Contents
American Gangsters
A True Crime Collection
T. J. ENGLISH
CONTENTS
About the Author
As a journalist and nonfiction author, Thomas Joseph T. J. English (b. 1957) is one of Americas foremost authorities on the recent history of crime. Born in Tacoma, Washington, he moved to New York in 1981, where he spent his nights driving a taxi and his days writing for Irish America magazine, producing a series of articles that would lead to his first book, The Westies (1990), an account of the last decades of a once-powerful Irish mob.
Since then English has written about Vietnamese gangs, mafia infiltration of pre-Castro Cuba, and, in Savage City (2011), the history of racial tension between New York Citys police and its citizens. He has written magazine articles on modern crime for Playboy, Esquire, and New York magazine, and has also written for the screen, producing episodes for the gritty cop shows NYPD Blue and Homicide: Life on the Street. He lives in New York City.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
Whiteys Payback Copyright 2013 by T. J. English
The Westies Copyright 1990, 2006 by T. J. English
Born to Kill Copyright 1995 by T. J. English
Cover design by Andrea C. Uva
ISBN 978-1-5040-5139-2
This 2018 edition published by MysteriousPress.com/Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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T. J. ENGLISH
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ALSO BY T. J. ENGLISH
The Savage City
Havana Nocturne
Paddy Whacked
Born to Kill
The Westies
WHITEYS PAYBACK
And Other True Stories
Gangsterism, Murder, Corruption, and Revenge
WHITEYS PAYBACK
Obviously crime pays, or thered be no crime.
G. Gordon Liddy
Watergate burglar
Introduction
J oseph Mad Dog Sullivan is a tough mammy jammy. Gangster, killer, fugitive from the law, prison inmate: Sullivan, seventy-three, has lived a life in the darkest corners of the known world. He is a hard man who has withstood the primordial dictates of crime and punishment, and he has done so without complaining. But by the fall of 2011after a long career as a professional hit man for the Mob; after a lifetime highlighted by numerous escape attempts from penal institutions (some successful, some not so successful); after having been hunted down, shot at, captured and locked upthe clock is finally winding down for Mad Dog.
In year thirty-one of a life sentence, Sullivans mortality loomed like the black raven that occasionally flew over the prison yard, sending a ripple of doom through the hearts of inmates. Recently, Sullivan had been treated for prostate cancer. During preliminary examinations, doctors determined that cancer had also developed in his right lung. Within weeks, he had half a lung removed. And still he wasnt out of the woods. Doctors suspected that the cancer had metastasized, that it was possibly in remission but could reemerge at any time to spread through his body like a raging wildfire.