Gangland Boston

A Tour Through the Deadly Streets of Organized Crime

By: Emily Sweeney

Narrated by: Kate Zane

A guided tour of Boston's underworld, revealing the places where deals were made, people were killed, and bodies were buried.

Gangsters have played a shady role in shaping Greater Boston's history. While lurking in local restaurants or just around the corner inside that inconspicuous building, countless criminals have quietly made their mark on the city and surrounding communities. Gangland Boston reveals the hidden history of these places, bringing listeners back in time to when the North End was wrought with gun violence, Hanover Street was known as a "shooting gallery", and guys named King Solomon, Beano Breen, and Mickey the Wiseguy ruled the underworld.

Drawing upon years of research and an extensive collection of rare photographs, author Emily Sweeney sheds light on how gang violence unfolded during Prohibition, how the Italian Mafia rose to power, and how the Gustin Gang came to be. She also uncovers little-known facts about well-known crime figures. (Did you know the leader of the Gustin Gang was an Olympic athlete? Or that a fellowship at a major university was named after a big-time bookie?)

©2018 Emily Sweeney (P)2020 Tantor

Narration is horrible

Possibly the worst narrator of any audiobook I’ve ever listened to on Audible or elsewhere.

Not what I hoped

Book was good but not great. Love Boston and the mafia. Had really high hopes and there was definitely some interesting facts and characters. Just a little tedious at time. Performance with the Boston accents was spot on!

We don't sound like that.

Listen, normally I don't mind when the performer does different voices for different characters. I know the Boston accent is very hard. I grew up and still live in the Allston/Brighton area, and I know the performer tried. But every single time she voiced another person, it disappointed me. Listen, if you can't do the accent, that is ok. Just stop trying to make us sound like we are all Kennedy's.

Not worth your time

I had high hopes for this book but it turned out to be nothing more than a series of disjointed chapters lacking backstory perspective or any meaningful detail. I felt like I was reading a children’s story book where one short story has absolutely nothing to do with the next. The author set this up as a chronicling of spots within the city of Boston where major mafia and organized crime incidents took place that was gone about three chapters i