Brutal_ The Untold Story of My Life Inside Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob - Kevin Weeks [43]
I’m also not sure if Dr. Pfeiffer ever cured one schizophrenic or if the CIA got its truth serum, but I do know that out of the eighteen prisoners who took part in the experiment in Atlanta in the hope of shaving a few years off their sentences, some went stark raving mad and some even committed suicide. Jimmy had been a pretty violent guy when he’d gone into prison at age twenty-six, so it would be hard to determine just how much more vicious he became as a result of the LSD.
Besides the nightmares and insomnia and hallucinations and maybe a shade more violence in his system, Jimmy left prison with an insatiable hunger for knowledge. He rarely passed a bookstore without going in to check out the latest books, usually buying at least one each time. He especially liked true crime, World War II, and history books on the Vietnam War. Some of his favorites were The Tunnels of Cu Chi, about the Vietnam War, and Murder Machine, A True Story of Murder, Madness and Mayhem, an interesting book about Roy Demeo, a New Jersey/New York criminal. He’d read the true crime books carefully, often at night when he couldn’t sleep, looking to find some insight into police operations, anything that would give him an edge in his constant attempt to keep one up on the law. He’d make special note of the techniques of bugging operations, as well as the specific equipment criminals might use. In the past, he’d been in touch with other high-powered criminals such as Mickey Spillane and Tommy Devaney from the Westies, from New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, who’d come up to Boston to help him out years earlier during the South Boston gang wars. He’d often hand a book over to me, telling me what he’d found worthwhile in it, or insist on buying me a copy at the bookstore. An avid reader myself, some I liked and some didn’t hold my interest.
Our discussions about current affairs were never one-dimensional. We’d talk about politics, particularly the Kennedys, all of whom he despised because of their busing stance. Since his brother Billy was such an influential politician and president of the Massachusetts State Senate, Jimmy stayed away from politics, anxious not to shed light on any connection between the two of them. Jimmy and I often discussed history, education, and business, even legitimate business, like our investments in the stock market. We both made some money when someone told us RYKA, a Massachusetts women’s sneaker company that was later absorbed by another company, would be a good investment. We often talked about how much time and effort we put into being criminals, as well as into not getting caught. We discussed how, if we had legitimate jobs, we would have made more money with the same amount of time and effort. And we would have enjoyed the money so much more. We even talked about the possibility of getting into a legitimate business, but it was too late in our lives for that. We were too well known by law enforcement to make such a change.
It’s important to understand that our relationship was not just focused on crime. Yeah, it took up most of our time, but there were lots of stretches when we weren’t doing stuff and were simply sitting around. Some of those times, we sat around and laughed and joked and had a good time. But many of these days were just downright boring. We’d go for a walk around town, for some exercise, but also to let our presence be known. We always had to look formidable, never meek. We worked out and