Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devil's Deal Themes
Justice and Judgment
If you hate injustice, then Black Mass might drive you clinically insane. Documenting perhaps the most heinous example of corruption in FBI history, the book follows Whitey Bulger, a big-time Bosto...
Community
Community can be a great thing. It can make you feel safe. It can make you feel welcome. It makes you feel all sorts of good feels and then some. There are, of course, some downsides, and all of th...
Power
If there's one thing that Boston could use a lot less of, based on Black Mass, it's people with power. You have gangsters like Whitey Bulger who use violence and intimidation to get their way. You...
Visions of Southie
South Boston—or Southie as it's called by those in the know—is a place unlike any other. Defined by its Irish-American population, Southie is very definition of "mean streets." Residents hate o...
Criminality
You think Biggie Smalls was a true OG? The Notorious One doesn't have anything on Whitey Bulger. One of the most brutal gangsters ever seen in the Irish-American hood of South Boston, Bulger rules...
Violence
Whitey Bulger loves portraying himself as a good-natured anti-hero, but the dude is actually a mass murderer. He doesn't just kill as a means to an end, either; he seems to get a rush from inflicti...
Manipulation
He might be morally bankrupt, but you've got to hand it to Whitey Bulger: the guy's an expert manipulator. Sometimes he manipulates other gangsters, buddying up only to pull the rug out and kill th...
Rules and Order
If you hate to hear about people breaking rules, then you better stay away from Black Mass. Whitey Bulger, a notorious Boston gangster, has a secret: he's an informant for the FBI. And not just any...