I don’t understand why people want to be known as murderers when in fact I’m not proud of my role in five murders.

The one thing I can say about Brutal is that when it was written, it was meticulously read and analyzed by the U.S. Justice Department, different branches of federal and state law enforcement, and defense lawyers, as well as by the publisher’s legal department. In addition, the consensus in the press was that this was the most accurate and truthful book that was written on the subject of James “Whitey” Bulger, and the inner workings of his gang. It was vetted by all these groups and, most importantly, by the people on the streets of South Boston who personally knew the cast of characters.

And I was the only one of these authors who didn’t want to write a book but did so only to settle civil litigations, at the suggestion of the plaintiff’s lawyers. Once that decision was made, my only concern was that my book be 100 percent truthful and factual. And it is.

FBI AGENT JOHN CONNOLLY

Former FBI agent John Connolly’s murder trial is slated to begin in Florida on October 22, 2007. Connolly is sixty-six now and four years into his ten-year sentence for racketeering and for warning Jimmy to flee in advance of his 1995 racketeering indictment. Presently, Connolly is facing first degree murder and conspiracy charges for allegedly providing information to Jimmy and Stevie that led to the 1982 death of former Jai Alai president John Callahan. Stevie and I are listed as two witnesses for the government in this case.

It’s a bit strange that the government tried to prove we were liars in the McIntyre case but now will be relying on our testimony to convict Connolly.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Kevin Weeks