About the Book
You’ve seen the movies and TV shows about the mob. Now it’s time to hear the real story. Reading about the mob in Boston, as written by the son of The Irish King of Winter Hill, sheds light on this explosive period of history that happened on the streets and docks of Boston fifty years ago.
The True Story of James J. “Buddy” McLean is told by Michael McLean, who wants to set the record straight about his father, a man who is best remembered for eliminating the McLaughlin Gang from the Charlestown area of the city during the early 1960s McLean-McLaughlin Irish gang war. Buddy, who worked on the Boston docks in the late 1950s and early 1960s with his father’s union card, was a teamster from Local No. 25 during this dangerous era when gangsters ran the docks.
Says the author, “I have read all the books and the information on the Internet about my father, and most of it is wrong. After talking to his closest friends, I decided I would set the record straight.” The book outlines the rise of Buddy McLean from his humble beginnings as a hardworking truck driver, to leading the now infamous Winter Hill Gang, to his murder in 1965.
About the Author
Michael McLean grew up in Somerville, Massachusetts, and now lives in South Boston. Most of this book takes place in Somerville. The first-time author works on the docks using his father’s union card, which has now been handed down for three generations.