Most Wanted: Pursuing Whitey Bulger, the Murderous Mob Chief the FBI Secretly Protected by Thomas J Foley, John Sedgwick

June 23, 2011. The news of the notorious gangster Whitey Bulger’s capture—after sixteen years on the FBI’s Most Wanted list—swept the nation. Many breathed a sigh of relief. But for Thomas J. Foley, a former Massachusetts state police colonel and the investigator who sparked Bulger’s flight from Boston, the moment was bittersweet. The FBI may have caught Bulger, but as Foley had painfully discovered almost two decades before, they were also responsible for his escape.

It has been known that Whitey Bulger was a secret informant for the FBI, but it has never been revealed—until now—that the FBI was actually actively protecting Bulger from Foley, effectively derailing Foley’s efforts to stop Bulger’s horrific crime sprees time and again. At one point, the FBI even presented Foley with a plaque at a holiday party that read “the Most Hated Man in Law Enforcement,” a not-so-subtle suggestion that he and his team should lay off their investigation.

Wow! Most Wanted is a relentess, page-turning read written by Thomas J. Foley, the man who spent most of his life pursuing the gangster, Whitey Bulger.  Not only did Whitey become an FBI informant, and committed nineteen crimes while being protected, but the FBI thwarted Foley everytime he got close to capturing the murderer.

There are personal true accounts of Foley's investigations, how he decided to pursue his investigation and his accounts with the family and friends of Bulger's victims.  Bulger was considered the Robin Hood of the South Boston area, but after reading Most Wanted, Bulger was a sadistic cold-blooded killer.  He was finally apprehended by Foley last year and will start trial later this year.  If you enjoy reading police procedurals, real accounts of the Mob and the tenacity of one man who refused to give up until justice was served, you will want to pick up Most Wanted today!!

From Wikipedia: On June 22, 2011, Bulger was arrested outside an apartment in Santa Monica, California. Arrested with him was his longtime girlfriend Catherine Greig. Bulger was 81 years old at the time of his arrest. Soon after, Bulger and Greig were extradited to Massachusetts and brought under heavy guard to the waterfront federal courthouse. This necessitated the closing of part of Boston Harbor. Greig was arraigned in the Federal District Court of the First Circuit in Boston on charges of harboring a fugitive and is currently seeking release on bail. Bulger has not sought bail and remains in custody at the Plymouth County House of Correction in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Wendy