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Five years ago, author Springs Toledo set out to find a ghost whose name could end a conversation. What he found was startling. Forget what you''ve read about Whitey Bulger; this is the ruthless truth of the Boston underworld and its most ominous figure, Joe Mac-his tragic origins, unsolved murders, and the daughter who broke his silence. It''s a story you were never supposed to know. Don''t Talk About Joe Mac is a tour de force through the bizarre society that was the Boston underworld, where myths are dismissed and lies-ongoing and government subsidized-are met head-on. At its center was Joeseph McDonald, or "Joe Mac," who founded the Winter Hill Gang in the 1950s, became the bogeyman in the infamous Gangland War of the 1960s, and made the FBI''s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list in the 1970s. He was still active in the 1990s and committed his forty-first and final murder when he was seventy-four. This is his story and the story of a World War II veteran and family man gone terrifyingly wrong-his tragic origins, unsolved murders, and the daughter who broke his silence. Reading like noir, this book exposes the Boston underworld''s secret history of collusion, cover-ups, and cold cases through its most feared and ominous figure.
Über den Autor / die Autorin
Springs Toledo writes literary nonfiction and is the author of five books, including
The Hanging of Old Brown: A Story of Slaves, Statesmen, and Redemption (2002) and
Murderers' Row: In Search of Boxing's Greatest Outcasts (2017; 2020). His writing has been featured on NPR's
Here & Now, recognized in
The Best American Essays (2019, 2020, 2022, 2023)
, and published in
Ploughshares, City Journal, and
Salon, as well as several other magazines and journals
. Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, Toledo is a product of the underclass, parochial schools, and boxing gyms. At 15, his mugshot was snapped at Boston Police Headquarters on Berkeley Street; ten years later he was one mile west graduating
summa cum laude from Northeastern University with an advanced degree in Criminology. www.SpringsToledo.com
