the things you learn from talking to strangers
on the t home tonight i had a short and interesting conversation with a transit cop about books (sort of) and, er, mobsters. he commented on my book - midnight riot, aka rivers of london, and does anyone know why the us edition has a different title? - he joked that it was just a short story, i'd finish it in no time, and i said that i read it every day on the t, so yeah, probably, it wouldn't take me that long to finish. and he said he was surprised he'd already read four books this year - a biography of teddy kennedy, a book about whitey bulger, a new one by derek sanderson (whose name is familiar, and according to amazon he played for the bruins), and next is one about terry francona (former red sox manager). a very bostony series of books. i asked if the one about whitey bulger was good [1], and the transit cop ended up telling me how he knew and hung out with some of whitey's italian rivals [2] when he was younger - the transit cop's dad was also a cop, and the fact his kid went out on a boat with these mafia guys made him go ballistic - the boat in question was also used by some serial killer lenny someone (whose last name i don't remember and which didn't sound familiar anyway) to kill a girl. the transit cop knew lenny the serial killer since they were little kids. O.O and - and this was my favorite part - when the transit cop was fifteen he worked in a body shop, and one day a mobster came in and told him and another kid working there that they should come across the street and have some sandwiches. the kids were all "we gotta paint this car, we have work to do, so-and-so wants it done", and the mobster said, basically, "i'm not asking you, i'm telling you, come with me right now and have a sandwich". so they left with him, they're sitting in the guy's social club, and BOOM the body shop blows up, killing someone inside. which, you know, was the whole reason the mobster wanted them to leave.
we also talked a bit about the departed, which he said was based on whitey and his gang, and which i said was a remake of a korean movie (actually hong kong, but i didn't have access to imdb on the train). (we're both right.) and then we were at my stop and i was actually disappointed that i had to get off.
and then i came home and shoveled out my car, and the snow was wet and heavy and super crusty (as in, not yet frozen but getting there), but i have writing group tomorrow and it's easiest to drive to it and i'm not going to want to shovel then.
[1] whitey bulger was a boston mobster way before my time, but his gang was the winter hill gang, and winter hill is part of somerville and very close to where i live. he went on the lam a couple decades ago and was caught a couple years ago in california. he's in his 80s. who knows if he'll live long enough to actually stand trial. (his brother billy was for a couple years the president of boston university. i don't think billy was involved in his brother's criminal enterprises, but i still thought it was kind of funny that one bulger was on the fbi's ten most wanted list, and another bulger was president of a major university.)
[2] the angiulos, who i had to look up on wikipedia because i don't know who they are but i thought they might be bulger associates, and apparently whitey informed on them to the fbi.
we also talked a bit about the departed, which he said was based on whitey and his gang, and which i said was a remake of a korean movie (actually hong kong, but i didn't have access to imdb on the train). (we're both right.) and then we were at my stop and i was actually disappointed that i had to get off.
and then i came home and shoveled out my car, and the snow was wet and heavy and super crusty (as in, not yet frozen but getting there), but i have writing group tomorrow and it's easiest to drive to it and i'm not going to want to shovel then.
[1] whitey bulger was a boston mobster way before my time, but his gang was the winter hill gang, and winter hill is part of somerville and very close to where i live. he went on the lam a couple decades ago and was caught a couple years ago in california. he's in his 80s. who knows if he'll live long enough to actually stand trial. (his brother billy was for a couple years the president of boston university. i don't think billy was involved in his brother's criminal enterprises, but i still thought it was kind of funny that one bulger was on the fbi's ten most wanted list, and another bulger was president of a major university.)
[2] the angiulos, who i had to look up on wikipedia because i don't know who they are but i thought they might be bulger associates, and apparently whitey informed on them to the fbi.